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

Authors

  • Michael E. Porter Harvard University Founder, Chairman & CEO - Initiative for a Competitive Inner City

Abstract

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.

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Published

1998-06-16

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (1998)

Section

Articles

License

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How to Cite

New Strategies for Inner-City Economic Development: Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. (1998). Journal of Small Business Strategy (archive Only), 9(2), 1-4. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/386