Survey conducted for Team New England by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut Business Perceptions of New England

New England Survey Objectives Ratings of New England and it’s six states as places to do business as well as live and work Opinions of New England including business and regulatory attributes Reasons for and against expanding/locating operations in New England New England’s performance on a variety of factors in doing business To measure and explore:

Methodology PopulationNumber of surveys conducted Survey dates American businesses Executives/managers of US businesses with 50 or more employees 4071/6 – 2/10/04 International businesses Executives/managers of businesses located in Canada, Germany or the UK with 50 or more employees 1004/23 – 5/19/04 Site selector firms Principals at US site selection firms504/1 - 5/6/04

Question wording: Q1. What comes to mind when someone mentions New England? Perceptions of New England

Q2. On a scale of one to ten, where one means poor and ten means excellent, how would you rate New England as a place to do business? New England as a Place to do Business (rate 0 –10)

IQ4. Using a scale of one to ten with one being poor and ten being excellent, please tell me how you would rate each state as a place to do business. State Rankings - Place to do Business (rate 0 –10)

Q3. On a scale of one to ten, where one means poor and ten means excellent, how would you rate New England as a place to live and work? New England as a Place to Live and Work (rate 0 –10)

Q6a. What would be the single most important reason why your business WOULD consider expanding in New England? (Site selectors were asked the single most important reason why they WOULD recommend that their clients consider EXPANDING in New England) Reasons to expand operations in New England Responses From BusinessResponses From Site Selectors

Q6b. What would be the single most important reason why your business WOULD consider locating in New England? (Site selectors were asked the single most important reason why they WOULD recommend that their clients consider LOCATING in New England) Reasons to locate in New England Responses From BusinessResponses From Site Selectors

Q7a. What would be the single most important reason why your business WOULD NOT consider expanding in New England? (Site selectors were asked the single most important reason why they WOULD NOT recommend that their clients consider EXPANDING in New England) Reasons not to expand operations in New Eng.

Q7b. What would be the single most important reason why your business WOULD NOT consider locating in New England? (Site selectors were asked the single most important reason why they WOULD NOT recommend that their clients consider LOCATING in New England) Reasons not to locate in New England

Q8. In general, would you say New England's business climate is: New England’s Business Climate

Q9. On average, would you say New England has: Government Regulations in New England

Q10. Would you say New England's weather is: Weather Conditions in New England

Q11. On average, would you say that people and businesses in New England: Innovation in New England

Q12. Compared with the costs of doing business in the rest of the country, would you say doing business in New England is: Costs of Doing Business in New England

Key Attributes Importance v. Performance

Conclusions There is a consistent image in the public’s mind of what New England is New England is seen as an above average place to do business and live/work Education is in the top three most important business factors for all three groups surveyed, and there is a perception of New England having well educated residents as well as above average educational resources. Affirmative Findings

Conclusions Site selectors, and US businesses to a lesser extent, consider New England to be an expensive place to do business. Site selectors consider New England’s biggest minus to be costs, biggest plus to be education International firms have less well defined opinions and attitudes toward NE, but rate it highest as place to live and work Challenges and Opportunities New England is considered to be expensive and more regulated than other parts of the US

Survey conducted for Team New England by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut American Perceptions of New England

Perceptions of New England Question wording: Q1. What comes to mind when someone mentions New England?

Rating New England as a place to visit Q2. On a scale of one to ten, where one means poor and ten means excellent, how would you rate New England as a place to visit?

Rating New England as a place to live and work Q4. On a scale of one to ten, where one means poor and ten means excellent, how would you rate New England as a place to live and work?

Most appealing times to visit to New England

Survey conducted with 1006 randomly selected US residents 18 years of age and older Interviews were conducted between 12/3/03 and 1/15/04 The margin of error is approximately +/- 3% at the 95% confidence level Methodology

Key Attributes Importance v. Performance

Survey conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut Regional Identity: A Study of New England Residents

Do you consider yourself to be a New Englander? General Q1. Do you consider yourself to be a New Englander?

Rating New England as a place to live Q16.How would you rate New England as a place to live: excellent, good, only fair, or poor? General

Your STATE as a place to live Q15.How would you rate your state as a place to live: excellent, good, only fair, or poor? General

New England compared to other regions Q17. How about New England as a region of the United States to live in? Would you say that it is the best region of the country to live in, one of the better regions, average, one of the worst, or the worst region of the country to live in? General

Why residents think New England is unique Q5A. In what ONE way is it MOST different from the rest of the country? (Ask as open-ended. If respondent says more than one answer, PROBE: What ONE thing would you say makes New England the most different?) General

What residents like most about New England Q3. I'd like you to think for a moment about living here in New England, as opposed to living in other parts of the country. By New England I am referring to Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Generally speaking, what do you LIKE the MOST about living here in NE? General

What residents dislike most about New England Q4. And what do you DISLIKE the most about living here in New England? (Ask as open-ended. If more than one PROBE: What do you dislike the most?) General

Q9. Generally, New Englanders have stronger moral values than other people in the country. Q40. Would you agree or disagree with the following statement: New England has better public education than other parts of the country? Self Perception Self-perception of New Englanders

Q8A. New Englanders are less friendly than most other Americans. (PROBE: strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree) Q8B. New Englanders are less religious than most other Americans. / Q8C. New Englanders are smarter than most other Americans. / Q8D. New Englanders are more liberal than most other Americans. Self Perception

Rate of state’s economy Q27. Overall, how would you rate the economy in your state: excellent, good, only fair or poor? Economy

% Correctly naming all New England states Q2. Would you please identify the states in New England? General

Methodology Random Digit Dialing Disproportionately Stratified Sample Margin of error: +/-2.83 Response Rate: 17%