PCRD

Strategic Doing in Michigan's auto communities

Ed Morrison — 2009-06-24T11:17:40-04:00

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle

About ten days ago, members of the President's auto communities task force asked a group of us from Purdue to guide a strategic doing session in Lansing, MI.

With all the funding going into Michigan, federal officials from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Labor wanted to find some new approaches to accelerating collaborations among their partners in Michigan. They turned to Strategic Doing.

Strategic Doing is a disciplined, practical process for developing and implementing strategies in open, loosely connected networks (like a regional economy). The steps are simple to understand, but not easy for groups to follow. Conversations in loosely connected groups are difficult to guide (think cat herding). To create effective collaborations, we must think clearly, communicate concisely, and stay focused on translating ideas into action.

Innovative (and often complex) initiatives take sophisticated thinking and a commitment to learn from experience. We also need reservoirs of trust to execute quickly, so we can figure out "What works".

Strategic Doing, in the end, enables us to do complex projects by following some simple rules. The trick comes in following the rules. Like any new habit, practice matters a lot.

You can look at a resource page for the participants of the Lansing, MI workshop here.
If you are interested in learning more about network-based approaches to economic and workforce development, check out Purdue's new certificate course in Open Source Economic Development. To learn more about this course, please connect with Peggy Hosea at phosea@purdue.edu

Surveying the Class

Scott Hutcheson — 2009-06-22T09:17:12-04:00

Here is an interesting look at the plans of the Harvard 2009 gradulating class. The number of grads headed to careers in finance and consulting are down and jobs in education and healthcare are up. Another interesting aspect of the survey is where these young people are planning to live. New York is down but staying in Boston is up. 3.2% are headed to the Midest (not including Chicago). More information is available here.

Entrepreneurship during the Recession

Scott Hutcheson — 2009-06-22T08:57:48-04:00

A new Kaufman Foundation study look closely at the U.S.'s entrepreneurial history reveals that entrepreneurship is an engine for job creation and economic growth even during difficult economic times. The study, The Economic Future Just Happened reveals that more than half of the 2009 Fortune 500 companies started in a recession or bear market. Similarly, nearly half of the firms on the 2008 Inc. list of America’s fastest-growing companies were launched during a recession or bear market. The study suggests that policies that support entrepreneurship also support recovery. It also reveals that job creation from startup companies tends to be less volatile and sensitive to downturns when compared to the overall economy.

Effects of the University on the Local Economy

Scott Hutcheson — 2009-06-10T10:40:02-04:00

Arizona State's doing some interesting work in starting a conversation about the effects of the university on the local economy. They are thinking more broadly than the traditional impact measures. You can learn more here.

The Geography of Personality

Scott Hutcheson — 2009-05-27T11:13:00-04:00

Researchers have looked at the geographical variation of something called the Big Five Personality Traits: Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness. The following is the abstract of their study: Volumes of research show that people in different geographic regions differ psychologically. Most of that work converges on the conclusion that there are geographic differences in personality and values, but little attention has been paid to developing an integrative account of how those differences emerge, persist, and become expressed at the geographic level... We present a theoretical account of the mechanisms through which geographic variation in psychological characteristics emerge and persist within regions... Results provided preliminary support for the model, revealing clear patterns of regional variation across the U.S. and strong relationships between state-level personality and geographic indicators of crime, social capital, religiosity, political values, employment, and health.

Here is how Indiana stacks up:

Extroversion - 4th Quintile
Agreeableness - 2nd Quintile
Conscientiousness - 2nd Quintile
Neuroticism - 2nd Quintile
Openess - 4th Quintile

If this is accurate, Hoosiers tend to be introverted, agreeable, conscientious, neurotic and closed-off. The full report can be found here and a good summary here.

Innovation Vouchers

Scott Hutcheson — 2009-05-27T11:07:46-04:00

Here's a really interesting idea. Ireland is issuing "Innovation Vouchers" to small businesses to help them better connect to the "public knowledge system (i.e., colleges and universities). Each voucher is worth €5,000 and can be redeemed for things like:

new product / process development;
new business model development;
new service delivery and customer interface;
new service development;
tailored training in innovation management;
innovation / technology audit

The program came out of a recommendation from a 2006 report called Small Business is Big Business. More information about the voucher program can be found here.

Ireland is not the only place to try this strategy. It has also been implemented elsewhere in the UK and in the Netherlands. Here is a study that evaluated the impact of the Dutch program. It found that the system does indeed stimulate innovation - eight out of ten vouchers issued resulted in an innovation that otherwise would not have come to fruition.

2009 Industry Outlook

Jenna Wargo — 2009-04-29T11:40:43-04:00

Posted by Susan Davis

Deloitte has just published its 2009 Industry Outlook. For a more in-depth look at the trends, this report reveals potential industry-specific challenges and opportunities for 2009. See here

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Jenna Wargo — 2009-04-29T11:39:55-04:00

Posted by Heather Clark-Reynolds

Check out the blog on "How to Become an Entrepreneur. It has 163 recommendations on how to do so. The HHSBDC's business advisor, Heather Clark-Reynolds has listed her idea at number 137! Find it here.

Automotive Industry

Terri Lester — 2009-04-26T06:59:47-04:00

Last week I attended the Roads to Renewal: A Summit on the Changing Automotive Industry - How Communities Can Thrive in Chicago. This was the inaugural session and Kim Hill, Director of the Automotive Communities Program (ACP), hopes will become an annual event. I have been working with numerous communities in Indiana experiencing negative impacts of the auto and RV industries very similar to Michigan and Ohio. What I did not realize was that Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri were experiencing it now as well. I thought the effects were a few months away for them. One consistent theme throughout the entire Summit was the need to think and act regionally and collaboratively. Additional information about the Summit can be found at here. Additional information about the Automotive Communities Program is at here. I highly recommend any community experiencing an auto-related business economy to visit their website.

Regional Tourism Networks

Scott Hutcheson — 2009-04-14T15:06:37-04:00

Tonight I'll be meeting with the Parke County Quality of Life Council to talk about their tourism economy. Parke County, Indiana is the Covered Bridge Capital of the World and certainly has some valuable tourism-related assets. Still, it is tough for any single rural county to make a go of it in any industry, tourism included. Tonight we'll be discussing how a Regional Tourism Network might be a good idea for not just Parke County but for all of West Central Indiana. Tonight's PowerPoint presentation is available here.