New Paradigms and Risk In Economic Development In Canada

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• New Paradigms and Risk In Economic Development In
  Canada
• Prepared For Northwest Ontario Development
  Network
• September 2007

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In the last twenty years, the professional
practice of economic development has become

• Easier or Harder
• More productive or Less productive
• Clearer or Fuzzier
• More credible or Less credible
  
• More accountable or Less accountable

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At what level is your program operating?

• Strategic
• Tactical
• Tooth fairy
• Clueless / Apathetic
• Hostile

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Preparing your community for a labor constrained
inflationary economy

• Educate local leaders about the dimensions of the
  labor problem
• Carefully redefine economic development in this
  new paradigm
• Move your program practice from tactical to
  strategic
• Choose economic base specializations (prepare to
  hyper specialize)
• Prepare new products, value positions and
  marketing methodologies
• Develop predictive local labor market gap data
• Figure out how to steer talent to your high value
  e-base sectors
• Develop a spec workforce program that integrates
  economic development and workforce development
• Rethink your organizational and funding structure
• Develop an inflation mitigation plan

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SWOT

• Threats -
• Post boomer demographic realities more jobs
  than workers
• Amorphous, asymmetrical volatile economy
• Fewer deals more competition higher
  transaction costs
• Shrinking local resources to force ROI test
• Decentralized information access
• Political polarization-zero sum mentality
• Weaknesses
• Lost clarity
• Accountability / Intellectual dishonesty
• Falling productivity
• Sloppy management practices
• Obsolete upside down organizational structures
• No common theory nomenclature
• No standard methodology data
• Attribution longitudinal problems
• Workforce Development Economic development
  communities are estranged
• Opportunities
• Labor crisis could increase e number of footloose
  economic base employers

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Northern Ontario/Canadian Threats

• More foreign owned firms less interested in
  economic development of communities
• Workers moving/working in AB and Toronto
• Rising Canadian dollar less appetite in US
• Paper and Pulp/Softwood industry long term
  decline
• Much tighter security and scrutiny on border
• More revenue leaving Northwest ON and not coming
  back (mining industry )

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In 10 years over half of the economic
development organizations in the US and Canada
will be out of business. DCI

• Rationale
• Post boomer demographic realities will eliminate
  the rationale for job creation programs.
• Increasing competition for local resources will
  drive a ROI test for funding local economic
  development programs.
• The changing nature of the economy will continue
  to make it harder for economic development
  programs to produce tangible results.
• The profession currently lacks the clarity of
  purpose, performance metrics and new program
  approaches needed to survive.

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Overhaul the Profession

• Restore clarity and accountability
• Increase productivity
• Rebuild credibility

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1. Bring clarity and accountability to the
profession

• Redefine Economic Development as the professional
  practice of designing, planning and development
  of the future economic base of the community.
• Recalibrate Economic Base Theory and Redefine
  economic developments purpose.
• Distance the profession from non essential
  unproductive activities currently considered
  economic development.
• Develop a hierarchy of goals for programs at each
  operational level and specialization.
• Start measuring economic base jobs at the
  provincial and local level again.
• Begin tracking economic base transactions on the
  national level.
• Bring meaningful management metrics to program
  operations.
• Develop a methodology for calculating ROI for
  local programs.

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2. Increase productivity

• Find new measurable ways for economic development
  programs to add value.
• Connect workforce development community to the
  business and economic development community on a
  strategic level.
• Develop new labor market mapping gap prediction
  methodologies, workforce readiness standards
• Develop nationwide standard for workforce
  readiness
• Rethink the architecture of our traditional state
  and local organizations

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3. Rebuild Credibility

• Get ahead of the curve on the looming labor
  crisis and prepare EDPs to lead strategic
  preparation at the state and community level.
• Promote new metrics and ROI standards to help
  restore clarity and credibility to the
  profession.
• Promote economic base planning and development as
  the centerpiece of community and regional
  planning

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Five approaches for determining return on
investment

• The Acquisition Approach
• The Job Approach
• The Transaction or Commission Approach
• The Internal Metrics Approach
• The Market Share Approach

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THANK YOU!

• Jack Allston, CEcD, FM
• jallston_at_csonline.net
• www.jbaassoc.com