03 Feb MadREP survey: Arrow’s pointing up for local biz
By Jason Busch, InBusiness
There’s no need to beat around the bush with the results from the Madison Region Economic Partnership’s (MadREP) expansive Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Survey that was conducted in 2015 to better understand the challenges, opportunities, needs, and concerns of companies in the region. Businesses in Madison and the surrounding region are remarkably healthy and optimistic about their future, according to respondents.
That’s not to say there aren’t still areas that local businesses can improve on, says Paul Jadin, president of MadREP, but he believes overall the survey results suggest that our economy is strong and is expected to get even stronger in the next couple years.
According to Jadin, MadREP typically works with its economic development partners throughout its eight county region, which represents Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, and Sauk counties, to distribute a 30-question business retention and expansion survey to local businesses. However, this latest BRE survey was a more comprehensive supplement aimed at getting a feel for how many companies in the region are exporting, how many have offices beyond the United States, whether companies are growing or contracting, how companies feel about their local services, and how they feel about their ability to hire labor.
The survey was distributed to 2,500 businesses in the Madison Region and 10% responded, representing all eight counties.
In spite of its comprehensive nature, Jadin says he believes there are only ever two questions that really matter: 1) How are you doing? 2) Is there anything we can do to help?
The answers to that first question is local businesses appear to be doing well. Read more …