Connecting with Members across the State
Businesses tell our Chamber what Issues Matter Most
Transforming our Chamber into a true force for business and positioning North Carolina as the lead competitor among states for jobs and investment in a global economy requires a relentless focus on member values and results. Our Chamber’s 2007 GRASSROOTS NETWORK Area Meetings tour added to that focus and provided a launching pad for developing our 2008 pro-jobs Competitiveness Agenda. The meetings presented a forum for businesses of all types and sizes across the state to cite their most urgent economic concerns.
Direct Customer Input Surfaces
Most Pressing Competitiveness Issues
The top-of-mind issues for North Carolina businesses that emerged from this year’s GRASSROOTS NETWORK Area Meetings are similar to those cited by business leaders at last year’s meetings, indicating that opportunity remains to improve our state’s business climate. When asked about the most important issues for growth and job creation, here’s what businesses told our Chamber:
- Managing healthcare costs is a major business concern and serious competitiveness issue.
- Business taxes are a top competitiveness issue in North Carolina.
- Transportation infrastructure is among the top concerns of North Carolina businesses and critical to economic development success.
- Educational systems that produce a globally competitive workforce are essential to North Carolina’s future.
- Workers’ compensation costs represent a “cost-of-doing business” issue for North Carolina businesses to remain competitive.
Our Chamber’s Area Meetings Business Ballots are one of many data tools used to measure what issues are most important to North Carolina businesses in terms of profitability and their capacity for growth and job creation. Other tools include one-on-one meetings with CEOs, online surveys, an annual poll of business owners and operators by a nationally recognized polling firm, and a variety of committees and working groups. This type of data-driven approach is critical to help ensure our Chamber’s effectiveness in an increasingly global competition for jobs and commerce.
A Member-Driven Agenda Leads to Results
Input from our customers at last year’s Area Meetings, along with polling data, research and benchmark studies, led to results for North Carolina businesses during the 2007 legislative session and helped make a great state even better.
Last year our members told our Chamber loud and clear that healthcare costs were among their top economic concerns. Therefore, when a high-risk insurance pool was created this past legislative session to provide insurance to the "uninsurable”, our Chamber supported efforts to make sure whatever funding mechanism was identified did not drive up healthcare costs for business. The enacted bill established that the pool will be state-funded as opposed to the proposed assessment on insured consumers.
Our members also told us last year that business taxes were a top concern. Because pro-growth tax policies are imperative to North Carolina's economic success, our Chamber placed tax policy at the forefront of our legislative agenda in 2007. With the help of numerous pro-business allies and an organized business community, the North Carolina Chamber provided leadership that led to legislative victory on several tax issues: (1) A more fair and predictable tax appeals process, (2) An energy tax exemption for manufacturers, and (3) A reduction in the ‘small business tax’ rate (PIT).
Because our Chamber and its members recognize the importance of education to our state’s economic future, the North Carolina Chamber is a proud member of the Education: Everybody's Business Coalition – led by the Public School Forum and aimed at facilitating collaboration between the education and business communities. Our Chamber applauds our Coalition partners (many of them Cornerstone members in our Chamber) for their ongoing support of numerous education policy initiatives over the years that have made North Carolina a model to other states.
Looking ahead . . .
- Transportation Infrastructure
As state policymakers have begun to identify potential solutions to North Carolina’s transportation infrastructure challenges, our Chamber and its members have been active in the discussions. The 21st Century Transportation Committee, of which a significant number of appointed members represent the business community and are members of our Chamber, held its first meeting last month.
The new transportation committee will study innovative methods to fund transportation needs and promote economic growth. Our Chamber’s goal on behalf of its members is to ensure a comprehensive and balanced set of solutions that address how to maximize efficiency and productivity to secure a strong economy and competitive business climate for our future.
Sponsors Fueled Successful Listening Tour
Our Chamber recognizes our members who sponsored our 2007 GRASSROOTS NETWORK Area Meetings that provided an opportunity for us to interact with our customers face-to-face in their communities. Our meetings were only successful because of the commitment and investment of the following members and sponsors:
AT&T North Carolina - Duke Energy
- First Citizens Bank
- Progress Energy
- Piedmont Natural Gas
- PSNC Energy
- Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP
“There was a lot of enthusiasm and energy at our Chamber’s Area Meetings among an evolving business community that appears to be very excited about our mission and vision to shape North Carolina’s future and ensure that our state is the most competitive in America for jobs,” said President and CEO Lew Ebert. “I am grateful to our members who sponsored these meetings and to all those who participated for helping shape the debate for business at the capital and develop an agenda that will unite businesses of all sizes.”
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