University of Minnesota
HHH
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The Humphrey School of Public Affairs is the University of Minnesota's school of policy and planning.


State and Local Policy Program

10 Principles in Economic Development

Learning

  • Do you seek a wide range of input, both internally and externally, on how to improve your economic development strategies, programs, and delivery?
  • Are you flexible enough to make improvements based on what you learn?
  • Do you compare your economic development efforts with models in other areas?
  • How do you use information you collect to improve your economic development programs?

Organizations must continually work to improve performance. It is important to (1) constantly bring new information from outside sources and continually develop learning tools through data that are collected internally and (2) be willing and able to redirect efforts on the basis of this information, whether it is related to the performance of the organization or to new trends in the economy.

Learning is closely tied to measurement and evaluation, but represents a separate activity; that is, how do you use information from a variety of sources to improve the effectiveness of economic development programs? The pace of economic change requires the organizational ability to use internal and external data to learn and continually improve programs and strategies.

The Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development has developed a system of tracking business activity using data from quarterly employer reports under the state's reemployment insurance program, also known as ES-202 data. With the assistance of the state's Department of Economic Security, which collects the employer data, DTED prepares a quarterly business tracking report. The report records the number of births, dissolutions, expansions, and contractions of business establishments, and the effect of these activities on jobs in the state and for subregions of the state.

DTED also surveys businesses that have ceased operations in the state, including those that have moved out of the state, to determine the cause of those dissolutions or relocations. The data from the business tracking system are used to understand what industries are growing or declining and where job creation is occurring, and to help the state understand what can be done to retain companies.

The city of Littleton, Colorado, has undertaken a unique approach to economic development. Littleton refers to their New Economy Project as "Colorado's Experiment in Economic Gardening." Components of the Littleton effort include seminars on best ideas and practices, on topics such as customer service, temperament, total quality management, systems thinking, and strategy building; the use of online computer databases, CD-ROMs, and the Internet to assist staff in finding, within hours, information and solutions to most business problems; and a focus on long-term community building, including how to build the intellectual infrastructure that companies of the future will need. Each year Littleton prepares a status report on the New Economy Project that includes lessons learned and the results of the experiments conducted during the year.