October 2004, Volume: 7, Issue: e/10, ISBN 1527-5175

~~~"As the depth of a tree's roots determines the tree's height, the depth of one's experiences determines the height of one's success." Source: Thembelani Vanga

~~~This is too important to skip and has nothing to do with economic development... Be a hero. Donate airline miles to help U.S. soldiers. Your frequent flier miles can help U.S. soldiers and their families. The military flies U.S. soldiers on Emergency Leave to three U.S. airports for free: Baltimore/Washington, Dallas/Fort Worth, or Atlanta. After that, soldiers and their families must fend for themselves and pay for the flights. Operation Hero Miles allows you to donate frequent flyer miles and help provide free transportation for families and also help fly thousands of family members to visit wounded soldiers in U.S. military hospitals. http://www.heromiles.org

~~~Try this NEW search engine... "Clusty," the Clustering Search Engine. The beta version can be tested by going to http://clusty.com Type in "Synchronist System". Results will give you 98 references. Scroll down the full list, rank ordered by relevance. Or, on the left, go to one of the 10 clusters identified by sub reference (e.g. economic development, 22) frequency. We have been testing it and have found it to be very useful, making  searches easier. Sometimes it brings up references that Google misses.

~~~Checking out a specific company?... Try www.ReferenceUSA.com for background company information. Although it is available to libraries and government agencies, the list of companies is not limited to manufacturing. Some say they prefer this over D&B. We understand that members of the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association also have access to www.ReferenceUSA.com. http://www.ACCRA.org

~~~Web addresses... that are descriptive (northbrook.il.com) are much more valuable than acronyms of organizations (LEDC.com) or solely names of cities, e.g. Springfield. (Which Springfield? Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, or Oregon?) Think geography, not organization. Site selectors have a geographic focus. You run the risk of getting lost in the generic lists.

~~~Synchronist AWARD WINNERS... The annual meeting in Chicago yielded outstanding dialog, many strategies to share from 23 states and 2 Canadian provinces, and slabs of chocolate (in place of framed certificates). Outstanding contributors and their affiliations are: 

New Investment Opportunist: MIKE GREENE, Richland County Economic Development Corporation, OH

Ace Research Analysts: ED SITAR, ComEd/Exelon, IL & JIM ANDERSON, Upper Peninsula Economic Development Association, MI

Tireless Champions: DEB CALVERT, MidAmerican Energy Company, IA & TED HIDINGER, Arizona Public Service Co. & TANYA McQUEEN, City of Nanaimo, BC & LYNN PARMAN, Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, KS

Champion Process Innovators: GAIL CONKEY, Economic Development Association of Northern NV  & MATT CRAMER, Economic Development Association of Northern NV

Holy Roll-Outs: GREG SHEEK, Economic Development Partnership of AL SIDNEY HOOVER, Economic Development Partnership of AL

Merlin's Strategist: GREG KIING, Economic Development Institute, Georgia Tech

Information Artist: DAN McDONALD, Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, IA

~~~Thinking about a CD ROM... for your marketing tool kit? Think twice! Few site selection consultants are willing to gamble the security of their computer hard drive on curiosity. The "virus" penalty is just too great. Unsolicited information is not worth the risk.

~~~Do jobs cost money?... During a discussion on the creation of quality jobs, Tim Rubald of Nevada stated that above-average wages for primary jobs develops the local economy. Below-average-wage jobs lessen the economic impact locally. Low-wage jobs cost money. Are you building a low-wage progression? What do you want to be measured on? (Heard at the Annual Synchronist Users' Forum in early Oct.)

~~~Louisville, KY's high impact companies... "We are going to find them ( Louisville companies), connect with them, and sit with them shoulder to shoulder and go through everything that can help them grow their business." Source: Mayor Jerry Abramson, at the initiation of the private-public partnership with Greater Louisville, Inc. to embrace Louisville's high impact companies.

~~~Technology and a ton of information... is no substitute for in-depth, face-to-face dialog. In fact, technology often gets in the way of creating the necessary environment for effective communication.

~~~CIOs (chief information officers) have grown in significance... When you conduct business retention calls or work on a prospect, do you include a CIO's concerns in your checklist?

~~~News alert... Want to track the news on a key local company or a prospect? Use Google's News Service. Registration is very easy and the service is free. When your key word is in the news, you will get an e-mail alert. http://www.google.com/Alerts. Source: Chris Gibbons, CO

~~~Scary!... As we were sorting through the - shall we say - miscellaneous mail today, we were surprised to find one economic development magazine with an ad ratio of 25:2.5. What's that you say? Well, in this case the mag had 25 puff pieces to 2.5 substantive (loose definition) articles.  We were further astounded to find 43 economic development organizations paid to participate in this magazine. Leads us to wonder if any of them actually asked about content or for a copy of the magazine before signing the contract. What is the appropriate response 1) "A sucker is born every minute."(P.T. Barnum) or, 2) "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." (unknown) Since we are optimists, we vote for number 2. We know you always ask for confirmation of content quality and past copies before signing on. However, it appears some are not as disciplined.

~~~The WOW! factor... The Greenville (SC) Development Corp. has one of the finest brochures we've read. Of course, they have a lot to tout: research in advanced materials, advanced films & fibers, composites, and automotive composites. It's a quick read, but strong in its visual and text.

~~~Continuous measurement... is a way of life. Can you afford to be "content" within economic development without having an evaluation process (for personal and professional)?

~~~"I have been working... to convince leadership we need to get into business retention. While I was at a conference, I asked two peers about business retention. To paraphrase, both individuals independently told me, "If you are going to do business retention, do yourself a favor - use the Synchronist System." Source: TX economic developer

~~~"China is fast becoming the world's manufacturer... but an immature IT infrastructure makes it difficult for companies to stay on top of information vital to their supply chains." InfomationWeek, 8/30/04

~~~Intelligent Enterprise magazine reports... a random sample of readers believe Microsoft is favored among small to midsized enterprises (annual revenues less than $500 million). Google is the preferred search and retrieval software by 77%. The magazine also states that maintaining existing systems is more important than jumping into new technology, e.g. customer data integration. 9/04/04

~~~Fascinating reading... Optimize magazine focused its September issue on global competitiveness, offshore outsourcing, and pressure on overseas outsourcing providers to improve quality. Source: www.optimizemag.com

~~~To broaden your mind... read "The Accountability Revolution" by Mark Samuel and Barbara Novak!!

~~~Successful grant applications have included... Synchronist-generated data. Some economic development leaders using Synchronist drill down the data to receive timely new information on the local economy and its business base.

~~~The only substitute... for raw enthusiasm is knowledge. Mix enthusiasm and knowledge. The results can be powerful.

Blane, Canada Ltd.
1506 Cadet, Suite 100
Wheaton, IL 60187-7380
ph 630.462.9222
fax 630.462.9210

info@blanecanada.com