Economic Development Plan News Conference
September 14, 1995
We've done a good job in recent years creating jobs and bringing new business to South Carolina.
And the numbers prove it...more than 25 billion dollars in capital investments and thousands and thousands of new jobs in less than a decade. Our growth in just the first half of this year was two-point-three billion dollars in capital investments and six-thousand new jobs.
We're proud of the good job we've done, but now we're putting a plan into action to help us do a great job.
I asked Bob Royall of Commerce and Grace McKown of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to come up with a plan. A consulting firm worked with us, along with a strategic planning group drawn from the public and private sectors. Many of these planners have joined us today, and I want to personally thank them for their efforts.
Our first step was to acknowledge that we have a solid foundation in place. New laws and new attitudes have won us a reputation as one of the most pro-business states in America.
So, in drafting this plan, we recognized certain truths:
business, not government, creates wealth;
diversification will strengthen the economy;
rural areas must prosper if all of South Carolina is to prosper; and
community development is just as important as business development.
Our goals are clear. First, we will provide an exceptional climate for economic development, building on the foundation that's already in place.
We'll constantly evaluate regulations and incentives for business growth. We'll develop new legislation if necessary to maintain a leading position in economic development, while measuring our performance against a group of reference states. We'll learn from their mistakes and their successes...and we won't hesitate to bring a good idea to South Carolina that's tried and true elsewhere.
Our second goal is to increase the wealth-generating capacity of South Carolina's business base. We'll do this by focusing on three areas.
First, we'll identify current and emerging business clusters and work to develop these clusters fully.
A prime example of a business cluster is BMW in the Upstate. A cluster of suppliers has emerged in the surrounding area, involving new businesses and expanded roles for existing industries.
They're working together to create the best cars we can for a world market.
Roche Carolina in the Pee Dee comes to mind as the anchor for an emerging medical services, diagnostic and research and development center for the state.
Cluster development in the tourism industry is most evident in Horry County. We're seeing amusement attractions, family entertainment attractions...like the Alabama theater...and countless businesses that cater to tourists. Each is growing alongside the mainstays of the service sector...the hotels and restaurants.
We need the same kind of tourism cluster development in other parts of the state.
As part of this wealth-generating goal, we'll become more aggressive in the international tourism market.
We also need to step up exports of South Carolina products. It's the next logical step in growing our existing industries.
We're doing quite well in this area. For the first half of this year, exports totaled three-point-three billion dollars. The total was five-point-three billion dollars for all of last year, but we can potentially quadruple our exports.
Today, fewer than half of South Carolina's businesses with exportable products participate in world trade. Yet, the U.S. Commerce Department tells us a billion dollar increase in exports can create up to 20-thousand jobs.
We will strengthen our technology base in order to accomplish any and all goals. I'm not just talking about using information-based technology to link South Carolina products with world markets. That's just part of the technological revolution.
We have new developments sitting in our research universities today that we need to move into areas of commercial use. As industries across the state are re-tooling to meet demands for better quality and faster production, we want to find a link between our research and our plant sites.
Our next goal is to make sure every region of South Carolina benefits.
A lack of success in rural counties, where unemployment is high and job skills may be lacking, creates a drag on every other region of the state.
Tourism is an area where we can bring new growth to rural areas. It's now a 12 billion dollar business, and so far this year tourists are ahead of last year's spending by five percent.
Grace is trying to get tourists to spread some of those dollars around. She's developing the Heritage Corridor project to bring tourism to areas that never before considered it as an economic development tool.
We'll promote rural and community development by helping our towns and counties bring new leaders to the forefront...problem solvers who want to see their areas grow while maintaining the quality of life they've come to enjoy.
We'll help train them to develop historical, natural and cultural resources which can make a community an attractive place to live, work and visit.
Part of this process will involve assistance for emerging businesses, including a subsidized loan program for small businesses.
Our fourth goal is to make sure our statewide resource base keeps up with the demands growing businesses put on it.
We'll align our technical college system and special schools with the cluster concept to make sure our work force development programs provide a steady supply of skilled labor.
We'll provide incentives for businesses to train workers or upgrade skills. And we'll work as a team in this process so we can do a better job of leveraging available federal and state money for work force development.
This is a strategic plan that's specific in its goals, but broad enough to be flexible in its application. This is not about the Commerce or tourism departments alone. It's going to take every one of us at every level of public and private leadership to take us into the next higher plane of growth.
We will need a coordinated effort to direct growth where it's needed.
As I said before, we have a solid foundation to build on. And we believe this plan will help us generate wealth and create jobs for South Carolina well into the next century.