Taimerica Management Company
Taimerica Newsletter
 
June 2008
alternative energies wind
$9 billion was invested in 2007 to increase US wind energy capacity by 46%.  Yet wind doesn't hold as much potential as biomass.  Want to know which of the alternative energies is a fit in your community?
 
 
Quick Links
Update
Gov. Blunt of MO signs the bill that includes Taimerica's Quality Jobs.
 
 
Kalamazoo, MI
kalamazoo
Courtesy SW Michigan First 
biomass
How much potential is there for the biomass resources in your community?
 
taimerica logo
Are You Ready for the Alternative Energies?
 
The U.S. spends an estimated $500 billion annually on energy, primarily oil and natural gas, and energy demand grows each year.  Crude oil and gasoline prices are at record levels, so finding alternatives to these energy sources is critical.  There will be hundreds of thousands of jobs created and billions of dollars in new investment made in the Alternative Energies that will first supplement, then replace, oil and gas.  As is true with any emerging technology, these investments will locate in places that are prepared for them.  Places that have the right infrastructure, business climate, labor force and resources will emerge stronger economically as a result of shifting energy markets.  Are you ready?

Find out here.
Taimerica Client's Success Story Told in New Book, Touted on Fox Business News
Ron Kitchens, CEcD and CEO of Southwest Michigan First, is one of Taimerica's oldest clients.  While he was in Corpus Christi in the late 90s, Ron hired us to look at which communities of Corpus Christi's size were growing and why.  We ended up organizing a series of missions for community leaders to four of them.  Part of what we learned on the trip to Boise Idaho is discussed in his new book Community Capitalism.  Ron also hired us last summer to evaluate what Kalamazoo needed to do to regain global prominence in the life sciences, which is a sector of the Kalamazoo economy discussed at length in the book.
 
Community Capitalism is right on the mark in terms of economic development strategy and I urge readers of this newsletter to give it a look.  The gist of Community Capitalism is that economic development is too complex to succeed if reduced to a singular strategy, whether it's pursing the creative class, clusters, entrepreneurship, economic gardening or any of the other theoretical approaches that have surfaced in the last 20 years.  Ron's views have been validated by cognitive psychologists in Germany, such as Dietrich Doerner, working at the University of Bamberg (see for example Doerner's The Logic of Failure).
 
In a little more than 100 pages, Ron outlines the five principles of Community Capitalism using examples from his successes in Kalamazoo.  Heard of the Kalamazoo Promise, a program that promises four years of paid college for all public school students in Kalamazoo that graduate from high school?  It's discussed along with a number of other cutting edge initiatives to advance the five elements of Community Capitalism:  Place, Capital, Infrastructure, Talent and Education.  The book is a quick read and entertaining as well.  You can buy it online from Amazon here.
 
And Ron's recent appearance on Fox Business News is here.
 
Taimerica has always advocated a balanced approach to economic development strategy that avoids fads, silver bullets, quick fixes and singular approaches.  The emerging success of Community Capitalism in Kalamazoo, right in the middle of the struggling Michigan auto belt, demonstrates that balance is the key to success, whether theirs and yours.  Community Capitalism isn't just for Kalamazoo.  Taimerica is always interested in helping communities develop realistic strategies that build better communities over the long-haul.  Send us an email to learn more about how we can help you harness the elements of Community Capitalism in your region.