Publication Date: February 2010
Citation:Â Roelofse, E., (2010). Tama County Magazine, Tama County Economic Development Commission, Archive reissued by Institute for Quantum Innovation and Impact, Qii Moment of Truth Series (Qii MOT No. 30-38, published in 2012).
License: Open access under
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Available at:Â
https://theqii.org/portfolio/tama-2010/
Editor’s Note
Welcome to the New Economy,
Capital will always go where it is welcome and stay where it is well treated. Capital is not just money, it’s also talent and ideas
– Wriston’s Law of Capital
QUESTION: How is it possible for US industry to be growing by the billions, while the number of US manufacturing workers have been decreasing by millions over the past three decades?
ANSWER: In a nutshell: innovation. Over the past 30 years technology improved, workforce skills and training improved, and operational management improved. That meant industry was able to gradually decrease their workforce while increasing wages for workers who adapted best to a plant’s new money saving technology and processes.
The good news is that this change in the economy is increasing the value and (theoretical) wage of the skilled worker at the local manufacturing plant. The bad news is that a worker is less likely to secure that coveted, stable manufacturing job today than 30 years ago because the number of manufacturing jobs have been steadily decreasing. The decrease we are talking about here is thus not due to an anomaly like a recession, nor to offshore outsourcing. Its because of the good old fashioned American ability to recognize and optimize new efficiency resources in the marketplace.
This is but one of the reasons old business models embracing paradigms of bigger is better, the superiority of top-down bureaucratic organizational structures, and the strong focus on products, are being replaced. An ever-changing marketplace requires new focus on building organizations, which are more agile, decentralized, interactive and adaptive with a strong emphasis on attracting and retaining intellectual and human capital. New perspectives and innovative approaches are required—by businesses and by communities—hoping to attract and retain the best and brightest in business and industry.
That means the old school smokestack focused economic de-velopment approach has also been replaced by dynamic part-nerships that often includes both the public and private sector.
Today economic development can be redefined as a proactive, evolving process, which engages the entire community in building the context and products necessary to attract and retain businesses and the labor force needed to ensure an economic foundation that will sustain the desired quality of life for all community members.
The mission of Tama County Economic Development Commis-sion is to coordinate the cultivation of Tama County’s business environment, agriculture, industry and residents in maximizing their full potential within the county and beyond.
We tactically execute this with eight strategies:
- Economic Development Financing
- Real Estate Development and Re-Use
- Marketing & Attraction
- Community Development
- Small Business Development & Entrepreneurship
- Business Expansion and Retention
- Workforce Development
- Strategic Partnerships
Lindi Roelofse
Executive Director, 2007-2012
Tama County Economic Development Commission
The Qii 