Saturday, November 13, 2004
The West Michigan Strategic Alliance is a five year old organization that includes the communities of Grand Rapids, Holland and Muskegon. In its year-end report, the Alliance highlighted its progress, but Alliance leaders underscored the importance of accelerating collaboration. Read more.
Fiscal dynamics are driving the equation. Compared to Southern states, Northern states tend to have a higher "public overhead". Generally, there are more public employees per capita in the North than in the South. A higher portion of income goes to supporting this overhead.
We recently completed an analysis of this issue for Cleveland (Cuyahoga County). If you are interested, you can read more about it from this web site.
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.
Getting lean through alliances in Western Michigan
