Tennessee revamps its state chamber Wednesday, November 13, 2002 Tennessee Association of Business is now the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Based in Nashville, the Tennessee Chamber hopes to coordinate with local chambers and focus on statewide issues of competitiveness. Learn more. Go This step is no slam dunk. State chambers are facing increasing difficulties with flat or declining memberships. Increased competition and a relatively weak value proposition hurt growth prospects. State chambers often represent a business executive's "third choice" behind the local chamber and an industry association. Tennesse will be missing an opportunity if the new chamber builds its business model on a traditional membership package and a standard menu of "business climate" issues. While these legislative matters are important, they are no longer a sufficiently aggressive focus for a state chamber. Tennessee business leaders ought to keep their eye on nearby Kentucky. In the next month or so, the Kentucky Chamber -- in all likelihood -- will be moving in more entrepreneurial direction. The Kentucky Chamber is focusing on how to use the Internet to build stronger business communities. Building Internet-based dialogues within the business community offers the promise of far stronger, more flexible, more focused business connections...and more promising business models for state chambers. 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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