Editorial

Make the State More Business-friendly

The ‘bad-waiter syndrome.’
We’re not sure which Bay State business owner used that descriptive phrase to capture what it’s like to run an enterprise within the Commonwealth (see story on AIM’s centennial celebration, HERE), but whoever it was really hit the nail on the head.

The proverbial bad waiter is the one who takes your money without really caring about whether you’re happy with the service — which means you generally are not happy. And in the end, it’s not only the bad waiter who suffers — no tip or a very small one — but also the restaurant in question, because the patron is unlikely to come back, as much as he or she might have liked the food and the atmosphere.

So it is with the state of Massachusetts. There’s a lot to like about this state from a business perspective — especially the workforce and many of the communities that give the Commonwealth its unique flavor, if you will. But a persistent anti-business attitude that prevails in most regions of this state leaves business owners and managers with, well, a bad taste in their mouths.

And that leaves many to take their business elsewhere — quite literally.

Which is why we’re encouraged by AIM’s recent initiative — part of its 100th birthday celebration — to compel change that might eventually make the state more business-friendly. The employers’ association has released a document called “Blueprint for the Next Century,” which identifies key concerns, or public-policy initiatives, and possible courses of action.

The four key focal points are workforce (meaning quality and quantity), creating what the authors call a ‘uniform business climate,’ promulgating efficient regulation (the lack of which is perhaps most responsible for the bad-waiter analogy), and reducing health insurance and energy costs.

Taking on such issues is admirable — and a more lasting way to mark 100 years in operation than honoring specific companies and business owners, such as Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge, which AIM will also do this year — but these are problems with deep roots and no easy solutions.

The workforce problem, for example, is one that virtually every business organization and economic-development agency has seen coming, and dire warnings have been issued as the Baby Boom generation nears retirement. Our guess is that the matter won’t really be taken seriously (in most quarters, anyway) until it is very real and not just something that’s coming. And we’re not quite there yet, at least in most sectors.

As for healthcare and energy costs … good luck with those. It might be easier to broker peace in the Middle East or end poverty. And a uniform business climate? Perhaps something can be done to improve the lot of the state’s gateway cities, the older industrial centers like Holyoke and Fall River that have struggled to reinvent themselves. But it’s unrealistic to think that Greenfield can ever be on anything approaching a level playing field with Cambridge or that state leaders will cease falling in love with whatever the ‘hot’ industry is at a given time (it’s currently biotech).

But one area where progress can and must be achieved is with the number of regulations imposed on business and the seemingly irresponsible way they are enforced.

‘Inefficient’ is one way to describe the current system. We would prefer punitive, a word we’ve heard from constituencies ranging from real-estate developers to manufacturers to farmers.

And as long as that adjective continues to apply, this state will be at a distinct competitive disadvantage with states and countries that don’t just say they’re business-friendly, but back up those words with actions.

The Baker administration currently has a moratorium on new regulations and is undertaking a review of everything currently on the books. We hope such actions can yield a more conducive environment for new and existing businesses.

If AIM’s action plan can generate significant improvement with the state’s regulatory nature, as well as progress in those other areas of concern among business owners, then the state may actually be able to rid itself of the bad-waiter syndrome.

That would be a milestone even more worthy of celebration.