Put away your crystal ball...

On Tennessee's dynamic business landscape, knowledge of industry-specific perils and opportunities is vital. What can Tennesseans expect from the state's primary business sectors in 2008? In the following report, BusinessTN's editorial team has consulted the experts and mined the available data to provide readers insight into issues and trends affecting Tennessee's most important industries, as well as to forecast their near-term prospects. The treatment of some industries is broad in nature when the 40,000-square-foot view proves most helpful. Other industry profiles bore down into a hot button issue at the core of an industry's 2008 outlook.

Most major sectors of Tennessee business are covered here—agriculture, banking, construction and real estate, education, health care, manufacturing, shipping/logistics and tourism. Accompanying each sector report are newly targeted lists of the biggest players in the biggest industries across Tennessee, as well as the results of a statewide CEO survey gauging business activity across Tennessee.

The verdict? Despite an uncertain national economy, Tennessee's economic engine is sufficiently revved up to maintain a favorable business outlook for the Volunteer State business community across the remainder of 2008.

Rain or shine, here are the forecasts.

Table of Contents

• Agriculture
  • Weathering Depths
    A sector rocked by Mother Nature looks for a bio-based silver lining. [2]
  • Leading Commodities List [3]
• Banking
  • Pinch Proof
    Tennessee banks mostly miss taking the brunt of the subprime crisis [4]
  • Banking List [5]
• Education
  • A HOPE-ing Hand
    Still in its early years, debate over the effectiveness of the HOPE scholarship settles on merit versus need. [6]
  • Public Universities List [7]
• Health Care
  • The Charity Case
    A TennCare-based forfeiture lies heavy on the backs of Tennessee hospitals [8]
  • Top Hospitals ist [9]
• Logistics
  • The Center of it All
    Increasingly, the business of Tennessee is other peoples' business [10]
  • Logistics Providers List [11]
• Manufacturing
  • A Mixed Bag in the Making
    It may be true that numbers do not lie. But that does not make it any easier figuring out what they are saying. [12]
  • Leading Manufacturers List [13]
• Real Estate
  • Belt-Tightening Times
    Tennessee's commercial real estate sector experiences a moderate version of a national squeeze. [14]
  • Top Contractors List [15]
• Tourism
  • Keeping the Stage Set
    Will Tennessee continue to put its money where its tourism is? [16]
  • Top Tourist Attractions List [17]