1.1 Intro to ED - Intro to ED

• 1. Study the historical GROWTH and DECAY of the community over time, including how its natural resources, workforce, and leadership have evolved to meet the needs of the knowledge-based economy.
• 2. Discern the critical strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) and challenges the community faces.
• 3. Understand EXISTING business and developmental assistance PROGRAMS.
• 4. Determine if existing programs and resources can be LEVERAGED, expanded, or modified to meet the identified needs.
• 5. Understand the particular OBSTACLES for private sector growth and development (e.g., the lack of entrepreneurial financing mechanisms and red tape)
• 6. Build strong RELATIONSHIPS with utilities, workforce development organizations, chambers, and other community stakeholders to create a vision for the community.

Economic development can be defined as a program, group of policies, or set of activities that seeks to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and/or retaining job that facilitate growth and provide for a stable tax base.

• 1. An ED STRATEGIC PLAN that has a widely accepted vision in addition to measurable indicators of success and failure.
• 2. A strong understanding of the LOCAL ECONOMY, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• 3. Programs that are built on local COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES.
• 4. Local leadership that stimulates COOPERATION and COLLABORATION among different actors in the community.
• 5. SUSTAINED FINANCING over a long period of time.
• 6. Management that strives for excellence in CUSTOMER SERVICE.

• 1. Local Gov't
• 2. State Gov't 
• 3. Federal Gov't
• 4. Special Authorities
• 5. Public-Private Partnerships
• 6. Chambers of Commerce and Other Business Associations
• 7. Universities and Other Research Institutions
• 8. Community Colleges
• 9. Workforce Development Organizations
• 10. Neighborhood Groups
• 11. Utilities
• 12. Philanthropic Organizations

• 1. Analyst
• 2. Catalyst
• 3. Gap Filler
• 4. Advocate
• 5. Educator
• 6. Visionary
• 7. Ethics Champion

• Suggests that unregulated capital will flow to areas where it will receive the highest return.  In other words, capital flows naturally from high wage or cost areas to low wage or cost areas.  
• Eventually, in an unregulated environment, capital flows should reach equilibrium between high cost and low cost places.
• This theory assumes pure competition.  That is, there should be no market interference, including efforts to assist firms or workers to be more competitive and to protect consumers and residents.

Investment, including in businesses, does not necessarily move to low cost areas.  For example, FDI occurs for multiple reasons including: workforce availability, proximity to a major research institution, etc.