Why Minnesota

Best in Business

Minnesota’s economy is represented by a wide variety of prosperous businesses. The state is home to 20 Fortune 500 companies, including 3M (also found on the Dow Jones Industrial Average), and many prominent private companies. Minnesota also offers opportunities for small and medium companies, as well as women-owned and minority-owned businesses. The overall health of Minnesota’s economy and its potential for future growth makes the state an excellent place for businesses to thrive.

• Best place to do business
• Minnesota's award-winning companies are known nationwide and span a variety of industries and areas of recognition
• Minnesota is home to successful and fast growing companies
• Minnesota’s companies are internationally recognized
• Minnesota businesses provide the specialized services that industries need to excel

Best place to do business

• According to Expansion Management, Minneapolis-St. Paul was the second best metropolitan area for business locations in 2006. Rankings compare 362 metropolitan areas in public education, health care cost and availability, transportation and logistics infrastructure, quality of life, pool of knowledge workers, government influences on the business climate and the metro areas' reputation among site location consultants.
   
• Based on indicators such as business cost, regulatory environment and quality of life, Forbes ranks Minnesota as the 14th best state for businesses in 2006. The state ranks particularly high in quality of life (3rd) and labor (14th). 

Minnesota's award-winning companies are known nationwide and span a variety of industries and areas of recognition

• Minnesota's dynamic economy has increased the number of Fortune 500 companies from 14 in 2000 to 20 in 2007. Overall, the state is home to 34 Fortune 1,000 companies, representing a wide variety of industries including insurance, banking, chemical manufacturing and food processing.
   
• Ameriprise Financial, a recent spin-off from American Express, is a Fortune 500 newcomer, ranking 297th with revenues of $8.1 billion.

• With 11 of the largest private companies in the country, the state ranks 12th in the Forbes "Largest Private Companies" list. One of these companies (Cargill) ranks second with $69.9 billion in revenues.
   
• Target and 3M are among 2007 Fortune’s “Top 20 Most Admired Companies.” Target ranks particularly high in innovation (first) and outranks Wal-Mart as the world’s most admired general merchandiser. Nine other Minnesota companies are also among the 306 “Most Admired Companies.”
   
• Representing a wide variety of industries, 14 Minnesota companies are in the 2006 Forbes "400 Best Big Companies" list. Four of those companies are in the Honor Roll because they have appeared each year in the list since its inception in 1999.
   
  Minnesota companies in the Forbes "400 Best Big Companies" list:

Company	Industry	Sales (Billions)
Target	Retailing	$56.7
Best Buy	Retailing	$32.6
3M	Conglomerates	$22.5
US Bancorp	Banking	$18.6
CH Robinson Worldwide	Transportation	$6.5
Hormel Foods	Food and Drink	$5.7
Ecolab	Chemicals	$4.8
Bemis	Materials	$3.6
Valspar	Chemicals	$3.0
Patterson Cos.	Health Care Equipment	$2.7
Toro	Consumer Durables	$1.8
Fastenal	Retailing	$1.7
Imation	Technology Hardware	$1.5
H.B. Fuller	Chemicals	$1.5

• Best Buy, General Mills and Target are among Fortune “Blue Ribbon Companies” for appearing in various Fortune lists, including but not limited to “Fortune 500,” “Best Companies to Work For,” “Global 500” and “100 MBA Employers.”
   
• Many other internationally renowned companies have major operations in Minnesota including:
• Unisis
• Siemens
• IBM
• Seagate
• Boston Scientific
• Emerson Electric
• Lockheed Martin
• General Dynamics
• General Electric 

Minnesota is home to successful and fast growing companies

• Two companies based in Minnesota (ASV and Digital River) are among the nation’s 100 fastest growing companies over the previous three-year period, according to Fortune in 2006.
   
• Eight Minnesota companies were among the nation’s 500 fastest growing private companies, according to the Inc. 500 List in 2006.
   
• Minnesota had the 14th largest number of new manufacturing facilities (510) among all states between 2004 and 2006, according to Site Selection.
   
• In 2006, 166 expansions reported by Minnesota businesses created 5,315 jobs and increased investment by $2.1 billion, according to DEED’s Business Expansion Report.

Minnesota’s companies are internationally recognized

• Minnesota’s five largest multi-nationals, ranked by foreign revenues are 3M ($12.1 billion), Medtronic ($3.3 billion), The Mosaic Co. ($3.2 billion), Northwest Airlines Corp. ($3.1 billion), and Best Buy ($2.8 billion), according to the Business Journal – Book of Lists, 2007. (Note: Carlson Companies and Cargill Inc. are excluded because they do not break down revenue by sources.)
   
• With revenues of $69.9 billion in 2005, Cargill – an international marketer and processor of agricultural goods based in Minnesota – was the largest private company in the country, according to Forbes.
   
• With international sales of $1.8 billion in 2005, General Mills is one of Minnesota's best known companies worldwide with a presence in more than 100 countries in four continents.
   
• Northwest Airlines and its travel partners offer service to more than 900 cities in about 160 countries on six continents. The company ranked fourth among international airlines in the number of passengers served, 57.5 million, in 2005.

Minnesota businesses provide the specialized services that industries need to excel

• Top Five Metro Area Advertising Agencies

Company	Audited Billings (millions)
Campbell Mithun	$1,111
Fallon Worldwide	$634
Carmichael Lynch, Inc.	$423
Martin/Williams Advertising	$381
Colle+McVoy, Inc.	$175

• Top Five Metro Area Accounting Firms

  Company	Number of Local CPAs and Professionals
  Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu	583
  LarsonAllen	449
  Ernst & Young	415
  PricewaterhouseCoopers	378
  KPMG	301

• Top Five Metro Area Software Developers

Company	Number of Software Employees
Lawson Software	2,400
Thomson Legal & Regulatory	1,400
SoftBrands, Inc.	600
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Inc.	310
HighJump Software	263

• Top Five Metro Area Computer Consulting Companies

Company	Number of Consultants
Teksystems	510
TAJ Technologies	199
Fujitsu Consulting	161
Ambient Consulting	157
Deloitte Consulting	150

• Top Five Metro Area Web Development and Design Firms

Company	Number of Web Designers
Atomic Playpen	353
Space 150	90
MRM Worldwide	60
Harbinger Partners, Inc.	40
Charter Solutions, Inc.	42

• Top Five Metro Area Law Firms

Company	Number of Attorneys
Faegre and Benson	312
Dorsey and Whitney	298
Fredrikson and Byron	204
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi	165
Lindquist & Vennum	162

• Top Five Metro Area Management Consulting Firms 

Company	Number of Consultants
Accenture	1,700
The Deloitte U.S. Firms	668
Genesis 10	360
Watson Wyatt Worldwide	250
Ambient Consulting	156

Sources: Business Journal, Book of Lists, 2007 Edition; and Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, February 9, 2007