Sunday, February 25, 2007
Maine can be a difficult place to do business, but many of the problems the state faces are produced by our own, sometimes dour, view of ourselves, a panel of business leaders said at a recent roundtable discussion.
"We suffer from a little bit of an inferiority complex," said Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and one of 11 business leaders who took part in the Business Round Table hosted earlier this month by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. "We do a little better job of stating the negative."
Connors and the others said the state's image to outsiders is stronger and more positive than the image many Mainers hold.
But putting aside the tendency to look for a cloud behind every silver lining, there are some issues the business leaders say make it a little harder to be successful in Maine.
One is Maine's aging workers, which mirrors the national trend of members of the huge baby boomer generation starting to retire and not enough younger workers taking their places.
"There is a huge, huge (work force) deficit in the United States today," said Peter G. Vigue, president and chief executive officer of Cianbro Corp., one of the largest contractors on the East Coast. "There are more people leaving the work force than entering the work force."
Training and education would help people entering the work force to land good, solid jobs. But the state's colleges and universities are unable to accommodate everyone because of budget limitations, said John Fitzsimmons, president of the Maine Community College System.
Fitzsimmons said that in the past year, Southern Maine Community College in South Portland had to turn away 1,100 students looking to take classes to prepare for careers in health care.
"We have thousands of people lined up to get in and there's no room at the inn," he said.
And finances are also a hurdle, he said: in recent years, enrollment has jumped but state funding hasn't kept pace, and small businesses "are looking to the state to be their HR department."
Vigue said Cianbro has tackled that problem on its own by running internal classes to help workers acquire the skills their jobs demand.
"Our educational efforts have expanded tenfold" in recent years, he said.
Others suggested that approach Ð of private entities stepping in to do what the government cannot Ð might be a model more Maine businesses could follow in areas other than education.
In fact, Eileen F. Skinner, president and chief executive officer of Mercy Health System, said it would represent the kind of government-business collaboration she saw as one of the state's strengths after moving here from New Orleans five years ago.
Skinner said the negative attitude she encountered when she moved here surprised her.
"I'm not pessimistic at all, I'm an optimist," she said, saying the state is very attractive to people who visit. "People are going to move here and the economy is going to grow."
Skinner's optimism led others to note that a recent Brookings Institution study of the state also found a number of positive attributes and set out a road map for utilizing them. They said they were encouraged that the report is stirring efforts to tackle problems.
"There seems to be some momentum" for coming up with solutions and making some tough decisions, Connors said.
John Oliver, vice president of public affairs at L.L. Bean, said the Brookings report focused on the need to find and follow an economic development strategy, as well as reining in spending to reduce taxes and give the government more ability to invest in areas where resources are needed.
The national and world economies are changing and becoming more integrated, Oliver said, and "we have to understand where we are in that broader context" in order to prosper.
Others cited the need for the state to help businesses find funding to grow. They said the state provides help for start-ups, "but once you get past the first stages, there is a gap," said Valarie C. Lamont, associate dean for innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Southern Maine's School of Business.
David Patch said that's what he's seen as president of PLSystems , which works on commercializing laser fabrication systems.
"The problem we have is capacity and trying to take us from a little lab in Sanford to a larger facility," he said. "Whether I can do this in Maine or not is a problem."
But Connors said there are solutions to those kinds of problems if people know where to look and follow the Yankee can-do philosophy.
"If we look within ourselves, we'll find the answer, instead of looking outside ourselves," he said.
Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at: emurphy@pressherald.com
Reader comments
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It's not something to be proud of when you are the most taxed state and one of only two states that got left behind economically. Mississippi and Maine ... Mississippi had Katrina as an excuse and Maine had ???
Maine is an economic disaster zone ... after 53 years of struggle in Maine I finally left ! Not because I wanted to , but because I needed to economically.
The good old boys syndrome in Augusta, mismanaged state spending, high taxes, cost of living, lack of repect for the taxpayer and the unfriendly business attitude of the state finally made me look elswhere to live.
For the first time in my life I can actually afford to buy a NEW car and have a NEWER home, and have money in my checking account without working 3 jobs !
Living cheaply in FL but exiled from Maine !report abuse
I am a 41 year old non-traditional student who is working toward a BS in Computer Information Systems on a part time basis. I work full time in a paper mill at a dead end job. I've repeatedly applied for one computer job after another, only to be turned down or not even interviewed due to "lack of experience". So, here I am, three courses away from my BS, stuck in a dead end job, and am unable to utilize my education due to the chicken-or-the-egg phenomenon most college grads face. In Maine, an education with little or no experience will usually force a new grad to go back to waiting tables in order to pay off their student loans. Or, they could choose ot leave the state i search of employers willing to take a chance on entry level people.
What I find to be sad is some of my professors at UMA have told me what I've come to suspect. You're likely going to have to leave Maine in order to find an entry level computer job. This is reminescent of my earning an associate degree in electronics form the former technical college system over 20 years ago. Back then, my former instructors were telling soon to be graduates that they likely would have to relocate to NH or MA in order to find entry level jobs in the electronics industry. They were right then, and I see that my current professors are right now.
The issue is not the lack of educational opportunities, but the lack of jobs allowing new entrants into the field the opportunity to utilize their education.report abuse
ie:
Topsham is going through a reassessment process so the middle class taxpayer can pay more while commercial development is growing in leaps and bounds. The largest commercial ventures are blessed with TIFS forcing higher taxes to raise appropriations for new town offices and infrastructure expense. At the same time BNAS is closing which will force a glut of home availablity in our area. We already know we won't be needing that amount of extra housing because out kids won't come back to Maine after graduating from their out of state colleges and universities, since starting teachers salaries are slim and overall business opportunities are few. Income levels of the middle class worker are among the lowest in the nation, while we are now the champs in "Highest taxes paid in the Nation".
Additionally, the "Gov." wants to consolidate the education system which will force the "good and able" Superintendents to leave the state so the inept and less capable ones can take over those positions that will oversee larger and more diverse constituencies ( 1 Super in MSAD 75, Brunswick and Freeport which have distinctly different needs in terms of education - where 3 positions currently exist).
As the Supers leave, the principals will become overworked as a result, and then they will leave (the ones that can, of course!) When the "Gov." figures out what he's created 2-3 years from now, taxes will be needing to go up again to support the serious shortage of administrators and teachers that has resulted because the money will be used by the state for more roads we can't afford while the school systems that used to produce "EDUCATION FOR OUR CHILDREN" have become the worst in the nation, "LIKE THE TAXES!"
YIPPEE! Enjoy!
I don't think anyone knows how much trouble we're facing here in Maine! Sorry, apparently I'm negative!report abuse
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