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A business-friendly process sends the right signals

Loveridge says that when he became mayor of Riverside, he found that the city had little in the way of an economic development program, and he convinced the city to hire an economist to put together an economic development plan. The economist came up with a detailed analysis of the current industries in the city, the nature of the community and the problems it faced. “It was a systemic look at the community,” he says.

In addition, the city began to review its internal operations to find ways to make the process easier for businesses that were interested in expanding or coming to the community. That meant shortening the permitting process and establishing a “one-stop shop” that facilitated obtaining the approvals from the various city departments. “We wanted to make feeling welcome part of the strategy,” he says.

As Ohio Governor, George Voinovich focused on “getting agencies focused on excellence” as a critical part of any successful economic development initiative.

“Once I asked a potential company what permits they needed, and we issued them even before they chose Ohio for their plant,” he says. “They couldn’t say no.”

He finds that communities sometimes send signals that they don’t even want new business. “Some places, trying to get permits out of the building department or environment is a nightmare,” he says. “In economic development, you either get the jobs or not at all. You can’t put up all kinds of roadblocks. You have to have an agency with top people and get the job done. If you do, the word goes out to people who make decisions.”

He emphasized the importance of having a reputation for meeting the needs of the business. “Because of what we did, we grew jobs in Ohio,” he says. “The word got around that we will support creating jobs.” He says he worked with Honda Motors, the Japanese auto company when they were looking to expand their auto parts production, and today, Honda uses parts built in Ohio in its cars.

Other leaders point to the creation of regional entities that promote the strengths of multiple nearby communities rather than having each promote its own interests, often at the expense of a neighboring community.

Taking a regional approach

In Franklin County, Ohio, Commissioner Paula Brooks says that the public-private partnership, called Columbus 2020, works regionally to allocate responsibilities to political jurisdictions. “We have all of our communities aligned,” she says.

The initiative serves as the economic development organization for the 11-county Columbus Region, generating economic growth throughout Central Ohio. Its staff conducts business outreach to existing economic base companies, markets the region to companies worldwide, conducts customized research to better understand the region’s competitiveness and makes strategic economic development investments by leveraging public, private and institutional partnerships.

It was set up as a private, nonprofit entity with the sole mission of economic development. Private companies and public entities decide themselves whether to fund the Columbus 2020 economic development strategy.
Brooks says that with the resources of a combined operation, the region can now send representatives to international trade shows. Independently, communities in the region couldn’t afford to participate in such initiatives. “We have a strong regional economy,” she says. “We speak with one voice.”

Other leaders also see globalization at the top of trends driving the field in the coming decades.

“American cities aren’t living in isolation,” Sproull says. “We’re inter-linked. We have to be a lot savvier about how we make a community competitive in an international environment. Trade policies affect our competitiveness.”
A second trend, Sproull says, is sustainability, because progressive companies are increasingly looking to communities that will help them manage resources and renewable energy.

A third area, he says, is making business creation easier for the entrepreneur who wants to start a small business, often the seed of a large one. Developing incubator locations, where a group of smaller operations can share resources, is part of creating an environment to help the entrepreneur succeed. This is also tied to the concept of “placemaking,” where, in a global search for talent, the younger generation feels comfortable with the living style as well as business environment.

A fourth trend is developing a qualified workforce to meet the needs of businesses. “A workforce is central to our efforts,” Sproull says.

Brooks recalls one situation where the region was able to support a new business with one-time training funds to ensure that the business had the people it needed. Most economic development officials are strong proponents of immigration reform that would allow larger numbers of skilled workers into the country.

Finally, Sproull says, the nation has to improve its infrastructure so that global businesses can bring people into modern airports and goods into seaports, can rely on up-to-date electricity grids and broadband connectivity, and have highways and railways that can move their products. Even the deepening of the Panama Canal, which will allow larger ships to arrive more efficiently at U.S. ports, is opening up new opportunities for business that leaders have to consider in their planning.

“The world doesn’t see boundaries between two suburbs,” Sproull says. “They look at the market. We talk about Texas and drive them around the whole Dallas-Fort Worth region. We know we’re in a global fight for talent. We try to show our business savvy. We’re marketing a whole region.”

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