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 experiments conducted during the year. |
