What I find interesting is that there a real life examples of how governance and economic decisions are made in every town. We discuss GDP, wages, culture, etc. on this blog. There are times where we can watch that as it happens. I like to watch this one but you may desire to watch your own locality for how decisions are made as government videos and meetings increasingly move online. In this case we are matching theory with discussions on industry development. How would you improve local economic and social development?
Industry Development Discussion Matched with Theory at the Local Level: Are There Opportunities for Additional Growth and Anchor Industries?
The meeting hosted different discussions ranging from budgeting to industry development. Since economics is a process of making choices and allocating resources to create returns (economic and social) we often find there is a process in place. Open discussions often bring about the best ultimate decisions. This committee seems to be bringing up new ideas and ways to improve the local area. That alone is worth wonders and can accomplish many things by setting the tone for direction and discovery of those oppotunities (Remember entrepreneurship is a way of thinking and once you crack the door new ideas keep coming.). "Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the earth."Archemedies
A few key points and ideas came forward after watching the meeting.....
Possible industries include trash processing and solar energy. Billerud papermill is an existing anchor industry that is in the process of developing new innovative lines. Other industries that could develop into anchor industries under the right circumstances might be metal fab/manufactoring (and related), ship building, entrepreneurship, and tourism. Considering an increase in T1 data lines and possible larger airport with existing rail, highways (Escanaba is a juncture location), and deep sea docks the potential of the county is untapped. It was discussed earlier in the year (I think that is right) at the Detroit Economics Club that Delta County is becoming a hot spot for investment.
One thing to consider is how this infrastructure impacts investments. When we consider how infrastructure can help multiple businesses succeed it is often a place that can further growth through focused investing. Knowing how to funnel resources to the platform (i.e. economic processing capacity) impacts everything that uses that platform. Likewise, the specific combination of infrastructure and industries could create synergy in a way that optimizes the activities between the various entities in ways that could not have happened in isolation.
Sometimes we can match increases in government funding with coordinated increases in investment in either existing or potential anchor industries at the same time to maximize growth. As an example, funding infrastructure in collaboration with pack investing in multiplbe connected industries that use that infrastructure could encourage codevelopment. This is where the idea of synergy is most likely to happen when each are building off of each other.
Let us consider the deep sea port, ship building capacity, metal manufacturing, and trash opportunities. All of that is going to require the ability to process and move product from something like an enhanced port. The trash will need to be loaded onto a port and then moved by rail or highway to the processesing center. Shipbuilding requires good ports. Manufacturing metal for ships and other products will require good ports to obtain resources and sell products to the global market (One might make a similar argument with rail or highways.).
We don't need to stop there either. This is where mapping becomes possible. You might need a lot of energy to manufacture products. Considering that future energy might be a big problem creating localized energy and redundancy can help reduce the cost to manufacturers and residents alike while protecting from blackouts and other energy disruption losses. Thus some form of localized energy might improve quality of life (i.e. cost) for residents and cost (and risk) for manufacturers (Solar is being discussed but it could be almost any type of energy. Solar is currently incentivized and encouraged as a renewable source.).
Basically, one could continue to map the various elements of the local economy to determine where dollars spent are likely to impact the whole clusters development. This is also why dashboards can be helpful in cluster management. Understanding how the elements interact and impact each other furthers policy development, helps investors funnel money into industries ready to grow, and allows government stakeholders to know where to focus their efforts to maximize GDP (in this case local wealth and corporate profits).
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