Buffalo's consolidation plan Wednesday, September 18, 2002 An outside consulting team has recommended that economic development organizations in the Buffalo Niagara region consolidate. The report recommends that the current system, which has more than 11 different economic development agencies in Erie County, be consolidated into one agency. Read about the report. Go There's only one probelm with this approach: it rarely works. Consolidation is a tough call in economic development. Each organization has its own funding sources, mandates, and political or member constituencies. Consulting teams with a private sector background often have difficulty understanding the dynamics within existing economic development networks. They want to rationalize them through hierarchies. People end up wasting a lot of time fighting these fights. A far better approach is to build more effective networks among existing organizations. Buffalo Niagara should be looking to Phoenix for inspiration. Look in particular at the remarkably strong ratings that stakeholders give to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. Go What Buffalo needs, I suspect, is a stronger climate of trust. Trust comes with clarity about roles, shared understandings about differing needs, and a simple set of ground rules on how people will behave toward one another. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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