New Strategies for Inner-City Economic Development: Initiative for a Competitive Inner City

The economic distress of America's inner cities is one of the most pressing issues facing the nation. The lack of businesses and jobs in inner cities fuels not only poverty but also crippling social problems such as drug abuse and crime.The time has come to recognize that revitalizing these areas requires a radically different approach. Today, most efforts and public resources are targeted toward meeting residents' immediate needs rather than generating jobs and economic opportunity that will mitigate the need for large-scale social programs. Although efforts to provide education, housing, healthcare, and other needed services are essential, they must be balanced with a concerted  and realistic economic strategy focused on for-profit business and job development. The necessity-and the real opportunity-is to create income and wealth by harnessing the power of market forces, rather than trying to defy them. The private sector must play a leading role in inner-city economic development and, in many ways, is already beginning to do so.In order to create better linkages between the private sector and the inner-city economy, Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter founded The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (!CIC) in 1994. With the knowledge that there is genuine economic potential in inner cities that has been largely unrecognized and untapped, we continue to pursue our mission of fostering healthy economies  in America's inner cities through  our research  and programmatic  efforts

Panning for gold in inner city markets

Chakrabarti discusses how the Institute for a Competitive Inner City has a long history of shining light on investment opportunities in the inner city. Through their Inner City 100 competition, they have collected an impressive database of EDM companies. But their greatest opportunity to bring investment to the inner city might be to expand the database and mine their existing data more deeply. More data in the form that investors need holds the potential for bringing even more capital to EDM companies.

Universities, regional policy and the knowledge economy

This article focuses on the spatial clustering dimension of new information and communications technology (ICT)-driven economic activity based on knowledge industries and especially the tacit knowledge synergies to be achieved through networking in geographical space. The article first details the new knowledge economy, reviewing claims made for its distinctiveness and its role in raising levels of productivity before turning to a brief study of the clustering effects of new ICT-driven economic activity and the development of policies designed to enhance regional development. The remainder of the article details a case study – Univercities: the Manchester Knowledge Capital Initiative – in the North-west of the United Kingdom based on recent research into the attempt to create a ‘Knowledge Capital’ within the Greater Manchester conurbation, which is designed to position Manchester at the heart of the knowledge economy

Retailers and deprivation: an exploratory study

Relationships between retailing and socio-economic deprivation have attracted academic and policy interest, notably focusing on health and diet (including 'food deserts') and retail-led regeneration. Recently, particularly after the economic downturn, declining high streets have been a concern. Yet as shop vacancies rose, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, expansion of certain trades perceived by some as anti-social became a concern: notably high-interest lenders and bookmakers operating high stakes gambling machines. Some suggest predatory motives and exploitation of the disadvantaged here, but with little evidence. This paper analyses locations of 'problematic' trades together with other businesses to establish the extent to which concentrations in deprived areas (defined by the English Index of Multiple Deprivation) exist. Several 'problematic' trades do appear concentrated in deprived areas, but so equally do conventional value retailers and poundshops. Areas for future research to clarify relationships are identified, but ultimately motive cannot be inferred from such analysis

Inner cities offer competitive advantages

More businesses are locating in inner cities, where lower rents and proximity to suppliers, customers, and willing workers are boosting the bottom line. Outside investors who have not caught on will find this article enlightening.Business enterprises - New England ; Industrial location ; Job creation

Venture capital in New England secondary cities

Over the past two decades, venture capital has been one of the major drivers of the U.S. economy. This article examines venture capital investment in secondary cities, cities outside of the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), including New England secondary cities, and identifies factors that may explain how certain smaller cities attract venture capital.Venture capital - New England

(Re)Defining the University as an Anchor Institution

abstract: Town-gown engagement has evolved over several eras, most recently embodying the anchor institution model. The post-1990 scholarship suggests a distinct shift, describing a new framework for the ways universities engage with neighborhood space. This paper tests this approach, using a survey of universities to question several assumptions about town-gown engagement in the 21st century. While the conceptual definition and stylistic approach to engagement has changed, there appears to be less differentiation from earlier models than one might expect. The study offers a typology of university revitalization strategies and contributes a new perspective to the anchor institution discourse

Building healthy communities through equitable food access

Community development

Implementing diversity management in retailing: exploring the role of organisational context

Diversity management is a means of managing customer and employee differences for the benefit of the organisation. This qualitative study considers how contextual factors influence diversity management implementation in different retailing environments. Exploratory research was conducted in three SBUs of a UK retailing group: the UK high street SBU, the US operations and the online SBU. Despite different cultural, legal and historical differences between the UK and US, these factors did not lead to significantly different ways of dealing with diversity in the UK high street and US businesses. Instead the extent to which individual differences were recognised was influenced by the selling environment and the retailer’s size and structure. The paper recommends that retailer’s need to develop a ‘home-grown’ approach to diversity management that acknowledges their organisational context

Who’s counting? Measuring social outcomes from targeted private equity

The potential of private equity investment in emerging domestic markets to deliver strong financial returns while also giving rise to public benefits has drawn the attention of both venture and economic development capital, as well as policymakers and researchers. Ratcliffe examines this strategy and shares some real world examples of how funds are performing in their double-bottom line objectives.