Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Region's business leaders express cautious optimism
The Roanoke Regional Chamber president says business is "ready for things to improve."
Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times
Sandy Murray, marketing director for Building Specialists Inc., makes some points after a presentation by Dr. Steve Swavely, a Greensboro, N.C.-based neuropsychologist who spoke about strategies to improve communication during stressful economic times.
John Light (from left), president of Commonwealth Door & Hardware; Jim Hale, a lawyer with LeClairRyan; and Roanoke businessman Bittle Porterfield converse between sessions at the economic summit.
The latest from The Ticker blog
The clinical psychologist's talk wrapped up the regional economic summit held Tuesday in Roanoke and, considering the event's sobering content, it seemed fitting to close the four-hour event with an address from an upbeat expert on human emotion.
Presentations included results from an annual business climate survey conducted online by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, which queried its current membership of 987 businesses and organizations. About 16 percent of members participated.
Responses to the 2009 survey, which was held during the first two weeks of May, painted a darker portrait than last year's.
For example, 9 percent of respondents to the 2008 questionnaire indicated they planned to cut jobs that year. This year, 19 percent, or nearly one in five, reported a likelihood of reducing employment. About 35 percent of survey participants this year said they expect to add workers.
Asked whether they anticipate an uptick in revenues this year, about 36 percent said they do. Last year, nearly 60 percent believed revenues would increase.
And about 41 percent of respondents predicted a drop this year in profits, a turnaround from last year, when roughly the same percentage predicted profits would increase.
Psychologist Steve Swavely began his keynote address -- titled "How Organizations Can Help Their Employees Navigate Through Difficult Economic Times" -- with questions. In one, he asked the 100 or so people in the audience to describe the elements of personality.
Linda Staley, director of marketing for Carilion Clinic, replied, "A sense of humor."
But the chamber's sixth annual Economic Summit, held at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, wrung little laughter from the crowd, which was smaller than it was during last year's event.
Not all the news was bad.
Speaker Terance Rephann, a regional economist with the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, said many economists predict a measure of national economic growth will resume during the third quarter of 2009.
Joyce Waugh, president and chief executive officer of the Roanoke chamber, offered her take on the latest business climate survey.
"The survey seems to reflect where we are in the region," Waugh said. "Things are not all bad, nor all good, but certainly off from last year.
"I believe there's cautious optimism among our members. Not yet ready to say things are turning around, but with some hopeful signs, very ready for things to improve," she said.
Beth Doughty, former chamber president and now executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, shared similar observations.
"The survey results were not surprising in the context of the world economy," Doughty said. "The good news is that companies anticipate hiring in the future."
During the summit, Rephann asked members of the audience, who wielded small devices designed to register their live responses, which influences were most likely to "negatively impact your establishment's growth during the next five years."
From a list of 10 possible negative impacts, the audience ranked their top two: "government policies/taxes" and "employee costs," which included wages, workers compensation and health insurance benefits.
Later, appearing via teleconference, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, took shots at the administrations of both Barack Obama and George Bush for their handling of the international financial meltdown. He said he had favored more tax cuts and relying more on the private sector and free enterprise to jump-start a recovery.
Goodlatte cited concerns about the nation's escalating national deficit and said he believes the federal government has abandoned fiscal responsibility. He also expressed opposition to government assuming a too-big role in providing health care insurance coverage.
