Information About the Rich, Powerful and Influential

Doing research on influential people in business and other fields? Take a look at some of the lists here.

Getting to the Right People in the Arts, Entertainment and Culture

Is your area working to captilize on arts, entertainment and culture as economic development drivers? Click here to access several valuable lists that can help you with your job.

Dust Off Your Psychology Text Book

Economic development can afford to take a note or two from the fields of psychology and management. Read this fascinating article.

The “science” of management is largely derivative: a mix of military strategy, the economics of the firm and the engineering of processes. Less frequently than it should, it takes ideas from the field of psychology, and some of them have had considerable influence. The idea that there are two distinct management styles, the authoritarian style and the participative style—“Theory X” and “Theory Y”—developed by Douglas McGregor in “The Human Side of Enterprise” 40 years ago was influential in corporate America long after the author's early death. A decade ago McGregor still featured as one of the most popular management writers of all time.

Today, management again seems eager to borrow from the field of psychology. After a decade in which its prime focus was first the re-engineering of business processes and then the measurement of “value added”, the science has turned its attention to the humans at the heart of the corporate machine. In that, it may be taking a lead from economics, which two years ago awarded its Nobel prize to Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist. Turning his back on neoclassical economists, who assume humans are crisply rational consumers, Mr Kahneman studied the fuzzy way in which people in their daily economic lives perceive things like risk.

Two other influences may lie behind management's new-found enthusiasm for the science of Freud and Jung. The turmoil at the turn of the century, when stockmarkets' and businesses' fortunes rose and fell like boats in a force eight gale, increased managers' awareness that they live in a world that is not just ever-changing, but is changing ever more quickly too. “Change” is a buzzword in management literature today. Among other things, companies realise that they have to change, frequently and radically, the attitudes and practices of much of their workforce. For help they are turning to psychology.

Go here to read more.

Just What DO People Think of Wal-Mart?

At a California conference, a diverse crowd, from academics to union workers, explored the growing backlash against the giant. After losing a bitter battle to build a store in Inglewood, Calif., Wal-Mart might like to write off the humiliating defeat at the ballot box as an isolated event. But an unusual one-day conference at the University of California Santa Barbara on Apr. 12 suggests that the world's largest retailer ain't seen nothing yet.

"Wal-Mart: Template for 21st Century Capitalism?" drew historians, sociologists, and other academics from around the country. Community activists, environmentalists, union workers, and others eagerly absorbed the discussions as they pondered the kinds of coalitions that might stop or transform Wal-Mart in the future. Three hundred people, including students, attended the conference.

Yes, there was admiration for Wal-Mart's powerful use of logistics and information technology, the kind of activity that used to get most of the public attention. But the bigger agenda at the UCSB's Center for the Study of Work, Labor & Democracy focused on Wal-Mart's "sins" -- from low wages and lackluster benefits to stress-filled jobs and anti-union managers.

Go here to read more.

New Corporate Goverance Rules: Are Your Companies Ready?

Directors and investors are demanding reform. Companies had better prepare for it. More progress has been made improving the governance of US corporations during the past couple of years than in the several decades preceding them. New reporting requirements that stock exchanges have ordered in response to high-profile scandals, together with tougher auditing standards under the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act, have pushed boards and managers to become far more diligent in preparing and reporting accurate financial information. Boards have also grown acutely aware of their responsibility to shareholders and of the consequences of failing to live up to it, so many have become more independent from management.

But our latest research on board governance in the United States indicates that directors and investors alike feel that, so far, reform has led to only modest improvement. Much more must change, they think, before high-quality board governance can be achieved.

Are companies in your area getting with this new program? If not, there will be hell to pay.

Here to read more.

China Floundering?

Investors in China have recently earned one eye-popping return after another. But making money there won't be quite so simple in the years ahead. How's this for a can't-miss investment opportunity: Enormous but struggling nation with a potent workforce turns capitalist and embraces its destiny as a future economic powerhouse. Foreign capital pours in, early investors pocket near triple-digit returns, and the sky seems to be the limit. Here to read more. (Subscription required)

Coping with Older Worker Challenges

Americans spend more time in retirement today than ever before. The aging of the baby boom generation, however, will force policy makers and businesses to reassess practices that have encouraged ever-earlier retirement.

Many older workers would like to continue to work but face various obstacles to doing so. Public and private policies, crafted in an era of labor surpluses, have long promoted retirement rather than work among older Americans. CED’s report, New Opportunities for Older Workers, addresses these and other issues and recommends reforms in public policies and business practices.

Click here to download an earlier report by the Committee for Economic Development (CED) on older workers, which is an increasingly important economic development issue for more states and communities.

Targeting "Hot Shot" Growth Companies

Click here to view Forbes Hot Shots List, which could be an interesting business attraction list for some communities.

Stock share prices in this year's list of 200 entrepreneurial companies are up an average of 58% over the past 12 months, compared with 36% for the Russell 2000 Index. These are Hot Shots indeed.

The Corporate Scoreboard Model

Some economic development organizations are beginning to adapt the corporate scoreboard model to their work. Click here to read a very useful article on this approach to performance measurement and management. I highly recommend it.

Changing ED Organizations

My involvement in organization development projects in economic development has grown in the past 12-18 months. Recently I ran across a very useful article on how to approach planned organizational change. Here is the link, and here are the ten principles suggested:

1. Address the “human side” systematically.
2. Start at the top.
3. Involve every layer.
4. Make the formal case.
5. Create ownership.
6. Communicate the message.
7. Assess the cultural landscape.
8. Address culture explicitly.
9. Prepare for the unexpected.
10. Speak to the individual.

EconData: A Must Stop

More on research sources for economic development. Check out EconData here. I was asked by some folks at the Economic Development Institute this year in Indianapolis to put more data and information sources up on ED Futures, so that is what I'm doing here.

UK Company Research

Looking for information about UK companies? Start here at the Hoovers UK website. Some information is free. It's a useful place to begin.

Canadian Business and Industry Research Portal

Click here to access the Canadian Government's valuable industry research portal. This is a great starting place for doing research on Canadian businesses and industries.

CEO Employment Contract Database

You might find this database to be of interest. It contains the contracts of the CEOs of the largest publicly-held companies. This is a real eye-opener. Click here.

Prospecting Chicago

Here are a couple useful online lists of public and private companies in the Greater Chicago area. These are useful starting points in identifying business investment prospects. Public company list. Private company list.

Best Cities for Business

Check out the Inc. Magazine ranking of business places. Click here to access the menu-driven database.

Offshoring Hits Europe

Attention, European white-collar workers: Your job could be next. By 2008, Deloitte Research estimates, more than 800,000 financial-services and high-tech jobs will migrate from Western Europe to cheaper labor markets -- principally India, but also Eastern Europe, China, and even Africa and Latin America. Technology Partners International, a Texas firm that helps broker outsourcing contracts, says deals by European companies jumped from 16% of the worldwide total in 2002 to 26% last year. The volume of European deals this year, the firm predicts, could match those from the Americas.

Here to read more.

Who is Benefiting from the Boom?

This is a very relevant issue for economic development

The productivity boom has made asset owners rich -- and left many wage-earners behind. For the past three years, the U.S. has enjoyed an almost unprecedented boom in productivity. Yet these gains have been distributed unevenly. Household net worth has reached an all-time high, surpassing even the bubble-influenced peak of early 2000. That has mainly benefited the top half of families, who own virtually all of the country's assets such as stocks, bonds, and homes.

Meanwhile, high unemployment and glacial job growth have left many workers, especially at the bottom end, suffering. The share of the economic pie going to wages and salaries has plummeted to just over 50%, its lowest level in at least the past 50 years, and perhaps longer.

The good news is that, with the reappearance of job growth, the recovery seems to be moving into a new phase. The latest employment report, released on Apr. 2 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed a 308,000 increase in jobs in March. The gains were broad-based: Retailers and restaurants staffed up on low-wage positions, while on the high end, consulting and securities firms put out the help wanted sign.

Here to read more.

Michigan Says Stop Sending Government Business Offshore

The outsourcing of work for state government to other states and even other countries happens because companies that win state contracts with low bids are looking out for their own bottom lines. And that can mean moving the work to places where it can be done cheaply.

And it's a point of growing friction at a time when Michigan's unemployment rate is third highest in the nation.

Last month, Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued orders designed to bring more of the work back to Michigan. Her policies make Michigan jobs a factor in assessing competing bids.

There's more than low-end jobs at stake, said state Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren. He's concerned that work in areas such as information technology will move overseas without strict guidelines.

"It's our jobs; it's our future," said Bieda, who has introduced legislation that would require companies seeking Michigan contracts to certify that the work is being done in the United States.

State-government unions, whose members were angry about the loss of state-government jobs to private companies in Gov. John Engler's administration, say action is long overdue.

Here to read more.

Indiana's Nonprofit Economy

Did you know that nearly one in 13 Hoosiers works in a nonprofit organization? Paid nonprofit employees make up 6.6 percent of the statewide payroll, according to a recent Indiana University study led by Dr. Kirsten Gronbjerg. In fact, Indiana nonprofits employ more people than transportation and public utilities, construction, non-durable manufacturing or the state's entire finance, banking, insurance and real estate industry. Here for more.

I keep wondering...is this good or bad news. It could be both, depending upon what kind of an economy you're trying to build.

Tax Impact of Offshoring

As U.S. companies shift jobs to low-paid workers in developing nations, a growing number of economists and politicians worry that offshore outsourcing could damage the nation's fiscal health by draining tax coffers.

Although proponents of offshoring dismiss such concerns as far-fetched or naive, some tax experts say the migration of lucrative technology jobs to India and China is shrinking U.S. employee tax contributions and could exacerbate state budget shortfalls. Others say offshoring could erode already-strapped Social Security, Medicare, workers compensation and other payroll-deduction funds more quickly than anticipated.

Few researchers have studied offshoring's potential drain on public coffers. But up to one-quarter of lost wages translate to lost tax revenues, by conventional accounting methods. So if 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages move overseas by 2015 as Forrester Research predicts, that means federal, state and local tax receipts could decline as much as $34 billion.

"Here's the big reason why tax revenues are declining: All these jobs are leaving the country," said John McGowan, professor of accounting at Saint Louis University. "We need to start talking about this problem and not just blithely saying, 'Free trade is the solution' just because it boosts corporate profits and Wall Street likes it."

Go here for more.