Monday, October 07, 2002
To finance its new economic development strategy, Memphis has launched a major fund raising campaign. Learn more. Go
Prior to taking this step, the Memphis Chamber evaluated its initiatives with an Internet-based interactive interview. The interview enabled the Chamber to engage nearly 100 top business leaders in the region. The Chamber confirmed that a central challenge facing Memphis is an inability to attract and retain talented people. The Chamber stated the challenge this way:
The Memphis region is one of the South's premier communities, yet we are not keeping pace with many of our peers in population and income growth. Nashville and other dynamic cities are attracting newcomers to their regions much more successfully than Memphis. By attracting nearly five times more newcomers to their area in the 90's, Nashville's ability to compete for skilled labor was far superior to Memphis.
Over 60% of the business leaders agreed this challenge was serious. The interactive interview also clearly established the role of the Chamber in leading the new strategic initiatives. Read a summary of the interview. Go.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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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.
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.
Memphis launches ED fundraising
