Porter: "Clusters Drive Economic Development"

What Causes Growth? ... "High tech is not the Holy Grail of economic development." That's the word from business guru Michael Porter (Wall Street Journal, Dec 12, 2001) in a report for the Council on Competitiveness (click the Clusters Conference button). "While high-tech companies capture the headlines, collectively they provide less than 3% of total U.S. employment." Wow, that's an amazing statistic.

Porter believes that "clusters" of industries drive economic growth. Clusters are defined as "concentrations of companies, suppliers, and service providers, along with associated institutions such as universities." Examples of clusters include Apparel, Chemical Products, and Financial Services. Want to know where your region stacks up? Check out the Cluster Mapping Project at Harvard's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (click the link at the bottom of the Institute's page). You'll find ten years of data on regional and cluster performance for every state, economic area, and metropolitan area.

Or let's say that you're relocating a firm in the Medical Devices industry. You want to know what areas boast the most supportive environment for growing your business. So go to the Institute's site. Select the Medical Devices cluster and the Metropolitan Areas option. Looks like you should locate in (ordered by rank) Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Orange County (CA), Philadelphia, San Jose, Salt Lake City, New York or Seattle. One more ingredient for the relocation mix.

PikeNet Dispatch Sale... Want to spread the word about your service product? Check out the limited time offer for PikeNet Dispatch Sponsorships. Send me e-mail. Thanks!

--Peter Pike