Why Jax Went South
There’s plenty of finger-pointing going around as to why The Jackson Laboratory is expanding in Florida. What would it really take to keep a gem like Jax all to ourselves?
Last October, one of Maine’s largest and most important employers, The Jackson Laboratory (aka Jax), announced it was considering an expansion. With roughly 1,200 employees at its Bar Harbor headquarters and another 100 or so in Sacramento, California, the global leader in the development of genetically engineered mice for medical research shared its intention to establish an institute for personalized medicine in southwest Florida.
Florida, you see, has invested millions, and plans to invest millions more, in the development of a biomedical research cluster. Between Florida’s anticipated contributions and the millions Jackson Lab is prepared to commit, a total of roughly $300 million will be invested to attract best-in-class employers in the biomed sector to the Sunshine State. Florida has a plan.
If you’re a global leader like Jackson Lab, in order to compete, you will need access to the best facilities, the best researchers, the best hospitals, available and educated labor, synergistic companies and research organizations, research funding organizations, world-class infrastructure—the works.
In a nutshell, Florida spoke, and Jax listened. No doubt Jackson Lab loves it here, but business is business.
Well, the recession may have scaled back some of Florida’s grandest ambitions, but it is clear that Florida is serious about attracting global biomedical leaders. In early May, the Florida Legislature approved the state’s budget, which included a $50 million installment on a roughly $130 million plan to secure Jax’s commitment to establish the aforementioned institute.
So, we can expect Jackson Lab to pursue the unique opportunity afforded them in Florida. They simply won’t be able to compete in a world of mobile human capital, as well as investment capital, if they focus their growth plans only in Bar Harbor. This is called reality.
Now, this reality stuff hasn’t impeded various hopefuls for the Blaine House from using Jackson Lab’s case as a study in leadership and missed opportunity. One major party candidate, campaigning as an “outsider” with superior private-sector smarts, said that the state had “let the big one slip away,” and had simply thrown up its hands in defeat, rather than fighting to keep the new jobs likely to be created.
Another candidate, from the other major party, also campaigning as an outsider with superior private-sector smarts, said that state leaders merely “shrugged” at the news that Jackson Lab was looking to expand in Florida. Noting that Jackson Lab had received $40 million in public moneys here in Maine over the last decade, this candidate suggested that Maine get “right of first refusal” on any new facility the laboratory sought to build.
We can learn at least two things from this still-unfolding saga: First, “outsiders” think that state government is helpless, if not downright harmful, when it comes to economic development.
Second, outsiders, at least those represented by the comments previously cited, have no clue as to how economic development really works.
If Jackson Lab has as one of its goals the desire to position itself as a leader in a key, emerging area of genetic research, and a state other than Maine—a state with exceptional financial resources, a vision, and a plan to grow a cluster built around the lab—approaches it, Jackson Lab would be irresponsible not to pursue that opportunity.
And if you’re the governor of Maine, or the commissioner of economic and community development, you have to ask yourself what you can reasonably assemble, package, and offer to an institution like Jackson Lab that could meaningfully compete, or at least cause the company to consider alternatives that involve growing in Maine.
Maine does not have hundreds of millions of dollars, nor do we have the symbiotic industry cluster, nor do we have the abundance of specialized workers needed to compete head-to-head with Florida on this initiative. No amount of chest-thumping can change the fact that business is business, and numbers are numbers.
You can’t indict Maine for the crime of not being Florida. What would be far more compelling is the candid recognition that Maine, as much as we would love to, can’t match offers like this. It would be even more helpful to know how in the future we can best support companies like Jax who we know are or will be global leaders.
The time to nurture Jax and other job-creators like it is before the Floridas of the world come calling.
We need to build our clusters proactively and collaboratively, through joint strategic planning efforts. It takes planning and action, not hindsight and regret, to build a better mousetrap.
Perry B. Newman is founder and president of Atlantica Group LLC, an international business consulting firm based in Portland.
Why Jax Went South
There’s plenty of finger-pointing going around as to why The Jackson Laboratory is expanding in Florida. What would it really take to keep a gem like Jax all to ourselves?
Last October, one of Maine’s largest and most important employers, The Jackson Laboratory (aka Jax), announced it was considering an expansion. With roughly 1,200 employees at its Bar Harbor headquarters and another 100 or so in Sacramento, California, the global leader in the development of genetically engineered mice for medical research shared its intention to establish an institute for personalized medicine in southwest Florida.
Florida, you see, has invested millions, and plans to invest millions more, in the development of a biomedical research cluster. Between Florida’s anticipated contributions and the millions Jackson Lab is prepared to commit, a total of roughly $300 million will be invested to attract best-in-class employers in the biomed sector to the Sunshine State. Florida has a plan.
If you’re a global leader like Jackson Lab, in order to compete, you will need access to the best facilities, the best researchers, the best hospitals, available and educated labor, synergistic companies and research organizations, research funding organizations, world-class infrastructure—the works.
In a nutshell, Florida spoke, and Jax listened. No doubt Jackson Lab loves it here, but business is business.
Well, the recession may have scaled back some of Florida’s grandest ambitions, but it is clear that Florida is serious about attracting global biomedical leaders. In early May, the Florida Legislature approved the state’s budget, which included a $50 million installment on a roughly $130 million plan to secure Jax’s commitment to establish the aforementioned institute.
So, we can expect Jackson Lab to pursue the unique opportunity afforded them in Florida. They simply won’t be able to compete in a world of mobile human capital, as well as investment capital, if they focus their growth plans only in Bar Harbor. This is called reality.
Now, this reality stuff hasn’t impeded various hopefuls for the Blaine House from using Jackson Lab’s case as a study in leadership and missed opportunity. One major party candidate, campaigning as an “outsider” with superior private-sector smarts, said that the state had “let the big one slip away,” and had simply thrown up its hands in defeat, rather than fighting to keep the new jobs likely to be created.
Another candidate, from the other major party, also campaigning as an outsider with superior private-sector smarts, said that state leaders merely “shrugged” at the news that Jackson Lab was looking to expand in Florida. Noting that Jackson Lab had received $40 million in public moneys here in Maine over the last decade, this candidate suggested that Maine get “right of first refusal” on any new facility the laboratory sought to build.
We can learn at least two things from this still-unfolding saga: First, “outsiders” think that state government is helpless, if not downright harmful, when it comes to economic development.
Second, outsiders, at least those represented by the comments previously cited, have no clue as to how economic development really works.
If Jackson Lab has as one of its goals the desire to position itself as a leader in a key, emerging area of genetic research, and a state other than Maine—a state with exceptional financial resources, a vision, and a plan to grow a cluster built around the lab—approaches it, Jackson Lab would be irresponsible not to pursue that opportunity.
And if you’re the governor of Maine, or the commissioner of economic and community development, you have to ask yourself what you can reasonably assemble, package, and offer to an institution like Jackson Lab that could meaningfully compete, or at least cause the company to consider alternatives that involve growing in Maine.
Maine does not have hundreds of millions of dollars, nor do we have the symbiotic industry cluster, nor do we have the abundance of specialized workers needed to compete head-to-head with Florida on this initiative. No amount of chest-thumping can change the fact that business is business, and numbers are numbers.
You can’t indict Maine for the crime of not being Florida. What would be far more compelling is the candid recognition that Maine, as much as we would love to, can’t match offers like this. It would be even more helpful to know how in the future we can best support companies like Jax who we know are or will be global leaders.
The time to nurture Jax and other job-creators like it is before the Floridas of the world come calling.
We need to build our clusters proactively and collaboratively, through joint strategic planning efforts. It takes planning and action, not hindsight and regret, to build a better mousetrap.
Perry B. Newman is founder and president of Atlantica Group LLC, an international business consulting firm based in Portland.
Tagged as:
Maine business retention,
Perry Newman,
The Jackson Laboratory
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