Posts Tagged ‘Economic Development’

CASPER, Wyo. — Sixty years ago, Mississippi governor Hugh White established a program called Balance Agriculture with Industry. Purpose: To couple Mississippi’s low taxes, cheap land, unskilled labor and low wages with tax abatements and other subsidies — called “incentives” — to entice Northern industries to expand or relocate in the South. With this program,…

Who’s creating jobs? “Gazelles,” according to MIT small-business guru David Birch. “Gazelle” is the term Birch uses to describe the mostly small but rapidly growing firms that account for most of America’s job growth. Gazelles are contrasted with “Elephants,” the large, publicly traded firms that have shed more than 4 million jobs during the past…

Changes in how people live and work are a major characteristic of the New Economy. According to Dunn and Bradstreet, there are about 20 million business enterprises in the U.S. Only 4.4 million are corporations, though they employ more than half the labor force. The rest are partnerships (1.8 million) or sole proprietorships (14.2 million).…

The changing workforce is a major characteristic of the new economy. One of the most important changes is the slowdown in U.S. population growth, characterized by the “baby bust” generation — Americans 15 to 26 years old, born between 1965 and 1976. In fact, according to the Hudson Institute’s landmark report, Workforce 2000, and other recent…

In their book on American corporations, In Search of Excellence, Tom Peters and Bob Waterman found that successful corporations are those that stick to their knitting, build on their strengths, add value to existing activities. They also found that corporations get in trouble when they get into new lines of business far removed from their experience,…

Telework – the use of computers and telecommunications to allow employees to work at home – is becoming an important tool for more companies. One application of telework is telecommuting: People on a company payroll working at home at least part of the week instead of coming into the office. Many of these workers, estimated…

Stick to your knitting. Add value to existing activities. These are concepts used by successful business leaders to build sound and growing enterprises. Together they make up a strategy we call gardening, which I believe works as effectively in community and economic business development as it does in business. In the old days, hunting –…

In the back room of a small paint store in rural Pullman, Wash., business development specialists are using a computer and fax machine to try to sell local agricultural equipment and expertise in the global marketplace. It’s a grassroots operation that works. The non-profit, bootstraps initiative, AgriTechnics International, was established in April by the Palouse…