American Swiss Foundation Gala Annual Dinner
Wednesday, November 13, 1996
Thank you, Mr. Puton for that kind introduction. And thanks to all of you in the American Swiss Foundation....especially Ambassador Whittlesey and Ambassador Jagmetti...for finding the governor of a small Southern state worthy of such a recognition of international friendship.
I am deeply honored to be recognized by such an elite group. And even though I happen to be the one standing here tonight, I can't take all the credit.
It took decades of foresight and leadership by men and women long before me to make South Carolina the global stronghold it is today. I'm just the next in a long line of folks who have extended a hand of friendship from South Carolina across the sea.
It's because of them that South Carolina is home away from home for nearly 500 international firms from 27 countries.
It's because of them that Greenville-Spartanburg's I-85 Corridor is the site of the highest diversified foreign investment per capita in the U.S.
It's a success story that our state leadership started writing decades ago...back when Richard Tukey of the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce and Roger Milliken started asking textile equipment manufacturers from Switzerland and Germany to set up shop in our state.
Tukey was criticized at the time for thinking too much about the world...and not enough about South Carolina. But he was thinking about South Carolina when he traveled the globe going to textile machinery shows, putting together a network of European contacts, bringing Swiss prospects to town.
And back in 1961...international investment totaled only $500,000. This year, it hit a record $1.8 billion. That's 30% higher than the last record!
And just over the past 5 years, South Carolina has seen more international business growth than in the last two decades combined!
In fact, South Carolina broke records in every category...with $5.4 billion in investments, 24,000 new jobs. We had the best expansion performance in the 17-state Southern region...and the 8th fastest-growing per capita income in the country.
We've worked hard to make South Carolina a state where every company feels welcomed....whether it's homegrown or from halfway around the world.
Because when international companies put down roots in South Carolina, they stay and grow and then they tell their friends back home about us.
And so a central component of our strategic vision is to keep recruiting high-quality international firms and expanding our export markets.
We've already shown we know how to do it right. The Harvard Business Review even said as much in a 10-page article...citing our Upstate region as an example to the nation of how to thrive in the global economy.
The author...a Harvard Business School professor...wrote that communities must establish links to the global market as either makers, traders or thinkers.
You have to either make the best products, make the strongest connections between countries and people, or be the most progressive. And while you should specialize in one area...you need to keep growing in all three to compete.
Clearly, we in South Carolina have established our reputation as "makers." We've built an economy on the old adage..."Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door."
The quality of our products is second to none...except maybe Switzerland! Our labor pool is among the most productive in the nation. And our workforce training program...called Special Schools...is a national model.
In fact, Special Schools got started about the time our whole international recruiting efforts came into focus. It's a program where we offer free training to industry...totally specific to their needs...no matter how high-tech or complicated.
Many say it's had more to do with the international insurgence than any other single factor.
We've also tailored our tax laws so companies can invest in growing their operations, not in growing government.
We've passed legislation that rewards companies for expansion and hiring.
And we're working with regulatory agencies, so they now show industry cleaner and safer ways to do business...without running that business into the ground.
Time and time again we hear from business leaders who are amazed at our quick turn-around time. A process that might take over a year out in California can be handled in a matter of months in South Carolina.
I heard the story of one Swiss businessman who was absolutely amazed at the interest shown by South Carolina's leadership. On the way to yet another meeting at the state capitol, he joked that "The only time I ever went to the Statehouse back home was to testify!"
Well, we're going to keep right on being cheerleaders...not coaches...to support our manufacturing base every way we know how.
And so the next step...as the Harvard professor suggested...is to help them expand their global reach as connectors.
South Carolina was one of the first states to open a business recruiting office in Europe. Now we've got four full-time staffers there...two looking for investments and two working just in trade.
After all, when the U.S. Department of Commerce says that 16,000 jobs are created for every billion dollars in exports, we listen.
South Carolina's interest in exporting is already booming...we've seen a 40% jump just in the last 2 years. $30 million dollars worth of South Carolina goods went into Swiss markets last year alone.
Our Port of Charleston has really been the engine for that exchange...handling more U.S. containerized exports to Europe than any other port in the country.
And since the Swiss economy depends so much on imports, we'd like to do even more business with you there.
We just finished an export survey of more than 7,000 state businesses in South Carolina. We found that over a third of our businesses not exporting said they would if they had a little help.
As a result, we're developing our first comprehensive export strategy...focusing on untapped markets and how we can help South Carolina companies prosper there.
We're also working on being connectors to the world through international tourism.
We were actually the first state to create a fully-independent international marketing division to sell South Carolina tourism to the world...and now over 660,000 international visitors come every year.
Per capita, more Swiss visit the U.S. than any other group...so we're working to market to your countrymen through our German office...and through promotional literature in German, French and Italian.
But even beyond being "makers" and "connectors" for the global market, we're working to develop communities of thinkers.
Because when you build a human infrastructure of great minds, you're able to raise a community's entire standard of living.
It's happening in Florence, South Carolina....a rural community near my hometown that's being transformed from the inside out by high-tech, Swiss investment.
Since 1991, Roche Carolina has announced half a billion dollars in investment in its Pharmaceutical Technical Center in Florence.
They've brought in a whole crew of Ph.Ds and scientists...And now no other pharmaceutical company in the world is doing the state of the art work that Roche is doing there.
And now people who've lived in Florence all their lives have a new excitement about their hometown's possibilities.
The County Council chairman said it best..."Everything is blessed because they're here."
Now we're looking at ways we can expand on that brain trust through "clustering," using Roche as a magnet to grow a medical services, diagnostic and R&D center around it.
Roche may be a special case, but consider DaTwyler Rubber and Plastics based in Altdorf, Switzerland. They just made a $17.5 million, 106 employee announcement in rural Marion County.
It may not sound like anything earth-shattering to you, but it is to those folks. Marion County is one of the poorest counties in the state with one of the highest unemployment rates. And DaTwyler is the largest public announcement in that county this decade...with twice the number of jobs created there all last year...and over 3 times the capital invested last year.
Swiss companies...all 36 of them...and our entire international community have been a tremendous force for good in South Carolina.
By their very presence, our standards have been raised, our understanding of the world market heightened and our optimism for the future skyrocketing.
From the earliest days of our international growth, the friendship between South Carolina and Switzerland has been a long and prosperous tradition.
We share a common bond...through our love of freedom, our fierce independence and our pride in a job well done.
I can only hope that our friendship has taught us a thing or two about quality, craftsmanship, innovation.
We want the South Carolina name to represent those same ideals in the global marketplace...as makers, traders and thinkers.
Thanks to those of you who have become part of South Carolina's patchwork of global companies. You are helping us weave a brighter and more colorful future.
And again, thank you for this tremendous honor. I can assure you that South Carolina is going to continue its quest to carve a niche in the world market...to help your businesses grow here in America...and to be the best place on the planet to do business.