Target Industry: Bioinformatics

What is it?

The bioinformatics industry is comprised of companies using various enabling technologies that facilitate the annotation, storage, analysis and search/retrieval of nucleic acid sequence, protein sequence and structural information.

The industry includes the integration of information on the sequences and structures of nucleic acids and proteins into databases such as EMBL, as well as methods to access, search, model and analyze this information.

What are some of the major trends in the industry?

* The worldwide value of the bioinformatics market is expected to increase from $1.02 billion in 2002 to $3.0 billion in 2010, at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 15.8%.

* The fastest growing bioinformatics market is expected to be analysis software and services. It is estimated to grow from $444.7 million in 2005 to $1.2 billion in 2010.

* Applications of bioinformatics in drug discovery and development is expected to reduce the annual cost of developing a new drug by 33%, and the time for drug discovery by 30%.

* Pharmaceutical companies are expected to increase their R&D expenditures in the future and a major portion of this spending is expected to go into bioinformatics.

Who are some of the key players?

*ACCELRYS
*AFFYMETRIX
*AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
*AMERSHAM BIOSCIENCES
*CELERA
*COMPUGEN
*CURAGEN
*GENE LOGIC
*GEOSPIZA
*IBM LIFE SCIENCES
*INCYTE
*LION BIOSCIENCE AG
*SILICON GRAPHICS
*TRIPOS

Second Quarter Corporate Profits Up

Profits for the 900 companies on BusinessWeek's Corporate Scoreboard leaped by a better-than-expected 20% in 2005's second quarter. Even excluding one-time gains, earnings rose 15% -- also exceeding analysts' initial expectations

Get the data on the industries and companies here.

Productivity Growth: 2.3% or 5.4% Over the Past Year?

Take your pick. That's right, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says it could be either, depending upon the measure used.

On Aug. 9, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that in the second quarter, the most widely followed measure of productivity, output per hour in the nonfarm business sector, grew at a 2.2.% annual rate from the first quarter. Over the past year, productivity increased just 2.3%, down sharply from the 5% yearly pace seen at the end of 2003.

Perhaps, but what's overlooked in the above numbers is the fact that the BLS actually calculates a second broad measure of productivity, one that shows a more robust trend and one that happens to be followed closely by the Fed. This measure covers only the nonfinancial corporate sector, and it shows productivity in the first quarter grew 5.4% from a year ago. (The BLS reports these data with a one-month lag.) That pace is actually faster than the 4.5% yearly clip recorded at the end of 2003.

Why is this important? Well, it's important for two reasons: 1) our economic growth is productivity-based; and 2) it affects hiring expectations and patterns of employers. Employment grew by 207,000 in July. Employers added jobs because they believed they needed them. If we think productivity is not growing fast enough and our labor and energy costs are seen as too high, this motivates employers to look even more at offshore business sources.

Click here to read a very informative Business Week discussion on these situation.

Target Industry: Gambling/Gaming

The US gambling (gaming) industry consists of nearly 500 commercial casinos and 160 major Indian casinos, with combined annual revenue close to $75 billion.

The following corporations operate large casino businesses: MGM Mirage, Harrah’s Entertainment, and Mandalay Resort Group.

$30 billion of the industry's revenue comes from commercial casinos, $20 billion from state lotteries, $20 billion by Indian casinos, and the rest from horse racing, bingo, charities, and bookmaking.Note: For gambling companies, "revenue" is the total amount bet minus winnings paid to gamblers.

Most casino operations are small, limited by the size of the surrounding population market. The industry has become highly concentrated; with the top 20 companies hold more than 60 percent of the market.

Target Industry: Wine-Making

The U.S. wineries industry either grows its own grapes or purchases this raw material from vineyards and processes these and other ingredients into wine and brandy. Once packaged in bottles or casks, the alcoholic beverages are sold to wine merchants, retailers, bars, export markets and sometimes direct to the public via cellar door sales.

This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in one or more of the following: (1) growing grapes and manufacturing wine and brandies; (2) manufacturing wine and brandies from grapes and other fruits grown elsewhere; and (3) blending wines and brandies.

The primary activities of firms in this industry are:

*Winegrape growing
*Wine making
*Brandy manufacturing

The major products and services in this industry are:

*Table (still) wine
*Other varieties
*Sparkling (effervescent) wine

Target Industry: Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers

Here is a great target industry to consider if you want to build your local creative sector. And who are actors in the industry?

They include:

Actors, independent
Animated cartoon artists, independent
Announcers, independent radio and television
Art restorers, independent
Artists (except commercial, musical), independent
Authors, independent
Ballet dancers, independent
Cameramen, independent (freelance)
Cartoonists, independent
Celebrity spokespersons, independent
Choreographers, independent
Cinematographers, independent
Comedians, independent
Composers, independent
Conservators, independent
Costume designers, independent theatrical
Dancers, independent
Directors (i.e., film, motion picture, music, theatrical), independent
Disc jockeys, independent
Film producers, independent
Ghost writers, independent
Interpretive dancers, independent
Journalists, independent (freelance)
Lighting technicians, theatrical, independent
Magicians, independent
Models, independent
Motion picture producers, independent
Music arrangers, independent
Newspaper columnists, independent (freelance)
Orchestra conductors, independent
Photo journalists, independent (freelance)
Photographers, independent artistic
Playwrights, independent
Poets, independent
Producers, independent
Radio commentators, independent
Record producers, independent
Recording technicians, independent
Scenery designers, independent theatrical
Screenplay writers, independent
Script writers, independent
Sculptors, independent
Set designers, independent theatrical
Sketch artists, independent
Song writers, independent
Speakers, independent
Special effect technicians, independent
Standup comedians, independent
Storytellers, independent
Taxidermists, independent
Technical writers, independent
Television producers, independent
Wildlife artists, independent
Writers of advertising copy, independent
Writers, independent (freelance)

Who are the big players in this sector? They are:

Actors
Comedians
Authors
Dancers
Disc jockeys
Song writers
Directors
Record producers
Playwright
Cartoonists
Storytellers

Cluster Development Examples

Here are some resources you might consider as you plot a strategy for cluster development in your area. (Hopefully all the links work.)

-Central Massachusetts http://www.massmac.org/industry_clusters.htm
-Detroit, Michigan http://www.hud.gov/nmedetrt.cfm
-Humboldt County, Oregon http://www.northcoastprosperity.com/
-Jacksonville, Florida http://www.hud.gov/nmejacks.cfm
-New York, New York, The Sector Solution: Building a Broader Base for the New Economy (includes brief case studies of approaches by a few states) http://www.citylimits.org/cuf/econdev/sector2.htm
-Phoenix, Arizona,Cluster Analysis: A New Tool for Understanding the Role of the Inner City in a Regional Economy (Arizona State University, 1997) http://www.asu.edu/copp/morrison/clusteranalysis.pdf
-San Diego, California http://www.sannet.gov/economic-development/business-assistance/expansion/clusters.shtml
-Tucson, Arizona http://www.enet-tucson.com/IndustryClusters/

More US Companies Invest Abroad

Foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows from the United States reached USD 252 billion in 2004 – up from USD 141 billion in 2003 to hit an all-time record. While this to some extent reflected the weakness of the dollar, it also confirmed continuing strong interest among US companies in acquiring corporate assets abroad.

Read the OECD report here.

Trade-Displaced Worker Adjustment

The impact of changing trade patterns on jobs is significant. Many workers lose their jobs as a result of trade-related shifts.

According to a recent OECD report, workers laid off from jobs in high-international-competition manufacturing industries in both the US and Eurpoe are slower to become re-employed than job losers in the service sector (where domestic factors account for most layoffs) and they more often become re-employed in new jobs that pay less than the lost jobs (see chart).

A striking difference between Europe and the United States is that large pay cuts on the new job are much rarer in Europe, whereas the risk of long-term unemployment is lower in the United States. Quicker re-employment of trade-displaced workers in the United States than in Europe probably reflects a greater capacity of American labour markets to shift workers from declining to expanding sectors. However, this flexibility imposes high costs on the considerable number of job losers who must accept large pay cuts to become re-employed.

Trade-displaced workers in the United States are under greater pressure than their EU counterparts to become re-employed quickly, because unemployment benefits are less generous and layoffs may also result in a loss of health insurance coverage.

Read more here.

Committee for Economic Development Gains Recognition

The Committee for Economic Development was honored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for its continued efforts to improve education around the world. CED President Charles Kolb accepted the award for CED and noted that USAID and CED share the goal of reducing international poverty through the sharing of knowledge.

USAID officials highlighted CED's recent policy statement, A Shared Future: Reducing Global Poverty, and its on-going efforts to promote positive globalization programs.

Floriculture Crop Sales Grow Faster Than Nursery Crops

I work in a lot of rural places. Flowers are a growth industry. Just ask my wife Mary, who is an avid flower gardener. Beyond that, here are some important trends to consider.

Wholesale receipts of greenhouse and nursery crop producers edged up less than 1 percent to $15.7 billion in 2004, boosted by the 2-percent gain in floriculture sales from 2003. The growth of nursery and other greenhouse crops was dampened by lower sales of cut Christmas trees as more artificial trees penetrate the market. The rebound in floriculture sales, after slipping in 2003, is attributed to increased demand for potted flowering plants, bedding and garden annuals and perennials, and propagative material, which more than offset declines in potted foliage plants for indoor or patio use, cut flowers, and cut cultivated greens. Imported cut flowers continue to supplant a larger percentage of domestic cut flower production.

Want to know more? Click here.

Stop Whining and Start Wining

Wine Business Monthly (WBM) compiled its second annual ranking of the Top 30 U.S. wine companies by U.S. case sales. These wine companies represent more than 90 percent of the U.S. wine market. In exclusive interviews with WBM, the leaders of these companies spoke about where their companies are heading, how they plan to get there and the challenges they face today.

Ok, so you are not going to relocate a winery from one state to another, but how about acquiring wine-making technology that can make a winery in your state more successful. That's do-able.

Learn more here.

Industry Week 1000 Database

Looking for good data about manufacturers? Industry Week has it. Click here to access it's 1,000 Database.

Georgia Governor Says "Creating Jobs Isn't Easy"

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and his economic team have found that "growing jobs" in a fast-paced global economy, where Georgia's cheap labor isn't the strong asset it once was, is easier said than done. Worker quality is also an issue for Georgia. Read more here.

I believe most governors would agree that job development and economic development in general are not easy jobs today. First, we truly face global competition for most new business expansion projects. Second, American companies are pushing a lot of their new work to much cheaper places, like China and India. Third, I believe the model of economic development must change from a strictly place against place competitive model to more more globally-collaborative model.

We must build world linkages to co-develop jobs in the future. Instead of bashing China and India for their economic development success, let's join forces with them to co-develop the businesses and jobs of the future.

What is the Business of Business?

Here is one to think about. I have written a fair amount about business social responsibility here at ED Futures. Here is an article by McKinsey Quarterly that does a pretty good job of laying open the issue. This is very relevant to economic development.

By recasting the long-running argument about the role of business in society, companies can dislodge a debate that's now wedged between two seemingly incompatible points of view.

The relationship between big business and society can be viewed as an implicit social contract, with obligations, opportunities, and mutual advantages.

Large companies must take the lead in explaining their contribution to society. They should define their ultimate purpose in a way that is more subtle than "the business of business is business" and less defensive than most current approaches to corporate social responsibility.

It is time for big business to recapture the intellectual and moral high ground from its critics and to build social issues into strategy in a way that reflects their actual importance to companies.

Read the full article here at McKinsey Quarterly. (Free registration required.)

Are You Modular or Integral? Be Sure Your Supply Chain Knows

If you're targeting industries or clusters, then you're studying supply chains of businesses and industries. You might find this Strategy+Business article to be instructive. I did. Go here to read all about the difference in supply chains and which are right for different types of firms. (Free registration required.)

Most Detested Business Buzz Words

Think it's cute to use the latest buzz words. Some are tiring of the "buzz." Here are the ones that Fortune Magazine says are most disliked by its readers.

-Bottom line, when it refers "not to an entry on a financial statement but to a conclusion the speaker wants to force you to accept," writes KB.

-Shooting someone an e-mail or firing off an e-mail. "This makes me cringe," writes Mary.

-A challenge or an issue, when what the speaker really means is a problem.

-No-brainer. Suggests Mitch, "Maybe we could redefine this to mean a person who says it."

-"At the end of the day…" Several readers complained that attorneys nowadays seem to start every other sentence this way. Adds Brian T., "At the end of the day, what really bugs me is people saying 'at the end of the day.'" Is he a lawyer?

-"Isn't this cool?" Heard at "any Microsoft presentation of any new software," one reader notes. "Is it a rhetorical question, or do these people have a very limited vocabulary?"

-Hit the ground running. Oops. I used this one in a recent magazine column. Sorry!

-Touch base, as in "Let's touch base on this tomorrow." Says Bill G.: "I don't want to touch anyone's base. It sounds as if it would lead to a sexual harassment lawsuit."

-Going forward, as in, "Going forward, let's try not to use so many dumb clichés." Wonders Dave M: "What else would we do? Go back in time?" As if!

-Win-win. The cynics among us loathe this one with a passion. Writes Stacy, "It could as easily be 'lose-lose,' since neither party really wins." Okay, then!

-Core competencies. "If I hear the head of my division use this phrase one more time, I'm going to throw something at him," writes Jim. "Something heavy." Yikes. Division heads everywhere, you've been warned.

-Mission-critical. Some of you hate this expression because it is frequently used to imply that one person's contribution to a project is less important than someone else's. Others, meanwhile, just think it sounds pretentious when businesspeople talk as if they were flying the Space Shuttle.

-Thought leader. "Can you please kill this expression?" asks P.J. "It was bad enough to see PR people describe someone as a thought leader, but when I saw someone call himself a thought leader in his own bio, I wanted to throw up."

-Reference used as a verb, as in, "Please reference page 12 in your training guide." What's wrong with the (grammatically correct) phrase "refer to"—or just "look at?"

-Ping, as in "I'll ping you on this when I hear back from legal." This bit of tech jargon "has jumped the fence into the non-tech world," writes Scott. Let's send it back.

-There is no "I" in "team." Some of you are so weary of hearing this, you've taken to snapping, "But there is an 'M', and look! An 'E'!" Tsk, tsk.

-Radar screen, as in, "I'd like to get on your radar screen for a meeting next week." Asks Oliver, "What are we, air traffic controllers?"

-Bleeding edge, as in, "This is bleeding-edge technology." Yuck. Can we put this one out of its misery?

-Keep me posted or I'll keep you posted. Notes one astute reader, "These are usually conversation-enders indicating that no further information will be exchanged."

-Circle back , as in, "I'm just circling back to you on this", which is often "a cutesy way of pestering you for a progress report that you're probably not ready to give," says Kate.

-On the same page. Third runner-up: 78 readers wrote to say they would be happy never to hear anyone say this again. Ever.

-Cheerleader, as in calling oneself a cheerleader for a project or goal at work. Second runner-up, with 87 votes. "Can't we leave high school behind us?" asks D.B.

-Value proposition. Oy. "What is this exactly, and why does everything have to have one?" wonders Valerie. Tied for first runner-up with....

-One off. This is a comparatively new figure of speech frequently used to mean "privately," as in, "You and I will talk about this one off, after the meeting." It is also apparently why, according to many of you, nothing gets decided in meetings anymore.

Now for the winners, each nominated by more than 100 readers. May I have the envelopes, and a drum roll, please? The first 2005 Mallie award for Most Annoying Lingo goes to "new paradigm" (and its evil twin, "paradigm shift", also widely despised). Next, a big Mallie to the word "bandwidth," when it is used to refer to people. "Do we have to call hiring people adding bandwidth?" asks Lauren. Another reader, echoing the general consensus, called referring to human beings as bandwidth "appalling."

And last but not least—are you ready?—a tepid round of applause, please, for our final Mallie winner, and I'm sure you'll all agree this one is richly deserved: Any phrase—uttered by any businessperson at all, at any time, for any reason—that contains the word "vision."

President Signs New Energy Bill

As crude oil prices hit a new high Monday, President Bush signed a bill that will give billions in tax breaks to encourage homegrown energy production but won't quickly reduce high gasoline prices or the nation's dependence on foreign oil. Read more about the bill here.

Question: What is your area's strategy to capitalize on this new piece of legislation and the possible opportunities it could create?

Moving Highways to Spark Economic Development

Cities have changed since the 1950s and 1960s when interstate highways were built through them. In some cases, the functionality of space within cities has changed since then. Some cities, like Oklahoma City, OK, and even my hometome Cleveland, OH, are examining ways to move sections of interstates and other major highways to spark economic development. These moves are no small matters in terms on money and impacts on travel patterns.

Congress' passage of $130 million more in funding to relocate Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City has officials here envisioning everything from a golf course to new urban housing in an expanding downtown area.

Roy Williams, a good friend, says he has heard it all when it comes to new uses of OKC's Crosstown area. As the of the President and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, Roy has heard from parties interested in building a sports complex or even a giant green space similar to New York City's Central Park once the interstate is knocked off its stilts and moved five blocks south.

As it stands now, the high-rise buildings, convention center and arena that make up downtown Oklahoma City are all north of I-40. By moving the freeway south, more land adjacent to the downtown area will be opened for development. A downtown boulevard will be built along the old path. Read more here.

Cleveland officials are examing the feasibility of moving a section of the City's Inner Belt Highway along the lakefront (Lake Erie) to improve access and use of space between downtown and the lakefront.

Overworked in America

Much of our attention as economic developers is focused on creating jobs, and therefore work, for people in American communities. How aware are we of the family, psychological, and social impacts of all this work on people's lives? Here are some insights about people and their work across America.

A March-released study by Families and Work Institute, Overwork in America: When the Way We Work Becomes Too Much, reports that one in three American employees are chronically overworked, while 54 percent have felt overwhelmed at some time in the past month by how much work they had to complete.

The study of more than 1,000 wage and salaried employees identifies for the first time why being overworked and feeling overwhelmed have become so pervasive in the American workplace.

Key Study Data:

* One in three American employees are chronically overworked.

*54 percent of American employees have felt overwhelmed at some time in the past month by how much work they had to complete.

*29 percent of employees spend a lot of time doing work that they consider a waste of time. These employees are more likely to be overworked.

* 79 percent of employees had access to paid vacations in 2004.

* More than one-third of employees (36 percent) had not and were not planning to take their full vacation.

* On average, American workers take 14.6 vacation days annually.

* Most employees take short vacations, with 37 percent taking fewer than seven days.

* Only 14 percent of employees take vacations of two weeks or more.

* Among employees who take one to three days off (including weekends), 68 percent return feeling relaxed compared with 85 percent who take seven or more days (including weekends).

* Only 8 percent of employees who are not overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression compared with 21 percent of those who are highly overworked.

Balancing Family and Work

"Highlights of The 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce" from Families and Work Institute find large-scale transformations taking place in the work and home lives of American men and women. Among the study's key findings:

* Today, women are more likely to work as managers or professionals than men (38% of women versus 28% of men), and are better educated, with 62% of women versus 56% of men having completed 4-year college or some post-secondary education.

*Fathers in dual-earner couples today spend 42 minutes more doing household chores on workdays than fathers in 1977. Mothers have reduced their time by approximately the same amount. So the combined time that spouses in dual-earner couples with children spend on household chores has not changed over 25 years-what has changed is how family work is divided.

*Employees with families report significantly higher levels of interference between their jobs and their family lives than employees 25 years ago (45% vs. 34% report this "some" or "a lot"). And men with families report higher levels of interference between their jobs and their family lives than women in the same situation.

*As the population ages, more and more employees are providing elder care for relatives. In 2002, 35% of workers, men and women alike, say they provided regular care for a parent or in-law over 65 in the past year, helping them do things that they could not otherwise do themselves.

*Flexible work arrangements are found to provide significant benefits to both employees and employers. Workers who have more access to flexible work arrangements report significantly better mental health than other employees, and are more likely to be committed to their employers and to plan to stay at their current company.

Will the Best Buy Work Model Work?

The number of people in the U.S. who say they are overworked has been rising, from 28% of Americans in 2001 to 44% last year, according to the Families and Work Institute. But instead of launching yet another "work-life balance" program, Best Buy is rethinking the very concept of work, challenging Ben Franklin's aphorism that "time is money." Under the results-oriented work environment, or ROWE, employees can work when and where they like, as long as they get the job done. Read more here at TIME (Paid subscription required.)

Why Do Businesses Support Your ED Organization?

Maybe you should ask the economist Milton Friedman. Remember him?

To remind you, here is a clip from an interview in Business Week with Friedman about his views on why companies engage in social responsibility efforts. I would add that economic development is one of them.

Q: Your 1970 article on social responsibility is entitled "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits." Does that belief still apply today?

A: Yes, I still hold fully with that article. I haven't seen any reason to change or add anything to it.

Q: So nothing has changed in the operating environment that might make companies need to engage with the community more today than in the past?

A: It's covered in that article. I point out that a company that is playing a large part in a community may want, for its own purposes and profit, to maintain good relations with the community and to engage in community activity. In doing so, it would be pursuing its own profit. But, of course, it may believe that it will be better public relations if it labels its actions an act of social responsibility. I believe most of the claims of social responsibility are pure public relations.

Transformational Leadership

As a profession, we have not been thinking enough about leadership. The topic has become increasingly important to me. What about transformational leadership? Here is one to get you started.

An article by Bruce Tucker, published in the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, focuses on how transformational leaders influence organizations. Transformational leaders provide change and movement in their organizations. Such leaders seek to alter the existing structure and influence people to buy into a new vision and new possibilities.

Excellent transformational leaders use authority and power to inspire and motivate people to trust and follow their example. However, there are also potential dangers resulting from the powerful influence of transformational leaders. Leaders and organizations must maintain accountability to insure that leaders stay within certain boundaries. Overall, transformational leaders provide new direction, new inspiration, and new behaviors for their organizations.

Prosperity and Economic Development

How is economic development doing in increasing American's prosperity? Here are some answers to this vitally important question:

Median household money income in the United States in 2002 was $42,409, 1.1 percent lower than in 2001 after adjusting for 1.6 percent inflation. Under four alternative income definitions that deduct income and payroll taxes and include the value of various noncash benefits, real median household income did not change for three of the four income alternatives and declined 0.8 percent for income after taxes. More here.

For the second consecutive year the poverty rate rose, from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.1 percent in 2002. The number of poor increased also, by 1.7 million, to 34.6 million poor in 2001. More here.

Median household net worth in 1995 was $40,200, a figure not significantly different from the 1993 median household net worth of $39,590 (in 1995 dollars). More here.

How are we doing fellow economic developers?

Political Views and Economic Development

Political views have a lot to do with economic development. While some folks would like to wish politics away from the ED arena, that isn't likely. Therefore, it is important that economic developers smarten up on politics and the different groups out there. There is more to the more than just R's and D's. Read on

The Pew Research Center's Political Typology is a longstanding effort to sort voters into homogeneous groups based on their values, political beliefs and party affiliation. The current report is based on a two-part survey of 2,000 Americans interviewed in December 2004, most of whom were recontacted to follow up on current political issues in March 2005. The new analysis divides the American public into nine distinct groups, each with their own unique outlook on politics and the issues of the day. This is the fourth Political Typology study, following previous studies in 1987, 1994 and 1999.

Contrary to the widespread impression of a nation only divided into two unified “red” and “blue” camps, our latest survey finds important cleavages on values and basic attitudes within each party. As a result, both parties face internal challenges as well as opportunities to expand their constituencies. While Republicans have made strong and election-determining inroads among independents, divisions over social and domestic issues may make it difficult for them to consolidate and build upon that advantage. Democrats, however, must deal with a more diverse constituency that is sharply divided on social and cultural values.

More at Pew Research Center.