In the pro-business environment of the 1920s, business launched a large-scale offensive on behalf of the so-called "open shop", which meant that a person did not have to be a union member to be hired.

In particular, the party has often been credited with shaping the low-tax, pro-business environment that contributed to Ireland's Celtic Tiger economic boom during the 1990s and 2000s.

Asian immigrants now head south for many of the same reasons that other business people do: low housing costs, rapid economic growth and a generally pro-business political environment.

But he said he hoped that by announcing this policy he could create "a pro-business environment" in the city.

He immediately worked to create a pro-business environment by cutting Government controls and adopting one of Latin America's most liberal foreign investment codes.

Republicans said the income tax increase - raising the rate from 3.5 percent to 7 percent for those making more than $100,000 a year - would end New Jersey's "pro-business environment."

Senator Chapman believes that the advancement of a pro-business environment is the best way to spur job creation.

Hong Kong is an extremely pro-business environment with a can-do attitude.

That formula, he said, encompasses many factors, including the cooperation of unions, local and national government agencies and universities, but also undoubtedly the pro-business environment at the heart of Thatcherism.

Mr. Aznar campaigned on the strength of this newfound prosperity, promising that he would continue to trim the state's bloated bureaucracy, cut taxes and provide a pro-business environment.