This post is the first half of a series discussing economic resilience. It offers some definitions of economic resilience and outlines resiliency initiatives. CEDR is spotlighting economic resiliency because it will be the focus of Georgia Tech’s 2017 Basic Economic Development Course — Economic Resilience: Building Capacity for Strong Communities (March 21, 2017-March 24, 2017). For more on the course, watch this short video or visit www.gt-bedc.org.

The National Association of Counties (NACO) describes economic resilience as a community’s ability to foresee, adapt to, and leverage changing conditions to their advantage. Similarly, the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Content Guidelines note that resiliency has three primary attributes:

• The ability to recover quickly from a shock;
• The ability to withstand a shock; and
• The ability to avoid the shock altogether.

Shocks may include:

• Downturns in the national or global economy impacting demand for local goods and spending;
• Downturns of particular industries critical to local economic activities; and
• External impacts such as natural or man-made disasters, military base closures or a major employer, changing climate, etc.

Though the Great Recession is in the rearview mirror, it is during the relatively prosperous times that communities need to keep their focus on resiliency efforts. Communities should prepare because economic shocks are always waiting around the corner. Since shocks are inevitable, as EDA notes, a region’s long-term economic prosperity is linked to its ability to deal with disruptions to its economic base.

Economic developers play an important role in building a community’s economic resiliency. They must consider their role from the pre- and post-incident perspective. As a result, their strategies for economic resiliency fall into two camps defined below.

Steady-state Initiatives

These are pre-incident initiatives that focus on long-term efforts to improve the community’s ability to withstand or avoid shocks. Some examples include:

• Comprehensive planning efforts that incorporate a vision for resiliency;
• Implementing efforts to diversify the industrial base;
• Adapting business retention programs to assist firms with recovery following a shock;
• Developing a workforce that can shift between jobs and industries;
• Using geographic information systems (GIS) to map business establishment data and available development sites, integrated with hazard information to allow for rapid post-incident impact assessments;
• Ensuring redundancy in communication networks to protect commerce and public safety;
• Promoting business continuity by ensuring businesses understand their vulnerabilities, such as their supply chains, in the face of disruptions; and
• Employing safe development practices, such as locating structures outside of floodplains, preserving natural lands as buffers, and protecting existing development from extreme weather.

Responsive Initiatives

These are post-incident initiatives that focus on a community’s ability to react in the short-term to shocks and recovery needs. Some examples include:

• Pre-disaster recovery planning that defines key stakeholders, roles, responsibilities, and actions;
• Developing a system for regular communication, monitoring, and updating of business community needs for use after or during an incident;
• Establishing the capability to rapidly contact key officials (local, regional, state, and federal) to relate business sector needs and impact assessments; and
• Creating coordination mechanisms and leadership succession plans for short, middle, and long-term recovery needs.

Sources

Note this discussion draws from the 2016 Georgia Economic Outlook Report prepared for the EDA University Center program, operated by Georgia Tech’s EI².

National Association of Counties (NACO). (2013). Strategies to Bolster Economic Resilience. Retrieved from: http://www.naco.org/sites/default/files/documents/Strategies%20to%20Bolster%20Economic%20Resilience.pdf.

United States Economic Development Administration (EDA). (2016). Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Content Guidelines. Retrieved from: https://www.eda.gov/ceds/.

In the first half of this series, international companies’ locations and expansions in the State of Georgia were investigated using Georgia Department of Economic Development Data from the 2015 fiscal year. Gwinnett County stood out, with half of its new locations and expansions coming from international companies. In this post economic development strategies, demographic changes, and cultural assets that could affect international company locations in Gwinnett County are explored.

According to Partnership Gwinnett (a community and economic development initiative of the Gwinnett Chamber), the county is home to more than 600 international companies. Its website recently featured an article about the new location of Linhai Powersports USA, a Chinese-owned company in Norcross. Within the article, Gwinnett County Commissioner Jace Brooks was quoted saying, “Gwinnett’s vast international representation and skilled talent pool, not only help attract global companies such as Linhai to the community, but also enable them to thrive here.” Nick Masino, Senior Vice President and Chief Economic Development Officer at Partnership Gwinnett, credits metro area assets like Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and world-class educational institutions, the county’s award winning public school system, interstate access to northeast American markets, and Gwinnett’s established history as a leader in international business. When recruiting international companies, Masino is able to point to the multitude of successful international companies already in the county.

The recently updated Partnership Gwinnett 3.0 Economic Development Strategy and Implementation Plan refers to enhancing and expanding the approach to international business recruitment. The plan’s strategy focuses on fostering relationships through face-to-face interactions, such as visits to target markets. It stresses “consistency in follow-up with those relationships.” The plan also discusses creating “an atmosphere that is inviting and comforting to a foreign investor” as a way to set it apart from other communities.

“The cultural and educational ties that international investors and their family members may have to a community can often be as important as any business or government relationships in forming strong bonds that result in investment and trade.” (Partnership Gwinnett 3.0 Economic Development Strategy and Implementation Plan)

Demographic shifts over the past decade have made Gwinnett County one of the most diverse areas in the country. Of the Atlanta region, Gwinnett County saw the highest population growth between 2000 and 2010 growing by 37 percent—over 200,000 people. This growth is due in large part to new immigrant residents in the county. Today, American Community Survey data shows that one in four residents of Gwinnett County are foreign born (ACS, 5-year estimates, 2012). This is a higher share than any other county in the Atlanta region (Figure 1) and shows major change from 1990 (5.0 percent of total population in Gwinnett County was foreign born) and 2000 (16.9 percent). Gwinnett County is now “majority-minority” with a non-Hispanic white population at 42 percent (ACS, 5-year estimates, 2014).

The county is home to many organizations with programs and offerings that can benefit immigrants: Latin American Association, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Center for Pan Asian Community Services, and several bi-national chambers of commerce. The presence of these organizations results from the area’s growing immigrant community. Immigrant entrepreneurs have also responded to the demand for businesses that serve the diverse population by opening grocery stores like Hong Kong Supermarket (Figure 2) and shopping centers like Global Mall (Figure 3). Buford

Highway (Figure 4), Norcross, and other places in Gwinnett County have become cultural meccas in Atlanta for cuisine, festivals, and community. This perhaps draws back to the importance of cultural community ties for international investors and their family members to build strong bonds resulting in more investment and trade, referenced in the Partnership Gwinnett Plan.

 

A strategic and progressive economic development team, demographic shifts, and a thriving immigrant community all contribute to Gwinnett’s success in attracting and retaining international companies.

For questions, contact: 

Madi Shields

Phone: 404-385-5137 | Fax: 404-410-6910

Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@sdleihs.idam

This post is the first half of a series on international companies locating and expanding in Georgia using data provided by the Georgia Department of Economic Development. This part will look at the State of Georgia and the following post will focus on Gwinnett County.

According to data collected by Georgia Department of Economic Development, there were 331 expansions or new locations of companies in the state of Georgia in the 2015 fiscal year. Of these, 197 listed a country of ownership. 72 companies or 36.5 percent were internationally owned and these companies were responsible for 42 percent of the jobs created by expansions or new locations (with ownership data) in FY15.

These 72 companies came from 18 different countries (Figure 1). The top three countries of ownership were Germany (22.2 percent), South Korea (12.5 percent), and Japan (12.5 percent).

The international companies located or expanded in 31 Georgia counties (Figure 2). The top five counties for international company locations or expansions were Gwinnett, Fulton, Chatham, Richmond, and Hall.

Gwinnett County had nine international locations or expansions, the most of any county. Half of all new locations and expansions in Gwinnett County for FY15 were by international companies, in Fulton County the percentage was less than 20. China, Germany, and South Korea were the top countries of ownership for 2015 locations to Gwinnett. Three out of four companies with Chinese ownership locating or expanding in the state of Georgia were in Gwinnett County.

The next post will expand on international companies locating in Gwinnett County. It will review some of their economic development strategy and demographic shifts in the county.

 

For questions, contact: 

Madi Shields

Phone: 404-385-5137 | Fax: 404-410-6910

Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@sdleihs.idam

Starting this August, the Center for Economic Development Research will work with the Fitzgerald and Ben Hill County Development Authority to create policy guidelines for local economic development incentives. The research will look at existing plans and guidance from the city and county. With this and with input from local leaders, the project team will recommend a set of policies and incentives to help the community become more competitive while being responsible with taxpayer resources. Some of the recommendations may include policies for tax and fee reduction, strategies for review process acceleration, and cost/benefit analysis guidelines. The project team expects to conclude in October with a final report detailing their incentive policy recommendations.

Project contact:

Alfie Meek, Ph.D.

Phone: 404-385-1340 | Fax: 404- 410-6910

Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@keem.eifla