TDECD Strategy Plays Up Tennessee Regions
Published Apr 07, 2003
ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber says a regional approach to economic development will allow Tennessee’s best assets to reach their full potential.
One size does not fit all. That’s the inspiration behind Tennessee’s new economic development strategy, crafted to identify and sell regions of the state, not the state as a whole.
“When I was campaigning and traveling across our state, one of the things that struck me was just how big and how diverse the state is,” recalls Gov. Phil Bredesen. “It seemed so clear to me that in anything, and certainly in economic development, one size doesn’t fit all. The assets and liabilities and opportunities of Memphis are different from Nashville, are different from Campbell County. I think we make a huge mistake when we think of Tennessee as one unitary thing where one strategy makes overall sense.”
Thus, the idea of economic development regions was born.
“Just as in a business, successful marketing requires settling down and doing the work it takes to identify all your target groups and how you’re going to reach them,” says Bredesen. “It’s the same with economic development; it’s a matter of settling down and identifying the opportunities region by region and then doing the work it takes to bring them to fruition.”
Putting that philosophy to work is Matt Kisber, Bredesen’s commissioner of Economic and Community Development.
“Tennessee’s economy is not one big, statewide economy. It’s really constituted of a number of regional economies that have their individual strengths, individual assets and individual opportunities. We want to design our strategies to maximize the benefits to those individual regions,” explains Kisber.
He points to West Tennessee as an example: Shelby County advantages lie in the biosciences, thanks to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, while in rural West Tennessee, the strengths are agribusiness and manufacturing.
Jim Apple, the Memphis Regional Chamber senior vice president for economic development, says the economy of the Memphis region is unlike any other.
“One of the characteristics that most distinguishes the Memphis region from the balance of the state is the logistics and transportation infrastructure. Compare it to practically any other city in North America. It’s an absolute advantage that’s indisputable,” he says.
Not only is Memphis the home of FedEx, but also the location of major distribution facilities for United Parcel Service and the U.S. Postal Service. Memphis boasts an international airport and all five of the Class I railroads that operate in North America.
“All five of these railroads not only serve Memphis with their tracks, which is important, but on those tracks operate very sophisticated intermodal operations, which link Memphis to all the major deep-water ports on the East, West and Gulf coasts. Via these rail and intermodal facilities, the ports are linked to substantial trucking infrastructure in Memphis. Then the vital component of all of that is the Port of Memphis itself, which is one of the most active and important river ports in the country and is a magnet for certain types of industrial prospects. That combination is truly unique,” Apple says.
Hundreds of miles away, the Oak Ridge area plays to its technical strengths, linked in large measure to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other federal installations.
“Obviously, our niche is the technology capabilities found in Oak Ridge. We’re so fortunate that the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been very progressive in developing and initiating a lot of new projects,” says Kim Denton, president of the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership.
One example of such a project is the Spallation Neutron Source, a Department of Energy $1.4 billion, six-year project set to be complete in 2006.
“This world-renowned neutron testing facility will bring scientists from all over the world to participate and utilize the capabilities there,” Denton says.
To nurture economies as varied and promising as those of Memphis and Oak Ridge, the regional strategy, Kisber says, “must be driven by these questions: What are our opportunities? What are our assets? How do we build on the foundations that currently exist to exploit those strengths? Play to your strengths has always been a key concept in business strategy. It’s no different here.”
Having already mapped out the state’s economic regions, officials now are working to identify the growing sectors of the economy and the growing businesses in those sectors. The key to the success of regional marketing, Kisber says, will be cooperation among the state, regional economic development associations, local governments, chambers of commerce, industrial development boards and other pertinent groups.
“The nice thing about the economic development business is that we are an industry made up of a number of partners,” he adds. “We work closely with all of them to marshal our collective resources to make new jobs happen.”
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Stephen Cherry
Current Weather Conditions In Nashville, TN (37243)
Cloudy, and 44 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
