Sometimes it takes a few outside observations to provide a reality check. A well-regarded economic development expert from Florida and site selection consultants from California and Georgia recently pointed to some glaring weaknesses in the Columbia area’s ability to remain economically strong. As the city develops its vision for the future, the highest priority should […]
City’s vision must include measures to attract industry Read More »
A site selection consultant brought in by Columbia Regional Economic Development Inc. says Columbia is poised to take advantage of the international boom in biotechnology, but the city needs to adjust some of its procedures to stay competitive. “A community can determine their own success or failure by what they project; basically, Columbia projects a
REDI staff brings site selection consultant to Columbia Read More »
I recently spent about a week in Savannah, Ga., at a great conference on economic development. Our hotel was right on the Savannah River and, thus, on the thoroughfare that hosted dozens of ocean cargo ships heading for the Atlantic Ocean each day. The first time I saw one sail by, almost close enough to
Manufacturers/distributors face new technology challenges Read More »
I have never met a business owner who wasn’t interested in growing his or her business. Even those who are stretched because they are growing too fast recognize that growth is something they must always think about. I’ll present to you three scenarios of businesses with different goal-setting strategies. Try to guess which business is
Executive Coaching: Keep everyone’s eyes on the goal Read More »
The Columbia metropolitan area has dropped significantly since 1999 in a ranking of economic strength, from 45th to 130th, in large part because earnings have failed to keep up with the national average, according to an expert on local economic development. “You’re not a bad economy, but your trend is going the wrong way, and
With lagging wage growth, local economy’s ranking plummets Read More »
News of national declines in real estate sales and new construction appears to be mirrored in Columbia and Boone County. However, statistics provided by panelists at the Third Annual Economic Outlook Conference dispute the perception that mid-Missouri’s building boom is fizzling. In three presentations—illustrating construction costs and building permits; number and sales prices for building
Economic Outlook: Panelists bullish on construction market Read More »
The Pen Point co-owner Holly Burgess has been part of the downtown scene for four decades, since her family took over the half-century-old store she now runs on the 900 block of Broadway, and she’s optimistic about The District’s transition to an era of canvas canopies and historic designation. Aside from a short-lived “quiet time”
Do you sometimes feel that being a manager is like being a lone soul in a canyon yelling “Hello…is anyone out there?” and hearing your voice mocking you as your echo reverberates throughout the canyon walls? To quiet the echo, you must conquer this canyon divide by communicating with your employees in a way that
Silencing the echo to conquer the generational divide Read More »
According to some reports, each year Americans spend about 7.65 billion hours filling out government-requested paperwork—a problem the U.S. government attempted to address in 2004 with the “Report of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act Task Force,” a 38-page document. Given the government’s tendency to combat paperwork with more paperwork, small business owners might have
Go ahead and indulge! Chocolate may help you get work done more quickly Read More »
By Neal Gabler, Knopf, 851 pages, $35 Neal Gabler’s biography of Walt Disney is not the first and probably will not be the last. But it is difficult to imagine a more thorough examination of the dream-maker’s life than the one between covers of this massive book. Before his death in 1966, Disney had become
WALT DISNEY: The Triumph of the American Imagination Read More »
