Editorial: The Right Attitude
It's getting a little tired, isn't it? We were told we'd be out of the Great Recession by now and yet there's still a steady stream of bad economic news mixed with the good.
We’re back to blockbuster IPOs, thanks to social media giant LinkedIn, and that’s great for industry and investors. But don’t get to cocky. That may be part of another looming tech bubble, if the financial trade press is to be believed.
Then there’s unemployment. We’re not hemorrhaging jobs like we were in 2009, but we’re certainly not creating them in significant numbers.
And who could overlook the long shadow cast by the housing downturn? There’s seemingly little positive news in the real estate sector, especially given the number of foreclosures that are still on the market.
For every piece of positive economic news, you can likely find three pieces of bad news. That may beat the good news-bad news ratio of two years ago, but it’s been nothing to celebrate. Yet our region may have more to feel good about than it realizes.
On The Bright Side
The Worcester Business Journal recently hosted an informal reader round table and the conversation, of course, fell to economic conditions. We were heartened to hear from the attendees that they are taking their destinies into their own hands. Optimism pervaded the room, as did a determination to succeed. And we think that’s the right attitude to take.
It’s up to each and every business owner to decide whether he or she wants to participate in an economic slowdown. There are market realities that we must all come to grips with. But a revamped product with an inventive marketing strategy targeting a new customer base can transform a business for the better. Instead of waiting for things to get better, our Central Massachusetts business community simply needs to decide, collectively, that they’re going to make things better. That seemed to be the case for the business owners who joined in our round table conversation, and that’s also the case for other businesses throughout the region.
Take DCI Engineering, which is profiled on page 18 of this publication. The company, which is part of the Worcester-based Coghlin Cos., is hiring and it’s doing so aggressively. And they’re not just looking for minimum-wage workers. The owners plan to bring on 10 to 15 qualified engineers this year.
So what’s driving the growth at DCI? It offers a lower cost solution to companies that are looking to develop new products, meet industry or government standards or maximize efficiency. In other words, the folks at DCI have found themselves a niche and are riding it all the way to a projected doubling in revenues this year.
That doesn’t sound like a company that is being acted upon by soft market conditions — they are doing the acting. While DCI may be one anecdote, there are thousands like it right here in Central Massachusetts. We write about some of them, and others go completely unnoticed. But the growth is happening in lots of sectors right in our own backyard.
We’re also well positioned here in Massachusetts, despite the perception that this is a hard state to do business in. The unemployment rate in the Bay State is 7.6 percent, well below the national average of 9.1 percent. We also ranked in the top 10 (at No. 6 to be exact) in a recent study by CNBC. We performed the best in New England, with our closest regional competitor, New Hampshire, coming in at No. 17. The other New England states ranked as follows: Connecticut, No. 39, Maine, No. 40; Vermont, No. 44 and Rhode Island, No. 50.
We’ve got the right ingredients in Massachusetts, including a strong talent pool, a legacy of innovation and a high quality of living. All those attributes are what helped to get Massachusetts to No. 6 on the CNBC list. And where Massachusetts falls down — particularly in the cost category when compared to states like Virginia or Texas — Central Massachusetts rises to the challenge. We have many of the same positives as our state as a whole, but we benefit from a much lower cost environment.
Given those factors, there’s no reason why 2011 has to be a year of stagnant growth. All it takes to change the direction of the boat is to get all oars in the water, paddling in the same direction. With a little muscle, we can pull through and get to calmer waters.
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