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Changes shaping industrial recruitment, development. (Focus Manufacturing).

Article Excerpt
Industrial development and recruiting efforts have changed a lot over the years with regionalism, target industries, new marketing techniques and better networking--and that's just for starters. Competition has also become fiercer.

Perhaps one of the major changes in economic development, however, is the way it's looked at by today's professionals. For example, according to Jerry Acey, executive director of the Madison County Economic Development Authority, "economic development now takes a much broader view than just industrial development."

"We own some property that's zoned commercial in Gluckstadt and Canton," Acey said. "We promote and develop those properties in addition to industrial properties. We work closely with the tourism industry in Madison County. And then of course we continue to work with Nissan and the suppliers in trying to help coordinate with the community college and others and new facilities that are required to support this new industry we have."

Bill Sisson, director of the Center for Community and Economic Development at the University of Southern Mississippi, said following a low-cost industrial recruitment strategy is no longer the path to raising wages and the quality of life.

"This is especially the case in rural areas across the U.S. where jobs are being created at about half the rate of growth in metro areas," Sisson said. "Both urban and rural communities should wherever possible shift their focus from 'hunting and gathering' to 'gardening' or to promoting a growth-from-within approach so that homegrown entrepreneurial firms can flourish."

Joey Grisham, executive director...

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