Defensive and offensive regional strategies

Monday, August 06, 2007

A commentary from northwest Ohio captures some of the important themes that I see across the Great Lakes region.

Many communities are following strategies that seems strangely disconnected. In a word, they are defensive.

There's an alternative. Regions pounded by industrial change can start a new set of conversations based on the assets within their region. As the commentator notes,

Offensive strategies, on the other hand, reflect a perspective that seeks to find opportunities behind the problems, i.e., opportunity-centered strategies. An opportunity-centered strategy asks questions such as, “How can we better leverage our community and regional strengths?” Or, “What is the auto or glass industries going to need in the future that we can supply?” Or, possibly, “How can we better promote the science and technology assets we have in our institutions of higher education to make our community and region more competitive for domestic and foreign investment?”

Read more.

posted by Ed Morrison |

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