New Carolina (Tm) Opens for Business

There is a multi-page advertisement in today's STATE Newspaper that provides an introduction to an organization called the S. C. Council on Competitiveness and their economic development campaign they are calling NEW CAROLINA.

From a community building and community thinking perspective, this NEW CAROLINA campaign is both exciting and interesting. One of the major reasons for excitement is the composition of the board of this council. There are surprises. Some of the surprises come from the diverse backgrounds of the movers and shakers that have signed on to be part of this New Carolina movement. One of the surprises is the theme of this movement -- NEW CAROLINA. One thing that is not very popular in South Carolina is significant change and the organization is calling for a significant new perspective on our State.

Several years ago, 2004 or 2005, I had the opportunity of being interviewed by one of the graduate students working with Michael Porter of Harvard University on the study of South Carolina's competitiveness. The unveiling in the STATE today lays out some of the key strategy that has been developed from that study. The points coming from Michael Porter's study are exciting, especially if those in the leadership positions can begin to make this cluster concept take hold in the minds and actions of South Carolinians. I know there was a meeting of economic development directors from around the S. C. in Greenville this past weekend. I wonder if they were briefed on the unveiling of the NEW CAROLINA program? They are among the people who can help craft new attitudes because many of them are already part of public/private partnerships with clear missions.

Here is some of what the website says about the mission of this new organization:
South Carolina must re-learn to compete. We must become a New Carolina.

South Carolina's Council on Competitiveness is a public-private partnership working with partners to increase per capita income and drive the movement towards a New Carolina – a South Carolina with a brighter future and a competitive, winning economy.

We have a clear, measurable definition of success. Steadily raise the average income of South Carolinians, which is now just 82% of the national average. Our focus is on Harvard Professor Michael Porter’s strategy to:

* Play to the strengths of our core industries: find, birth, build and celebrate clusters
* Change the economic environment through innovation in business and education
* Connect the dots across efforts and start conversations around positive change

There are some key players from the Pee Dee who have been ground-floor leaders in this new initiative and they include Harris DeLoach, President of Sonoco, and Darla Moore, who has been very active the past few years working to make South Carolina more competitive. It is Moore's name that graces the entrance ways of the University of South Carolina award-winning business school.

Community thinkers and community builders in South Carolina need to pay some close attention to how they might get on board this NEW CAROLINA movement.