Best Practices in Regional & Local Economic Development

Taimerica Management Commpany conducted an analysis of “best practices” in regional and local economic development during April-May 2009

Thirty “benchmark” organizations were identified to survey and interview. The development organizations were selected based on their reputations in the development industry, national awards they had received, reputations within the site selection industry, Taimerica’s consulting experience, and past growth that was above the national average for similar sized communities. Budget and salary information was collected for twelve regional organizations and subsidiaries they control, and from their IRS tax returns. This data was supplemented with a survey of Best Practices for the same organizations.

Eleven of the thirteen regional organizations completed some portions of the survey while six completed the entire instrument. For the local EDOs, thirteen of the 18 completed some portion of the survey while seven completed all of the questions. The survey was supplemented with interviews with a subset of the regional and local EDOs to collect more detailed data and to better understand innovative practices.

The report condenses Taimarica's findings about EDOs from all three information sources: interviews, surveys, and tax returns. Profiles for regional regional EDOs are presented first, followed by profiles on local EDOs. The report ends with Taimerica's conclusions about Best Practice EDOs and what accounts for their excellent performance. More here.