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Opinion: Economic survey captures needed data to navigate road ahead

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Springfield Business Journal’s 2023 Economic Growth Survey is coming soon to an inbox near you, marking the fifth year area business leaders will be polled regarding current and future needs and plans for personnel, capital, real estate, expansion, contraction, retirement and more. In 2019, SBJ set out to capture real-time data – not being measured or readily disseminated elsewhere – that would aid area businesspeople in informed decision-making and that could serve as a guide for local economic development.

Thanks to an overwhelming survey response in that first year, we were able to capture baseline data that allowed us to establish a Springfield business confidence index one year prior to a pandemic that changed the world. The survey went out twice in 2020, pre- and post-COVID onset. Again, the time dedicated by local business decision-makers to respond to these surveys proved invaluable to measuring the impact of the pandemic and predicting future needs in a way that likely shortened and informed local business recovery. In 2021, some very solution-oriented discussions began to take place surrounding survey data that forecasted increasing workforce needs paired with additional barriers to workforce attraction and/or reentry with regard to housing and child care needs. In 2022, discussion group participants visited several new local development sites of note in Ozark, Republic and Springfield in an effort to identify additional opportunities.

So, let me first express my gratitude. Thank you for taking the time to respond to these surveys. Thank you also for thoughtful participation in forum discussions over the last four years in person and on Zoom. Thank you for your willingness to help other local businesses recover and prosper by sharing your candid observations and forecasts. Thank you for those who joined us in 2022 on tours and previews of the Amazon, Finley Farms, Sports Town and Forward SGF facilities. Your time and participation made all the difference!

Now for the ask …
The 2023 survey is no less important than those that preceded it. I urge you to take the 10-12 minutes required to respond to the survey questions that will be delivered to you via email or that you can access by clicking here. The primary survey is clearly geared toward management level decision-makers. If you do not function as a decision-maker within your organization, I would urge you to forward the survey to appropriate people in your business. Solving today’s complex problems requires an engaged community with multiple perspectives. That’s why SBJ is investing in this initiative and why we are asking you to once again invest your time. Just as we were unaware of the changes that were looming in 2020 as the pre-COVID survey circulated, there are most certainly bumps ahead that are currently unknown to us. Really measuring and understanding the known variables is key to navigating the path and to proactively creating the environment where local businesses can thrive.

Here’s my promise: You can expect the time invested here to come back to you in multiples. Springfield Business Journal, along with the 2023 sponsors of the Economic Growth Series, are committed to bringing this data back to the business community in a very digestible fashion via six special pull-out publications that will accompany your regular print edition in the months to come.

Whether you have followed and participated in this data collection project since its launch in 2019 or your involvement begins today, your input is valuable. Thank you in advance for your participation.

Springfield Business Journal Publisher Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@sbj.net.

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