When a major Wisconsin manufacturer considered relocating to Oklahoma, local and state economic development professionals put on a full-court press to convince the company to stay. The results were overwhelmingly positive, offering a vibrant example of a successful business retention effort. PDF of the case study: Mercury Marine retention effort Nearly 1,900 Fond du Lac [...]
Oct. 3, 2009 | Posted by Joshua WrightIn an attempt to generate new jobs and increase public revenues for their airport, leaders in Dayton, Ohio, and surrounding townships are looking to develop 600 acres around the city-owned airport for economic development purposes. An initial step in enhancing the area was conducting a data-driven analysis to determine which industries to target based on [...]
Jul. 9, 2009 | Posted by Joshua WrightSince the 1970s, former industrial sites in Rome, NY, have deteriorated, leaving behind abandoned buildings after the closure of companies like General Cable Corporation. City leaders, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other organizations have started to clean up the plots of land and use them for redevelopment purposes. To read the case study in PDF [...]
Apr. 7, 2009 | Posted by Joshua WrightFor more than a century, the economy of Newton, Iowa, has depended on the presence of Maytag. But when the manufacturer was swallowed up by Whirlpool, which promptly closed the Newton plant, regional leaders had to develop a new revitalization and economic development strategy from scratch. The result has been the creation of 1,200 new [...]
Nov. 12, 2008 | Posted by Joshua WrightA wealth of data from EMSI played a key role in an in-depth study released recently by the Hawaii Science and Technology Council, in partnership with the Center for Regional Competitiveness, on Hawaii’s innovation and technology sector. The report highlights the private tech sector’s contribution to the state’s economy (about $3 billion in 2007) and [...]
Oct. 20, 2008 | Posted by Joshua WrightWhen the Belgian high-tech materials company Umicore decided to expand its germanium wafer production to the U.S., its search led it to three cities. Two were not surprises (Phoenix and Albuquerque), but one was off the beaten path in the tiny town of Quapaw, Oklahoma (pop. 966), near the Ottawa County seat of Miami (pop. [...]
Sep. 24, 2008 | Posted by Joshua WrightTen years ago, when Dr. Robert “Rab” Thornton became Dean of Outreach Services at Housatonic Community College (HCC), the college had slow enrollment growth, very little interaction with the local business community, and low visibility in the state legislature. His duty was to reverse this trend and effectively “make an invisible college visible.” Thornton quickly [...]
Jun. 30, 2008 | Posted by Joshua WrightHow a rural economic development council competes in the global economy—and recruits Yahoo, Microsoft, Intuit, Ask.com, and more. Click here to read the full story (PDF): “It’s All About Jobs” in Grant County Finding a Competitive Edge in the Global Economy “It’s all about jobs”: that’s the stated vision of Grant County Economic Development Council, [...]
Jan. 25, 2008 | Posted by Joshua WrightThis document is a short working paper produced jointly by Central Arizona College and EMSI/CCbenefits Inc. It describes data sources and research methods to help colleges determine a region’s labor market needs and adjust programs accordingly. Download the full document here (PDF hosted by Central Arizona College).
Dec. 12, 2007 | Posted by Joshua WrightRecently, CLM Workforce Connection, Ocala Economic Development Council and Central Florida Community College—all located in Ocala, Florida—teamed up to initiate a shared, focused industry strategy for their region. In order to target the right industries and high growth, high wage occupations, they used integrated regional data and local knowledge to focus their resources on important [...]
Nov. 26, 2007 | Posted by Joshua WrightToday’s innovative companies are just as concerned with local workforce availability as they are with building sites and incentive packages, which is why development professionals need to be prepared to answer detailed questions about their region’s labor force: size, unemployment, industry/occupation profile, workers in similar/transferable occupations, post-secondary program capacity, and so on. Chris Manheim, President [...]
Oct. 26, 2007 | Posted by Joshua WrightThe Northern Virgina Workforce Investment Board’s SkillSource Group, in partnership with Dr. Kenneth Poole of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (affiliated with C2ER), has completed an 18-month BRAC impact study for the area in and around Fort Belvoir and Quantico Marine Base. EMSI’s Strategic Advantage provided the “heavy-lifting” economic modeling, including the estimates of [...]
Aug. 15, 2007 | Posted by Joshua WrightFast Company recently highlighted Southwest Michigan First, an economic development group out of Kalamazoo Michigan that was included in this year’s Fast 50 lineup. They are acknowledged in this article for their innovative response to Pfizer closing down their local R & D branch in 2003. Fearing scientists would leave the area without job opportunities, [...]
Aug. 2, 2007 | Posted by Joshua WrightThe EMSI Blog provides data, links, articles, and other information related to labor market trends, regional economics and workforce and economic development.
Joshua Wright is a member of the EMSI marketing team and manages the EMSI blog. If you have any questions, comments, or article ideas, please email him.
