September

September Business Journal Column-What is ED

Economic Development, Site Selectors and Other Ambiguous Phrases

“But what do you do with a degree in economics?” That was my parents’ question when I announced my major.  Explaining something as intangible as a major in economics (coupled with philosophy, no less) when I didn’t plan to be a professor was great preparation for describing what I do now for Montana West Economic Development.  How do you paint a picture of something so abstract, but yet a vital part of any community’s business network?  The goal of economic development is job creation, a diverse economy and a broad tax base, but how does an organization that isn’t a business do those things?  Through connections–connecting expertise and resources to new and growing businesses.  Economic development organizations “touch” a wide-variety of businesses and people each day.  No one activity results in new jobs by itself and each situation requires a different combination of the tools in the tool box.  The results are often a long time in coming.   

Economic Development, like the idea of economics itself, is often hard for people to wrap their arms around.    My mother was looking for a title like teacher, scientist or architect that had a clearly defined job description attached to it. She is a social-worker who specializes in assisting people who have had major health set-backs.  To help me explain my chosen career path, I found some parallels between what she does for individuals and what economic development does for businesses.   She helps patients negotiate a new set of circumstances.  She connects them with resources in the community to make their transition smoother.  She coaches some on techniques for steady improvement, and she facilitates groups of people sharing ideas and information for mutual growth and education. 

Economic development does for businesses something very similar.  We connect them with resources in the community and the state, we coach entrepreneurs through parts of the start-up process and we facilitate networks within the community that allow business people and organizations to share ideas for mutual growth and education.  We also promote the community to businesses looking to relocate to the area.  We regularly write grant applications for employee-training for local businesses.  Sometimes we put tools like federal and state dollars to work in projects such as industrial business parks and TIF Districts to incentivize businesses to locate here and create jobs in the community. 
That’s not to say that a patient leaving the hospital can’t recover without assistance from a social worker, or that individual businesses can’t thrive and prosper without economic development, but knowing where to find the resources makes that positive outcome more likely and the effort more efficient.  In the case of businesses looking to expand or relocate, if there isn’t an economic development organization available to highlight the relevant info and simplify the process of accessing resources, a company will simply look elsewhere.  Economic Development Now found that 64% of executives they surveyed indicated that that they would likely use an ED organization’s website in their next site location search.  Maintaining a substantive website covering incentives, demographics and business sites is critical to any community’s endeavors to attract new businesses.

Local economic development organizations also team up with national economic development experts and site selectors to expand a community’s network in the larger corporate world.  These organizations specialize in analyzing data and identifying industries that would prosper in a given area.   Site selection consultants or location advisory firms are one of the most important resources for companies looking to expand or relocate. They often have the best insight when it comes to matching a company’s needs with the offerings of specific business locations. In the case of the Flathead, they might identify as assets our abundant network fiber (most miles of fiber/ resident in the country), our direct rail routes, our superb small-community airport, clean water and low-cost electricity, or Montana’s 6th place ranking in Best Overall Tax Climate for Business (see below).

“How do you know you have arrived if you don’t have a plan on how you’ll get there?”  That is the premise behind Garner Economics President and CEO Jay Garner speech at the Montana West Economic Development annual meeting on the subject of what communities must do to successfully compete for jobs creation and capital investment. Garner will discuss that in today’s global environment; only those communities that have prepared for economic development and stay competitive are the ones that will win. A national economic development expert and innovator, Jay will be the keynote speaker at the October 15th dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn.  Everyone is invited to attend. 

Garner Economics, LLC, an economic development consulting firm, is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. Jay’s firm is a leader in providing assistance to corporate clients in their site selection process. His firm is the exclusive provider of site location services for the Facility Group—a global leader in architecture, engineering and construction management.  His firm also assists clients throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe on a wide variety of projects, offering innovative, yet real-world solutions to achieve success. Jay is a dynamic speaker with 29 years of experience in the economic development trenches.  He regularly provides counsel on creating and implementing proactive business development strategies and tactics. 

Jay’s speech promises to address real-world strategies for an enhanced local economy and not the abstract concepts of Economics 101.  For tickets to this dinner event or to find out more about how you can support economic development for the Flathead Valley, please contact Montana West Economic Development, 257-7711.

National Rankings

The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC, ranks Montana highly in a number of areas.

Source:
Business Facilities 2008 State Rankings www.businessfacilities.com/bf_08_07_cover.php
Ranking are based on findings from The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC. www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/40.html