The need to compete globally

By Tom Aller

Government is most able to provide services and adequately care for people in need when the business community is strong and robust.

Vibrant, competitive, successful companies of all sizes drive gross domestic product (GDP), which is the measure of an economy's work output. The role of business in an open market system, like we have in the United States, is to compete in such a way that GDP grows and meaningful wealth is created in all its various financial and social definitions - for shareholders, employees, customers and society as a whole. No other human activity matches private enterprise in its ability to assemble people, attract capital and facilitate innovation under controlled risk-taking.

The Iowa Business Council seeks progress in the drive for new products, better systems and stronger commerce while engaging a visionary, pragmatic and humanistic perspective in how that is accomplished.

Evolving product and energy resource limitations, unpredictable market forces and evermore strident regulatory policies - from employee benefits to environmental guidelines - provide an opportune moment to suggest economic and work force development strategies that employ predictability and sustainability as critical components.

Iowa cannot cope with today's problems by tenaciously clinging to yesterday's political and social structures. The task is not to try and reclaim that which has been lost but, rather, to seize the future and build on progress made.

To that end, Iowa must develop dynamic strategies that:

l Deliver a pre-K-16 education system that drives excellence in academic achievement and student wellness, utilizes latest technology, promotes ethics, seeks system efficiencies and encourages professional development;

l Pursue industry clusters with companies that lead in ideas, innovation and market reach to which investors and new consumers are attracted;

l Attract attention to Iowa as a destination for hard-working, creative-thinking, problem-solving, tech-savvy employees.

Sustaining the competitive posture of a business and its supply chain in the global economy is an unrelenting challenge. Policymakers must always consider whether a legislative or regulatory proposal results in promoting a strong and vigorous business climate that's attractive to a skilled and diverse work force. This is because the ability of a company to place new jobs or expand operations is more flexible than ever.

Today, it's usually not a matter of whether a company will engage in desirable activities such as research and development. Businesses in high-growth industries offering well-paying jobs that require skilled workers most certainly will. Rather, the question is almost always where that R&D will occur.

Whereas companies used to compete with the town in the next county or one state over, an unavoidable fact of globalization is that now they contend with China, India, Poland, Costa Rica and anywhere else in the world that has invested in career training, global communications and shipping technology. These locales realize the value of nurturing a vibrant, innovative business climate, and deploy growth strategies that focus on quality-of-life issues and aggressive incentives.

Iowa's challenge is creating and maintaining unique, attractive incentives and benefits that give it an advantage in a marketplace where even the most traditional corporation can hire workers almost anywhere in the world. The result is the creation of meaningful jobs that produce desired items sold at a profit.

This notion is essential to long-term business survival, lifelong career growth and a sustained flow of tax revenue for the needs of government.

Tom Aller is chair of the Iowa Business Council (www.iowa

businesscouncil.org) and president of Interstate Power & Light, an Alliant Energy company.