Saturday, January 17, 2004
One of the major challenges facing EDPros is re-engineering business groups to overcome fragmentation and build a regional focus. You can see this development happening in a number of places: Baltimore, Cleveland, Silicon Valley and Charleston, SC to name a few.
Add Minneapolis-St. Paul to the list. Business leaders have formed the Itasca Group to foucs on a handful of regional issues: transportation, education, support of small companies. Read more.
Last week, I released a regional plan for South Carolina along the same lines. We called for a regional council on quality growth. Read more.
Here's another example -- on a smaller scale -- of realigning business leaderswhip in Clermont County outside Cincinnati. Read more
Taking this step is tricky. Business leadership is essential in order to frame the appropriate economic development issues. Business leadership is also essential for execution. But standing alone, business leadership is not enough.
Economic development also demands public participation. Multiple voices. Dialogue and inclusion. Balancing the two -- public participation and leadership direction -- is the tough part.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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.
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.
Continuing challenge for EDPros: Realigning business groups
