Showing papers in "Economic Development Quarterly in 1998"
TL;DR: In this article, a research study was conducted by the University of Michigan Business School in collaboration with the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), Ohio University, and the Southern Technol...
Abstract: This research study was undertaken by the University of Michigan Business School in collaboration with the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), Ohio University, and the Southern Technol...
170 citations
TL;DR: Although evaluations show that state and local economic development programs have few effects on economic growth or redistribution of economic activity, explanations for the failures are incomplete as mentioned in this paper, the authors of this paper suggest that these explanations are incomplete.
Abstract: Although evaluations show that state and local economic development programs have few effects on economic growth or redistribution of economic activity, explanations for the failures are incomplete...
125 citations
TL;DR: The latest report on the impact of business incubators distributed by the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) suffers from severe shortcomings that undermine claims being made for it as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The latest report on the impact of business incubators distributed by the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) suffers from severe shortcomings that undermine claims being made for it. Claims of methodological improvements are spurious, as are those for "added value" of the study results over previous incubator impact studies. It is likely that these claims, however, will be used by NBIA and other promoters of business incubator projects to appeal to sources offending at all levels to support both capital and operating costs of such projects. Even though the latest study focused on a rather select subset of the incubator universe, 40 of the 50 incubators analyzed still have not been able to break even. NBIA still has a way to go before it can provide, or help others to produce, valid performance evaluations, performance benchmarking results, and management information that can help incubators attain financial self-sustainability as well as other performance benchmarks.
108 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine New York's tourism market and conclude that tourism facilities are promising investments; this is tempered by considerations relating to the high levels of public subsidy demanded for projects-like the proposed Yankee Stadium development-that do not offer a sufficient return on public subsidy.
Abstract: The economies of many American cities have shown signs of recovery after the deindustrialization of the preceding two decades. Tourism has been one of the principal components of inner-city economic growth. Although building facilities for tourists represents a gamble for urban leaders, numerous examples of success exist. New York City possesses a sizable competitive advantage in the tourism sector The authors examine New York's tourism market. Case studies are presented of three tourist-based developments: the Jacob Javits Convention Center; the 42nd Street entertainment district, and a proposed stadium plan for the Yankees. These cases are typical of the type of tourist-based developments currently being pursued by many U.S. cities. It is concluded that tourism facilities are promising investments; this is tempered by considerations relating to the high levels of public subsidy demanded for projects-like the proposed Yankee Stadium development-that do not offer a sufficient return on public subsidy.
48 citations
TL;DR: The authors of as mentioned in this paper argue that long-term health of communities requires the promotion of well-researched and well-reasoned policies on legal gambling and economic development.
Abstract: Lotteries, casinos, and other forms of gambling are being promoted by state and local governments as painless ways to raise revenues. Supporters often rely on economic studies sponsored by the industry. Critics contend that gambling is problematic and not a substitute for sustainable economic development, and the public remains ambivalent. Bills currently pending in Congress would establish a national commission to study the impact of gambling. Long-term health of communities requires the promotion of well-researched and well-reasoned policies on legal gambling and economic development.
44 citations
TL;DR: The Center for Employment Training is generally acknowledged as an effective program for skills training and placing economically disadvantaged populations into entry-level jobs as mentioned in this paper, which is explained by the ability to develop skills demanded by industry while becoming part of employers' own, trusted recruiting networks.
Abstract: The Center for Employment Training is generally acknowledged as an effective program for skills training and placing economically disadvantaged populations into entry-level jobs. Program success is explained by the ability to develop skills demanded by industry while becoming part of employers' own, trusted recruiting networks. These findings suggest the importance of social networks (connecting job seekers to employers) to the design of training programs.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a series of propositions about the state of knowledge regarding organizations' learning behaviors and capabilities, and test these propositions through a survey of firms in the plastics industries in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Abstract: There is a need for rigorous definitional and empirical specification of what is meant by firm learning and the growing number of variants on this important theme. Based on a review of the literature on firm learning, the authors present a series of propositions about the state of knowledge regarding organizations' learning behaviors and capabilities. These propositions are then tested through a survey of firms in the plastics industries in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Empirical results suggest that firms are limited in their ability to acquire and apply new information in the face of needed change.
31 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential of EIPs for improving economic and environmental performance and presents a methodology for developing and analyzing potential eco-industrial parks (EIPs) in the United States.
Abstract: Industrial ecology (IE) is an emerging framework for characterizing relationships between businesses and analyzing their economic and environmental performance. By applying the principles of IE, members of eco-industrial parks (EIPs) pursue improvements in their economic efficiency while reducing the environmental burden of their production activities. This article discusses the potential of EIPs for improving economic and environmental performance and presents a methodology for developing and analyzing potential EIPs. The methodology is applied to a prototype EIP based on companies in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico. The potential for improved economic performance can be an important draw for public and private developers trying to populate an EIF, and this study shows that these benefits are attainable. We conclude with a discussion of the conditions necessary for successful EIPs in the United States.
25 citations
TL;DR: The Noponen, Markusen, and Driessen (1997) economic development Quarterly article as mentioned in this paper has suggested some essential but minor modifications to the NOPonen-Markusen-Driessen model.
Abstract: As part of the focus on estimating the links between regional economies and the global economy through international trade, the authors have examined some of the recent strategies. These approaches and extensions of a prior model are of great value, and in this vein, we support these approaches. As a complement to the Noponen, Markusen, and Driessen (1997) Economic Development Quarterly article, we have suggested some essential but minor modifications.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the ways in which business links are expected to add value to the existing infrastructure and evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative 3 years after its announcement, concluding that the common set of potentially damaging issues identified can be tackled locally by establishing collaborative-competitive partnerships and by increasing the role of local authorities.
Abstract: A key feature of British enterprise development policies is the launch in 1992 of a network of business link partnerships to rationalize the local provision of business support services for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across England. This article examines the ways in which business links are expected to add value to the existing infrastructure and evaluates the effectiveness of the initiative 3 years after its announcement. Despite very significant differences in operations, size of catchment area, and legal structures between business link partnerships, similar problems have emerged. The common set of potentially damaging issues identified can be tackled locally by establishing collaborative-competitive partnerships and by increasing the role of local authorities. Nationally, central government consistently and continuously should use its leverage, resulting from its control over resources, to support the objectives it has set for business links.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a three-dimensional policy frame work for analyzing subnational economic development policy is presented, and a discussion of differences between economic and community development is discussed, with a focus on the differences between the two domains.
Abstract: This article begins with a discussion of differences between economic and community development. A three-dimensional policy frame work for analyzing subnational economic development policy is prese...
TL;DR: This article investigated how well the two theories fit economic development trajectories in Tokyo and Osaka and drew lessons for North American economic revitalization efforts, and found that Japan's development pattern combines elements emphasized in both theories.
Abstract: Dynamics in the world economy since the 1970s have provoked a debate between proponents of industrial district and corporate dualism theories of economic change. This article investigates how well the two theories fit economic development trajectories in Tokyo and Osaka and draws lessons for North American economic revitalization efforts. District and dualism analysts both claim Japanese industrial organization fits their thesis. Findings by Japanese researchers and results from our own field work suggest that Japan's development pattern (a) combines elements emphasized in both theories, but (b) district theory fits contemporary Tokyo and Osaka much better than dualism. Place-based, small-firm networks, supported by local institutions and strategic government policies, have been a vital ingredient in Japan's manufacturing success. The range of internationally effective competitive strategies is thus wider and more fluid than what the new dualism theorists allow.
TL;DR: The Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development (PPD) as discussed by the authors was one of the earliest citywide community development networks in the United States and became tightly integrated into the complex of financial and corporate leadership in its city.
Abstract: An important determinant of success for community development corporations (CDCs) is their ability to create formal and informal interorganizational networks. The Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development is one of the earliest citywide CDC networks in the United States and one of the few that became tightly integrated into the complex of financial and corporate leadership in its city. The partnership itself operates as an intermediary network for CDC real estate development and operating support, and the partnership CDCs have formed their own hub-spoke and peer-to-peer networks for employment training. But declining organizational capacity, the persisting problems of urban poverty and unemployment, and troubled economic development projects that have typically involved greater risk than those undertaken by their more housing-focused counterparts in other cities have left the partnership network vulnerable, as the political environment in city hall and in the local foundations has changed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine several experiments with network stimulation among rural manufacturing firms in Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington, including results from surveys and other evaluation studies, and preliminary evaluation results suggest that the most productive approach may involve combining the capacity-building, soft network strategy with efforts to build collaborative manufacturing structures.
Abstract: A number of states and countries have begun to encourage formation of flexible manufacturing networks among small manufacturing and other firms to respond effectively to local economic crises or to enable smaller firms to compete more effectively in the global economy. A variety of strategic approaches have been employed, including funding organizations with a mandate to organize and support networks, and offering challenge grants to groups of firms to interest them in experimenting with a new organizational approach. This article examines several experiments with network stimulation among rural manufacturing firms in Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington, including results from surveys and other evaluation studies. No clearly superior strategic approach to network stimulation emerges from this review, but preliminary evaluation results suggest that the most productive approach may involve combining the capacity-building, soft network strategy with efforts to build collaborative manufacturing structures aimed...
TL;DR: This paper pointed out that separating productivity gains from the trade-related components is preferable to the Dinc and Haynes assumption of proportional gains, because successful exporting sectors are more apt to post superior productivity growth rates than are import-vulnerable sectors.
Abstract: In this article, in response to the Dinc and Haynes comment, the authors correct their published formulation of the import/export disaggregated dynamic shift-share analysis used to characterize differential metropolitan employment growth rates in the United States. The empirical results of the analysis and the inferences drawn from them in their 1997 EDQ article remain valid. The authors contrast the formulation they used with that suggested by Dinc and Haynes, pointing out the differential treatment of productivity in each. They maintain that separating productivity gains from the trade-related components is preferable to the Dinc and Haynes assumption of proportional gains, because successful exporting sectors are more apt to post superior productivity growth rates than are import-vulnerable sectors. The authors show that the results of the two versions are otherwise equivalent.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on ongoing efforts to use economic development techniques to assist job training and placement providers in better understanding local labor-market conditions, using occupation and industry-specific information from readily available sources.
Abstract: Community organizations involved in job training and placement activities have relied on highly aggregated labor-market information to guide programmatic direction. Although such information can serve as a starting point for evaluating employment opportunities, it has not been useful to organizations seeking to target opportunities in particular locations, industries, and occupations. Frustration over the ineffectiveness of these tools has led organizations to use new techniques for identifying employment opportunities. This article reports on ongoing efforts to use economic development techniques to assist job training and placement providers in better understanding local labor-market conditions. Techniques for conducting labor-market analysis for small areas using occupation-and industry-specific information from readily available sources are presented and evaluated. Three case studies provide examples using the techniques described.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe communities implementing Business Retention and Expansion Visitation (BREV) programs and evaluate strategic-planning components of the approach and find that the most successful programs have access to a development professional and designate who will implement recommendations for community action.
Abstract: This article describes communities implementing Business Retention and Expansion Visitation (BREV) programs and evaluates strategic-planning components of the approach. BREV programs are applicable to metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas but tend to be most often implemented in midsized communities. Compared to other communities, those that implemented BREV programs tended to have higher unemployment rates, higher per-capita incomes in the early 1980s, and a greater reliance on the manufacturing sector A survey of local program participants reveals that the most successful programs have access to a development professional and designate who will implement recommendations for community action. Moderate-sized programs are the most successful. More successful programs use a broadly representative taskforce to develop and implement recommendations. Program outcomes are related to the types of recommendations adopted.
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative status of minority businesses and construction employees in New York City's construction industry was analyzed and it was shown that minority-owned small businesses in construction are smaller, more failure-prone, and less viable overall, relative to white firms generally and woman-owned businesses specifically.
Abstract: Does the employment status of minorities suffer when government downplays affirmative action efforts? This study analyzes the relative status of minority businesses and construction employees in New York City's construction industry. Ed Koch, New York City mayor from 1978 to 1990, chose to downplay the active affirmative action efforts of his predecessors. We find that Black employees lost ground relative to Whites, particularly in the construction-skilled trades. Furthermore, minority-owned small businesses in construction are shown to be smaller, more failure-prone, and less viable overall, relative to White firms generally and woman-owned businesses specifically. Absent affirmative pressure from government, minorities are unlikely to make progress or even hold their own in the New York City area construction industry.
TL;DR: The authors found that federal efforts often suffer from fixation on small, unrelated projects that may benefit one community or constituency but, in the aggregate, do not add up to much, and proposed that federal development policy focus on learning-creating a better understanding about how state, regional, and local economies function and about which development strategies work best.
Abstract: A panel of the National Academy of Public Administration proposes refraining the federal role in economic development. Drawing on field research in 10 communities, the panel found that federal efforts often suffer from fixation on small, unrelated projects that may benefit one community or constituency but, in the aggregate, do not add up to much. The panel proposes that federal development policy focus on (a) learning-creating a better understanding about how state, regional, and local economies function and about which development strategies work best; (b) leveraging-providing incentives to counteract pressures on state and local development activities to focus on highly visible projects in prosperous areas rather than on long-term regional development strategies that would benefit disadvantaged as well as prosperous people; and (c) linking-consolidating federal programs and making it easier for states and regions to obtain the flexibility to use federal resources effectively.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that during the period preparing for NAFTA and through the first 3 years of its application, workers' rights have been weakened and their wages reduced, and preliminary support is offered for a thesis of NAFTA-driven downward harmonization for workers on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Abstract: Among the contentious aspects of the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the effect that the trade agreement was likely to have on jobs and wages for workers in Mexico and the United States. Proponents of NAFTA noted that the outcomes would vary by economic sector, but they generally agreed that automobile workers in Mexico would benefit due to the infusion of new capital and greater access to the U.S. market. In this article, I argue that the case of Volkswagen workers in Puebla, Mexico, suggests a different outcome. Evidence is presented that during the period preparing for NAFTA and through the first 3 years of its application, Volkswagen workers' rights have been weakened and their wages reduced. Preliminary support is offeredfor a thesis of NAFTA-driven downward harmonization for workers on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border
TL;DR: This article investigated whether municipal officials in growing areas perceive such a difference in the demand for services and examined the relationship between these perceptions and actual service delivery changes in the officials' communities to see whether such perceptions really matter.
Abstract: The common wisdom in many growing communities is that newcomers demand more services than do long-term residents. Dissimilar attitudes toward local services can have important effects on local government activities and services. This study investigates whether municipal officials in growing areas perceive such a difference in the demand for services; it then examines the relationship between these perceptions and actual service delivery changes in the officials' communities to see whether such perceptions really matter. The study confirms not only that many officials believe this stereotype but also that such officials were much more likely to have increased services in the past 5 years. This suggests that the stereotype, far from being innocuous, may have implications for local taxes and service provision.
TL;DR: In this paper, the basic argument of this paper is that "Demanufacturing is the disassembly and recycling of obsolete consumer products such as TV sets, personal computers, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners".
Abstract: Demanufacturing is the disassembly and recycling of obsolete consumer products such as TV sets, personal computers, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners. The basic argument of this...
TL;DR: Gross's arguments are representative of the gambling literature as mentioned in this paper, and many of the accepted arguments against gambling come from incomplete or biased economic analysis, which makes it difficult to evaluate them.
Abstract: Gross's arguments are representative of the gambling literature. Unfortunately, many of the accepted arguments against gambling come from incomplete or biased economic analysis. This comment addres...
TL;DR: The Jobs and Workforce Initiative (JWFI) as discussed by the authors is an employer-driven planning process aimed at developing workforce improvement strategies for northeast Ohio, which was undertaken by the Greater Cleveland Growth Association in 1996, and initial recommendations were issued in January 1997 in a report titled Building New Roads to Success.
Abstract: This article reports on the Jobs and Workforce Initiative (JWFI), an employer-driven planning process aimed at developing workforce improvement strategies for northeast Ohio. The JWFI was undertaken by the Greater Cleveland Growth Association in 1996, and initial recommendations were issued in January 1997 in a report titled Building New Roads to Success. After discussing the origins of the JWFI and the theoretical perspectives underlying it, this article describes the process, the resulting recommendations, and the status of their implementation. It concludes with discussion of the overall implementation plan and the agenda that lies ahead.
TL;DR: In this article, the Consortium for Manufacturing Competitiveness (CMC) was examined and the authors concluded that the preexisting capacity and local and state government support of the two successful colleges were as important as the network in determining their success.
Abstract: This article examines how community colleges can become more proactive partners in local economic development. It focuses on how networking can help community colleges in building their capacity in this relatively new area of intervention. Three community colleges that are members of such a network—the Consortium for Manufacturing Competitiveness—are examined. The author concludes that the preexisting capacity and local and state government support of the two successful colleges were as important as the network in determining their success. The barriers to effective business outreach are discussed, and recommendations for community colleges conclude the article.
TL;DR: The authors assesses four contrasting policy approaches to move poor inner-city residents out of poverty through work and conclude that all but the EITC are unable to provide sufficient wages to bring workers above the poverty line.
Abstract: Jobs are increasingly central to economic development, welfare reform, and urban policy. This emphasis on increasing employment among the poor comes at a time of stagnant wages for people with modest skills and no college education. The current movement to promote work poses a fundamental dilemma: How can the dependent poor obtain jobs that offer sufficient income and benefits to prevent them from becoming the working poor? This article assesses four contrasting policy approaches to move poor inner-city residents out of poverty through work. Although promising examples can be cited across the four strategies-job training, job creation through local economic development, worker mobility/access to jobs, and the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)-all but the EITC are unable to provide sufficient wages to bring workers above the poverty line.
TL;DR: This article asked case-matched Black and White Detroit employers about their location and how they think customers and other outsiders view the city of Detroit, and nearly all of the city-based employer...
Abstract: The author asked case-matched Black and White Detroit employers about their location and how they think customers and other outsiders view the city of Detroit. Nearly all of the city-based employer...
TL;DR: This paper examined the distribution of business loans made by the U.S. Small Business Administration's 504 development company program in the Chicago metro-politan area over a 5-year period and found that, after controlling for firm density, firm size, and industrial mix, higher income areas and outlying zip codes receive more loans than lower income and closer-in areas.
Abstract: The declining federal role in economic development in distressed urban areas and concerns over the problems associated with metropolitan decentralization necessitate increased attention to the intrametropolitan distribution of business development programs. We examine the distribution of business loans made by the U.S. Small Business Administration's 504 development company program in the Chicago metro-politan area over a 5-year period and find that, after controlling for firm density, firm size, and industrial mix, higher income areas and outlying zip codes receive more loans than lower income and closer-in areas. We suggest a number of supply-and demand-side explanations for such patterns, call for measures to direct the flow of 504 financing more to lower income areas, and call for examining more loan and subsidy programs for their effects on intrametropolitan business development patterns.