OUR BLOG
As I See It | The One Thing Many Economic Developers Don’t Want Site Selectors to Know
Over the course of the past year, more than one economic developer has pulled me aside to make a confession: they’re no longer actively recruiting businesses. Instead, they are placing their bets on business retention and expansion (BRE). The main reason is that...
AS I SEE IT | ONE VIEW OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
In working with more than 500 economic development groups over the past 17 years, we have confirmed again and again the three pillars of success for economic development organizations: Alignment, Readiness and Differentiation. While all three are required for success,...
As I See It | Target Industries 2.0
In Ady Advantage’s most recent site selector research, one of the questions we asked site selectors was, “What single piece of information is most critical to have on an economic development website?” Their answer? More important than labor force data, available...
As I See It | A New Playbook for Rural Communities
This blog is for all those communities, especially rural ones, that for a generation attracted manufacturing businesses with a value proposition focused on low wages, plentiful unskilled or low-skilled workers, a strong work ethic, and a low cost of living. I’m here...
As I See It | Rural America Can Be Competitive in Talent
Last week, I had the honor of presenting a session at the National Rural Economic Development Association’s (NREDA) annual conference. The topic was Talent Strategies, and the room was packed with some of the best and brightest economic developers and utility ED pros...
As I See It | Why Regionalism is Worth It
As Ady Advantage works with our economic development organization (EDO) clients, we always stress what I believe to be the most important factors to successful economic development: Regionalism and alignment, the ongoing coordination and cooperation among economic...
As I See It | Challenges and Opportunities of Utility Economic Developers
At Ady Advantage, we’ve worked with utility economic developers for over 15 years. Never have we seen utilities express such an interest in being more forward with their economic development efforts. We work regularly with utility economic developers, and recently...
As I See It | Site Selection Industry Marks Its Centennial: Part 2 of 2 – The Later Years
Note: This blog is the second of a two-part series about the site selection industry. If you missed the first part, you can read it here. In the early 1990s, Fantus was acquired by Deloitte (now Deloitte’s Global Location Strategy group). By this time, site...
Communities Innovate to Confront Talent Shortage
Midwest Talent Strategy Inventory catalogs creative initiatives Midwestern communities are getting creative as they confront the challenge of talent recruitment and retention in a shrinking market. From sophisticated marketing campaigns to growing their own talent in...