Mark Sweeney doesn’t have a dog in Alabama’s immigration fight.
As a senior partner at the Greenville, S.C.-based McCallum Sweeney Consulting, it’s Sweeney’s job to help companies identify locations for capital investment. His firm is one of the world’s most sought-after site selection consultants, and its roster of blue chip clients reads like a corporate who’s-who: Boeing, Caterpillar, Mercedes-Benz, Michelin, Navistar and Shell, among others.
McCallum Sweeney is the firm that Nissan Motor Co. called when it went looking for a place to build its first U.S. assembly plant, a $1.4 billion project that landed in Canton, Miss., in 2000. Five years later, the company tapped Sweeney again when it sought to relocate its U.S. headquarters from Los Angeles. Sweeney helped steer the $100 million project to Nashville.
After 20 years in the economic development business, Sweeney’s opinion counts. And his view of Alabama’s new immigration law is that it will discourage foreign companies from investing in the state.
"There’s nothing good about it," Sweeney said. "I can’t see any positives in terms of economic development."
Sweeney said Alabama had every right to address the immigration issue, and that he wasn’t familiar enough with the law to judge its merits. He also said the law had yet to be raised as an issue by any of his clients, but that "it is something we’ll have to account for" in future projects.
The law is touted by its supporters as "the toughest in the nation" on illegal immigration. But since the law took effect in September, it’s had a range of unintended consequences.
Among most painful of those consequences, according to Sweeney, is the harm to Alabama’s image. He said that the state has made great strides over the past two decades to erase "Heart of Dixie" stereotypes and recruit global players like Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Airbus, ThyssenKrupp and Hyundai.
"Alabama has worked so hard to reinvent itself as a destination for global manufacturing. It’s really been a remarkable transformation," he said. "Unfortunately, this law really is counter to that effort."
Sweeney, a former recruiter for the South Carolina Department of Commerce, said that the controversy is similar to the bitter fight over South Carolina’s decision to display the Confederate flag on state property.
The South’s history of racial intolerance, he said, gives states like Alabama and South Carolina scant margin for error. The recent arrest of a Mercedes executive in Tuscaloosa as a result of the immigration law, he said, was particularly damaging to the state’s reputation.
"I guarantee you they read about that in Germany, and you can only imagine what their reaction will be," Sweeney said. "Nobody wants to be arrested. And no company wants to put its employees in that kind of situation."
Sweeney said that competing states are capitalizing on the law as they look to steal prospects from Alabama.
"Alabama competes in the major leagues of economic development. And that competition, particularly in this economy, is fierce," he said. "Of course other states are going to use it, either explicitly or in some subtle way. Frankly, Alabama has a reputation as a tough competitor and for doing whatever it takes to win a project. It’s all fair game."
Sweeney said that companies decide where to locate based on a variety of factors, such as labor costs, land availability, transportation, utilities and tax rates.
But "soft" elements often enter the picture, he said. Those might be quality of life, business climate, schools or welcoming environment.
"It all matters," he said. "It could come into play at the end, when they’re trying to make a final decision and it’s a very close call. Or you could get eliminated at the outset, because a decision-maker says he doesn’t even want to put you on the list."
The harsh reality for Alabama, he said, is that the law may cause companies to reject the state without ever giving it a first look.
"The scary thing is, you may be losing prospects that you never even know about," he said. "I am certain it will be an issue."
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Expert Immigration law bad for Alabama economic development (George Talbot)
6:38 PM
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