Flexible manufacturing networks (FMNs) in Europe and Japan give small firms the ability to make timely, innovative responses to market shifts. Using FMNs for community development may boost the capacities of small firms while increasing community assets. U.S. models of FMNs tend to neglect...

The economic development profession has called for expanding college degree programs to prepare practitioners for tomorrow's challenges. However, the nature and effectiveness of the academy's response will be determined by market-related issues of demand and supply, the degree of congruence...

Robert Mier (1942-1995) influenced planning and economic development during his career as professor Chicago economic development official, and consultant. He developed a vision and practice based on social justice and equity. In economic development, he emphasized job creation, the role of...

In 1984, California joined the growing list of states adopting enterprise zone legislation in an attempt to stimulate targeted business development and employment growth within economically distressed areas. This article reports on a first-ever assessment of whether California's two enterprise...

This article answers a challenge raised against traditional economic development policy; recent research has shown that such policies, far from being zero sum, have positive-sum effects. The article examines these questions: Are the local benefits of tax incentives greater than the costs?...

While many states have used a cluster approach to improve economic development policy, such an approach can easily yield inaccurate or incomplete results. The specific approach to cluster analysis presented here provides a definition of industry clusters that encompasses the classic, vertically...

This article explores how state industrial policy is shaped by the division of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government, using the case of Oregon's Regional Strategies industrial policy initiative. Tensions founded in localism and regionalism, concern with having its...

Communities continue to offer subsidies to improve their comparative advantages while areas with high-cost labor offset this disadvantage with technology that increases productivity. Access to natural resources or large markets is also offset by changing technologies. The declining importance of...

The economic development forces that caused regional economies in the United States to restructure also triggered a change in the practice of economic development at the local level to accommodate those forces. This article provides a reflection on the ways in which the scope and practice of...