How does Virginia reinvigorate a lagging economy dragged down by sequestration-driven cuts to defense spending? Foster a business environment conducive to new business formation.
There’s a good-news, bad-news story coming out of publication of the 2014 Inc. 5000 compilation of the nation’s fastest-growing companies. As Virginia Business reports, the 284 Virginia companies on the list ranked Virginia 5th in the country, lagging only California, Texas, New York and Florida, states with far larger populations and business communities. That’s a positive indicator of Virginia’s business vitality.
It’s a mixed-news story, however, because three-quarters of the fast-growing companies are located in Northern Virginia. While NoVa is an incredibly fertile ground for entrepreneurship, RoVa (the rest of Virginia) is not. Take away Northern Virginia, and what you get is… middle America.
Many (including me) have questioned the ability of the NoVa business community, which is heavily skewed to defense contracting work, to restructure itself to thrive in an era of federal budget cuts. I’m less worried now than iI once was. Ironically, budget cuts may benefit the region in the long run. With one of the best educated, highly skilled populations anywhere in the country, NoVa residents have no lack of ideas for new enterprises. The contraction of the government-contractor sector releases employees, office space and other resources to start-up companies. While NoVa is suffering now, the number of fast-growth firms suggests that the region will recover and within a few years resume its position as Virginia’s economic growth leader.
Charlottesville looks like a mini growth story but the metropolitan region is too small to have much spillover effect for the statewide economy. Hampton Roads and Richmond appear to host small, fast-growth companies roughly in line with national averages — a lukewarm performance. Virginia’s smaller metros and rural areas are laggards, as are small metros and rural areas are across the country. (I’m on vacation and haven’t had time to calculate the number of fast growth companies per capita, so these impressions are rough and subject to revision.)
— JAB
