David L. BarkleyClemson University

Clemson, South Carolina

Roberto Camagni“On the Concept of Territorial Competitiveness”

Urban Studies (2002)

“…weak and lagging territories weak and lagging territories risk exclusion and decline to a risk exclusion and decline to a larger extent than in the past.” larger extent than in the past.”

Definitions, conceptualizations, and measures

Advantages and Disadvantages of Strategy

Estimation of Indices of Competitiveness

Benefits and Shortcomings of Indices

“…the ability of an economy to attract and maintain firms with stable or rising market shares in an activity while maintaining or increasing standards of living for those who participate in it.” (Storper, 1997)

“…ultimately competitive regions and cities are places where both companies and people want to locate and invest in.” (Kitson, Martin, and Tyler, 2004)

Conceptualizations of Competitiveness

The Porter Diamond Framework (Porter, 1998)

Source: National Competitiveness Council

Firm level Economy level

Source: Budd and Hirmis, 2004

X-Efficiency

Enhanced productivity

Enhanced Economic efficiency

region nation

Activity-complex economies

Localization economies

Urbanization economies

Inputs (Development Report Card for the States)

Human resources

Financial resources

Infrastructure resources

Innovation resources

Amenity resources and natural capital

Outputs (Krugman, Porter)

Output per worker

Output per unit of capital and labor in traded sectors

Outcome (Kitson, et al. and Budd and Hirmis)

High rate of employment among labor force

High quality and high income job opportunities

Provides appreciation of current local economic environment

Identifies weaknesses in the local economy

Encourages a longer term perspective on economic development process

May lead to new marketing and promotional programs for the region

May contribute to wasteful competition among regions

May result in a re-allocation of resources from low-visibility programs to high-visibility programs

May contribute to widening social inequalities

Used as justification for policy makers pet programs

Development Report Card for the States (CFED)

67 measures 15 sub-indices 3 indices

no weights

State New Economy Index (Atkinson and Correa)

27 indicators 5 indices

weights selected to reflect relative importance

Policom Economic Strength Rankingsa

Milken BestPerforming Citiesb

BHI Metro AreaCompetitiveness

Reportc

Washington, DC Riverside-San Bernadino, CA

Boston, MA

Charlotte, NC Phoenix, AZ Raleigh, NC

Las Vegas, NV Orlando, FL Seattle, WA

Nashville, TN Las Vegas, NV Denver, CO

San Diego, CA Raleigh, NC Austin, TX

Phoenix, AZ Salt Lake City, UT Minneapolis, MN

Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Portland, OR

Sacramento, CA Charlotte, NC Washington, DC

Minneapolis, MN Sacramento, CA Salt Lake City, UT

Orlando, FL Houston, TX Charlotte, NC

aRankings for 363 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.bRankings for 200 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.cRankings for 50 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Policom Economic Strength Rankingsa

Milken BestPerforming Citiesb

BHI Metro AreaCompetitiveness

Reportc

Washington, DC Riverside-San Bernadino, CA Boston, MA

Charlotte, NC Phoenix, AZ Raleigh, NC

Las Vegas, NV Orlando, FL Seattle, WA

Nashville, TN Las Vegas, NV Denver, CO

San Diego, CA Raleigh, NC Austin, TX

Phoenix, AZ Salt Lake City, UT Minneapolis, MN

Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Portland, OR

Sacramento, CA Charlotte, NC Washington, DC

Minneapolis, MN Sacramento, CA Salt Lake City, UT

Orlando, FL Houston, TX Charlotte, NC

aRankings for 363 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.bRankings for 200 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.cRankings for 50 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Inclusion of relevant variables, and only relevant variables

Selection of appropriate measures for the variables

Selection of weights used to combine the variables

Is the index a good predictor

Ignore the region’s historical development process and industrial legacy

Suggestive of formulaic solutions for complex economic development problems

Provide little room for alternative visions in the policy discussion

May stigmatize lagging regions

Portland

Austin

Madison

Raleigh/Durham

Ireland

Policy Makers and

Economic Development

Agencies

Road Trips

Best Practices

RegionalScientists

Conceptualizations and Models

Discourse on Competitiveness Strategies

Rankings and Indices

Discourse on Rankings and Indices

1. Develop indices and benchmarking methodologies that more

accurately reflect competitiveness

- Variables selected

- Measures/data used for variables

- Weighting of variables in indices

Location

Resource Endowments

Institutions

Industrial Structure

Economic History

Social Capital

% CollegeGraduates

% CreativeClass

Sci/EngGrad

Students

Raleigh/Durham

39 48 44

Greenville, SC 25 37 16

% CollegeGraduates

% CreativeClass

Sci/EngGrad Students

Raleigh/Durham 39 48 44

Greenville, SC 25 37 16

Lexington, KY 30 41 28

Provide interpretations of lessons learned on road trips

Help identify characteristics unique to the visited region that enhanced competitiveness

Provide insights into characteristics of “home” region that may impede or facilitate the transfer of policies

Provide detailed analysis of the economies of the visited and home regions

Definition: “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomena within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomena and context are not clear.” (Yin, 2003)

Development of theoretical model

Research model design

Data collection and analysis

Individuals associated with “case”

Review of literature (industry, government, popular press, and academic papers

Secondary data on regional economy

Multiple cases, multiple units of analysis

Case studies are expensive and time consuming

Skeptical of information collected through interviews

Not confident in use of findings by policy makers

Perceived to be more difficult to publish in journals

Case studies can be fun

Provide new information and perspectives

Useful in developing or refining hypotheses

Useful in testing hypotheses

Policy makers love case studies

Case studies and best practices will be used in developing policy

We cannot attend every meeting of policy makers

We can improve the pool of good case studies

We can provide leadership in the design of case studies and interpretation of findings