What does it take to start, grow and sustain a business in Indiana? How important is foreign competition? What’s the state’s role in economic development and what initiatives offer the greatest growth opportunities?
For scholars, executives, elected officials and reporters covering the business community, these questions create a dialogue and a foundation on which we can help build a strategic plan to drive our state’s economy. It is also an opportunity to hear directly from Indiana executives about their challenges and the issues that impact their businesses, from health care costs and corporate reputation to customer loyalty and retention.
Visit
"The State of Our Business" Web site or view the
2008 results.
The following blog was written by Priscilla Arling, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at Butler University.
The majority of Indiana businesses recognize the increased use of Internet technology in the office and are concerned about whether that use is for business or personal use, as evidenced by the existence of formal policies on Internet use by over 60% of responding companies.
Despite this awareness and concern, however, more than 2/3 of those same companies lack technology-based controls or monitoring of Internet use. This may be either a deliberate choice by companies, a reflection of a hesitance to delve into employees' personal privacy even during working hours, or a sign that companies do not feel that abuse of Internet access (that is, use for personal reasons) is not severe enough to warrant spending funds to implement monitoring technology. My opinion is that the latter is most likely the case.
The survey suggests that while companies are aware of personal use during working hours of the Internet, in general, blogging has not reached the radar of awareness of most corporate HR or CEO's. However, companies may want to reconsider the lack of a blogging policy or at least assign someone in HR to investigate how employees are portraying the company on-line in personal blogs that are supported either on or off the company hardware. Increasingly, companies are finding that individual's employees' portrayal of the firm does not always mesh with their official public image.
The following blog was written by Priscilla Arling, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at Butler University.
Outsourcing of some IT functions continues; however, since last year’s survey, there has been little change in the extent of or type of functions outsourced. Functions outsourced are typically routine processes that while necessary to the functioning of the company, are not key components of competitive advantage. The fact that 70% of IT functions are still not outsourced suggests that executives at some level understand the contribution IT can make to achieving strategic goals and competitive advantage, and thus they are hesitant to send the development of those IT contributions outside of the firm.
The following blog was written by Larry O'Connor, Executive Director of the Butler Business Accelerator.
“It’s very interesting but not unexpected that the CEO Survey revealed the fact that three issues ranked very high. Sustained steady top-line income growth, employee retention and recruitment, and customer loyalty and retention are all critical.
At the Butler Business Accelerator, we have observed the same thing from our work with Indiana mid-market companies. Solutions to improve these key issues revolve around thorough planning and solid execution.
The Accelerator wants our clients to adopt a formal Balanced Scorecard planning methodology. This important exercise ensures that the interest of customers, employees, management and ownership are all aligned and given proper weight.
It’s revealing that the report brought so many key issues to light.”
The following blog was written by Priscilla Arling, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at Butler University.
Executives’ continued lack of confidence in their ability to evaluate information technology staff is related to two continuing and related problems in organizations:
(1) The lack of understanding by executives of how IT adds value and contributes to strategic goals. When a function's relation to strategic goals is well understood, the value and assessment of staff providing that function is seldom questioned. Evidence the lack of concern of evaluation of the productivity of marketing or accounting staff.
(2) The failure of IT executives to effectively bridge the divide between IT and other business functions, and create understanding of IT value by documenting and quantifying the benefits of installed technology.
In my opinion, in many organizations, IT has become similar to basic utilities in our home, such as water or sewer. We depend on it heavily for day to day functioning, but don't really know how it works or how it gets there. We only think about it when something goes wrong and we don't want to fund improvements for such 'basic' needs, and often have little imagination on how improvements in those utilities could improve our lives.
The following blog was written by Jennifer Rhodes, a partner at Ice Miller LLP.
It is no surprise that life sciences received the highest level of support among CEOs when asked to rank a series of economic development initiatives. Life sciences also received the highest level of support with respect to growth potential over the next several years. These survey results are consistent with 2007 findings, indicating a high level of stability in these perceptions.
So why the strong interest in life sciences? What are the economic benefits of focusing in the areas of research and development, technology transfers and commercialization?
According to a report by the Battelle Memorial Institute, Indiana is one of the nation's top four life sciences leaders (based upon number and concentration of life sciences-related jobs). In addition, Indiana is home to a number of pharmaceutical, life science and healthcare companies, including many that focus on bringing important medical discoveries to market. Finally, Indiana has the second largest medical school in the U.S. (Indiana University School of Medicine) which attracts some of the nation's best physicians and research scientists.
Alone, any one of these facts is a stand-out. Combined, they create an environment and culture that differentiates us from many states in terms of our strategic focus to improve the lives of people through a focused and strategic effort on life science discoveries.
The following blog was written by Harry Gonso, a partner at Ice Miller LLP and leads the Firm's life sciences practice.
The 2008 Indiana CEO survey has again recognized the importance of the life sciences industry to the growth of Indiana. There is one key ingredient that will likely contribute to its success and differentiates life sciences from other economic development efforts, and that is collaboration.
Indiana seems to have grasped the concept of collaboration. A few examples include Biocrossroads and the great partnerships between some of Indiana's finest higher education institutions.
But where are we in the process? The grade has to be excellent given all that's been done in a short time. Nonetheless, much remains to be done. As they say, in higher education, "it takes years to grow Ivy."
The report is we are doing well, on the right track and are leaders. The key "secret sauce" is collaboration.
The following blog was written by Richard Thrapp, Deputy Managing Partner at Ice Miller LLP.
Corporate reputation matters. Period. For the second year in a row, when asked to rate how important thirteen different issues, ranging from topics such as business growth to raw material prices, the CEOs surveyed picked corporate reputation as the most important issue. This should be no surprise given the events of the past month.
As Warren Buffet aptly noted, a good reputation takes years of good deeds to build, but it can be lost in a second due to one bad move or event. Most of us have made purchases or decisions based on corporate reputation. The "green movement" and diversity initiatives are just two such examples of how reputation can frame a company's image in the marketplace.
Maintaining open lines of communication with employees, creating a friendly work environment and culture and adopting a code of conduct for directors and officers are just a few ways a company can help manage their reputation. As the British writer Joseph Hall once said, "A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was."
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