Download or read book The Local Economy Solution written by Michael Shuman and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reinventing economic development as if small business mattered In cities and towns across the nation, economic development is at a crossroads. A growing body of evidence has proven that its current cornerstone—incentives to attract and retain large, globally mobile businesses—is a dead end. Even those programs that focus on local business, through buy-local initiatives, for example, depend on ongoing support from government or philanthropy. The entire practice of economic development has become ineffective and unaffordable and is in need of a makeover. The Local Economy Solution suggests an alternative approach in which states and cities nurture a new generation of special kinds of businesses that help local businesses grow. These cutting-edge companies, which Shuman calls “pollinator businesses,” are creating jobs and the conditions for future economic growth, and doing so in self-financing ways. Pollinator businesses are especially important to communities that are struggling to lift themselves up in a period of economic austerity, when municipal budgets are being slashed. They also promote locally owned businesses that increase local self-reliance and evince high labor and environmental standards. The book includes nearly two dozen case studies of successful pollinator businesses that are creatively facilitating business and neighborhood improvements, entrepreneurship, local purchasing, local investing, and profitable business partnerships. Examples include Main Street Genome (which provides invaluable data to improve local business performance), Supportland (which is developing a powerful loyalty card for local businesses), and Fledge (a business accelerator that finances itself through royalty payments). It also shows how the right kinds of public policy can encourage the spread of pollinator businesses at virtually no cost.

Download or read book Reinventing the Local in Tourism written by Antonio Paolo Russo and published by Aspects of Tourism. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the way localities are shaped and negotiated through tourism, and explores the emerging success of local peer-produced hospitality and tourism services which are transforming the tourist experience. It examines the rapidly developing field of peer-to-peer tourism and the way it is changing tourist destinations.

Download or read book Reinventing Fire written by Amory Lovins and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2011-10-15 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine fuel without fear. No climate change. No oil spills, no dead coalminers, no dirty air, no devastated lands, no lost wildlife. No energy poverty. No oil-fed wars, tyrannies, or terrorists. No leaking nuclear wastes or spreading nuclear weapons. Nothing to run out. Nothing to cut off. Nothing to worry about. Just energy abundance, benign and affordable, for all, forever. That richer, fairer, cooler, safer world is possible, practical, even profitable-because saving and replacing fossil fuels now works better and costs no more than buying and burning them. Reinventing Fire shows how business-motivated by profit, supported by civil society, sped by smart policy-can get the US completely off oil and coal by 2050, and later beyond natural gas as well. Authored by a world leader on energy and innovation, the book maps a robust path for integrating real, here-and-now, comprehensive energy solutions in four industries-transportation, buildings, electricity, and manufacturing-melding radically efficient energy use with reliable, secure, renewable energy supplies.Popular in tone and rooted in applied hope, Reinventing Fire shows how smart businesses are creating a potent, global, market-driven, and explosively growing movement to defossilize fuels. It points readers to trillions in savings over the next 40 years, and trillions more in new business opportunities.Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, this major contribution by world leaders in energy innovation offers startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.Pragmatic citizens today are more interested in outcomes than motives. Reinventing Fire answers this trans-ideological call. Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, its startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.

Download or read book Peers Inc written by Robin Chase and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Robin Chase cofounded Zipcar, she not only started a business but established the foundation for one of the most important economic and social ideas of our time: the collaborative economy. With this important book, she broadens our thinking about the ways in which the economy is being transformed and shows how the Peers Inc model is changing the very nature of capitalism. When the best of people power is combined with the best of corporate power to form "Peers Inc" organizations, a potent creative force is released. The "Inc" in these collaborations delivers the industrial strengths of significant scale and resources, and the "Peers" bring together the individual strengths of localization, specialization, and customization, unlocking the power of the collaborative economy. When excess capacity is harnessed by the platform and diverse peers participate, a completely new dynamic is unleashed. In Peers Inc, Robin Chase brings her provocative insights to work, business, the economy, and the environment, showing: How focusing on excess capacity transforms the economics of what's possible and delivers abundance to all How the new collaboration between the Inc and the Peers enables companies to grow more quickly, learn faster, and deliver smarter products and services How leveraging the Peers Inc model can address climate change with the necessary speed and scale How the Peers Inc model can help legacy companies overcome their shortening life cycle by inviting innovation and evolution Why power parity between the Peers and the Inc is a prerequisite for long-term success How platforms can be built within the existing financial system or outside of it What government can do to enhance economic possibility and protect people working in this new decentralized world Chase casts a wide net, illuminating the potential of the Peers Inc model to address broader issues such as climate change and income inequality, and proves the impact that this innovative economic force can have on the most pressing issues of our time.

Download or read book Reinventing State Capitalism written by Aldo Musacchio and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The wave of liberalization that swept world markets in the 1980s and 90s altered the ways that governments manage their economies. Reinventing State Capitalism analyzes the rise of new species of state capitalism in which governments interact with private investors either as majority or minority shareholders in publicly-traded corporations or as financial backers of purely private firms (the so-called “national champions”). Focusing on a detailed quantitative assessment of Brazil’s economic performance from 1976 to 2009, Aldo Musacchio and Sergio Lazzarini examine how these models of state capitalism influence corporate investment and performance. According to one model, the state acts as a majority investor, granting the state-owned enterprise (SOE) financial autonomy and allowing professional management. This form, the authors argue, has reduced many agency problems commonly faced by state ownership. According to another hybrid model, the state uses sovereign wealth funds, holding companies, and development banks to acquire a small share of equity ownership in a corporation, thereby potentially alleviating capital constraints and leveraging latent capabilities. Both models have benefits and costs. Yet neither model has entirely eliminated the temptation of governments to intervene in the operation of natural resource industries and other large strategic enterprises. Nevertheless, the longstanding debate over whether private ownership is superior or inferior to state capitalism has become irrelevant, Musacchio and Lazzarini conclude. Private ownership is now mingled with state capital on a global scale.

Download or read book Going Local written by Michael Shuman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National drug chains squeeze local pharmacies out of business, while corporate downsizing ships jobs overseas. All across America, communities large and small are losing control of their economies to outside interests. Going Local shows how some cities and towns are fighting back. Refusing to be overcome by Wal-Marts and layoffs, they are taking over abandoned factories, switching to local produce and manufactured goods, and pushing banks to loan money to local citizens. Shuman details how dozens of communities are recapturing their own economies with these new strategies, investing not in outsiders but in locally owned businesses.

Download or read book Reinventing the World Bank written by Jonathan Pincus and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attacked by the Right as the last bastion of socialism and by the Left as an instrument of economic imperialism, the World Bank has struggled to adapt to the post-Cold War era. Written by leading North American and British scholars, this book offers a critical examination of the World Bank.

Download or read book Take Back the Economy written by J. K. Gibson-Graham and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of economic crisis on a global scale, more and more people are reconsidering their role in the economy and wondering what they can do to make it work better for humanity and the planet. In this innovative book, J. K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron, and Stephen Healy contribute complex understandings of economics in practical terms: what can we do right now, in our own communities, to make a difference? Full of exercises, thinking tools, and inspiring examples from around the world, Take Back the Economy shows how people can implement small-scale changes in their own lives to create ethical economies. There is no manifesto here, no one prescribed model; rather, readers are encouraged and taught how to take back the economy in ways appropriate for their own communities and context, using what they already have at hand. Take Back the Economy dismantles the idea that the economy is separate from us and best comprehended by experts. Instead, the authors demonstrate that the economy is the outcome of the decisions and efforts we make every day. The economy is thus reframed as a space of ethical action—something we can shape and alter according to what is best for the well-being of people and the planet. The book explores what people are already doing to build ethical economies, presenting these deeds as mutual concerns: What is necessary for survival, and what do we do with the surplus produced beyond what will fulfill basic needs? What do we consume, and how do we preserve and replenish the commons—those resources that can be shared to maintain all? And finally, how can we invest in a future worth living in? Suitable for activists and students alike, Take Back the Economy will be of interest to anyone seeking a more just, sustainable, and equitable world.

Download or read book Reinventing Local and Regional Economies written by Gerald L. Gordon and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2011-09-26 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent US economic history is rife with examples of cities and regions that have experienced significant decline. Many of those localities began to slide after decades, even generations, of feeling immune to economic disaster. Boeing and Kodak, the steel industry in Pittsburg, and the automotive industry in Detroit all expected to make it golden into the distant future. Tapping into the available body of knowledge as well as- through nearly 70 interviews—the experiences of those who lived and worked in those times in cities around the United States—to identify the most effective strategies, Reinventing Local and Regional Economies delineates the dos and don’ts to observe in order to sustain economic vitality in any community. Written by Dr. Gerald Gordon, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Authority in Fairfax County, Virginia, the book explores lessons learned and examines the messages communities must be mindful of in order to ensure future economic stability. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience, Gordon identifies a set of foundational lessons that, while they are not guarantees of success, certainly portend failure if ignored by local planners. Each chapter explores a different prerequisite and then applies it to several case studies of the reinvention of local and regional economies. Each of these basic components of economic growth will then be examined against the backgrounds of the many communities studied, thus permitting comparisons and contrasts to be drawn. A comparative analysis of results from one community to another across a wide range of case studies, this book puts into clear context the observations about what works not only in one locale but in communities with common features facing common issues and getting similar results. Using case studies and real world examples of successes and failures, Dr. Gordon provides the tools to develop a proactive strategy that positions your community for surviving and thriving regardless of external stresses and adverse economic conditions that may be out of your control.

Download or read book The Clean Money Revolution written by Joel Solomon and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how “clean money” is transforming capitalism by powering sustainable businesses that build social and financial equity and change the world. Part memoir of an inspiring thought-leader’s journey from presidential campaigner to multi-millionaire investor, part insider’s guide to the businesses that are remaking the world, and part table-pounding manifesto for innovative investors and entrepreneurs.

Download or read book Economic Revitalization written by Joan Fitzgerald and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2002-03-19 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic Revitalization is unique in that it discusses leading revitalization strategies in the context of both city and suburban settings, offering case studies of program development and implementation. In Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb Fitzgerald and Leigh answer the need for a text that incorporates social justice and sustainability into how we think about and practice economic development. It is one of the first to talk about how revitalization strategies are implemented in both cities and suburbs, particularly inner-ring suburbs that are experiencing decline previously associated only with inner-city neighborhoods. After setting the context with a brief history of economic development practice and its shortcomings, Fitzgerald and Leigh focus on six economic development strategies: sectoral strategies, Brownfield redevelopment, industrial retention, commercial revitalization, industrial and office property reuse, and workforce development. Each of these chapters begins with an overview of the strategy and then presents cases of how it is being implemented. The cases draw from Atlanta, Chicago and its suburbs, Emeryville, Kalamazoo, Louisville, New Haven, Portland, Sandy Springs, and Seattle (and suburban King County). They illustrate the tradeoffs often made in achieving one goal at the expense of another. Although they admit that some of the cases come up short in illustrating a more equitable and sustainable economic development practice, Fitzgerald and Leigh conclude with an optimistic view that the field is changing. The book is aimed at students and practitioners of economic development planning who seek to foster stronger economies and greater opportunity in inner cites and older suburbs. It is also meant to assist planners in thriving new towns and suburban communities seeking to avoid future economic decline as their communities mature. Economic Revitalization: Discusses practice in both suburban and inner-city settings Integrates the planning values of social justice and sustainability into the discussion of implementation strategies Includes cases that reveal the political nature of the planning process and the types of tradeoffs that often must be made Provides insights for planners seeking to adopt "best practice" programs from other localities

Download or read book Reinventing the Bazaar A Natural History of Markets written by John McMillan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2003-10-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: McMillan takes readers on a lively tour, from the wild swings of the stock market to the online auctions of eBay to the unexpected twists of the world's post-communist economies.

Download or read book Reinventing Los Angeles written by Robert Gottlieb and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2007-10-12 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes how water politics, cars and freeways, and immigration and globalization have shaped Los Angeles, and how innovative social movements are working to make a more livable and sustainable city. Los Angeles—the place without a sense of place, famous for sprawl and overdevelopment and defined by its car-clogged freeways—might seem inhospitable to ideas about connecting with nature and community. But in Reinventing Los Angeles, educator and activist Robert Gottlieb describes how imaginative and innovative social movements have coalesced around the issues of water development, cars and freeways, and land use, to create a more livable and sustainable city. Gottlieb traces the emergence of Los Angeles as a global city in the twentieth century and describes its continuing evolution today. He examines the powerful influences of immigration and economic globalization as they intersect with changes in the politics of water, transportation, and land use, and illustrates each of these core concerns with an account of grass roots and activist responses: efforts to reenvision the concrete-bound, fenced-off Los Angeles River as a natural resource; “Arroyofest,” the closing of the Pasadena Freeway for a Sunday of walking and bike riding; and immigrants' initiatives to create urban gardens and connect with their countries of origin. Reinventing Los Angeles is a unique blend of personal narrative (Gottlieb himself participated in several of the grass roots actions described in the book) and historical and theoretical discussion. It provides a road map for a new environmentalism of everyday life, demonstrating the opportunities for renewal in a global city.

Download or read book Local Dollars Local Sense written by Michael Shuman and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Local Dollars, Local Sense is a guide to creating Community Resilience. Americans' long-term savings in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and life insurance funds total about $30 trillion. But not even 1 percent of these savings touch local small business-even though roughly half the jobs and the output in the private economy come from them. So, how can people increasingly concerned with the poor returns from Wall Street and the devastating impact of global companies on their communities invest in Main Street? In Local Dollars, Local Sense, local economy pioneer Michael Shuman shows investors, including the nearly 99% who are unaccredited, how to put their money into building local businesses and resilient regional economies-and profit in the process. A revolutionary toolbox for social change, written with compelling personal stories, the book delivers the most thorough overview available of local investment options, explains the obstacles, and profiles investors who have paved the way. Shuman demystifies the growing realm of local investment choices-from institutional lending to investment clubs and networks, local investment funds, community ownership, direct public offerings, local stock exchanges, crowdfunding, and more. He also guides readers through the lucrative opportunities to invest locally in their homes, energy efficiency, and themselves. A rich resource for both investors and the entrepreneurs they want to support, Local Dollars, Local Sense eloquently shows how to truly protect your financial future--and your community's.

Download or read book American Turnaround written by Edward Whitacre and published by Business Plus. This book was released on 2013-02-05 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ed Whitacre is credited with taking over the corporate reins at General Motors (GM) when the automotive manufacturer was on the brink of bankruptcy during 2009 and turned the company around in magnificent fashion. In this business memoir, the native Texan explores his unique management style, business acumen and patriotism. It was President Obama who reached out to Ed Whitacre to come out of retirement and take over GM in 2009. A down-to-earth, no-nonsense Texas native with a distinctive Texas twang in his voice, Whitacre was reluctant to come out of retirement to work at GM. But Whitacre is that rare CEO with great charisma and extraordinary management instincts. And when he got to Detroit, he started to whittle down the corporate bureaucracy right away - and got GM back on track in record time. Before being pulled out of retirement to run GM by Obama, Ed Whitacre had spent his entire corporate career in the telecom business, where he ultimately ended up running AT&T.

Download or read book The Small Mart Revolution written by Michael Shuman and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2007-08-20 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defenders of massive multinational chains like Wal-Mart and Fortune 500 big business argue that, like it or not, there is no alternative. Their huge scale and international reach, they claim, make them more efficient and profitable, better able to deliver value, and an uncontested boon for the job market. According to the big boys, locally owned small businesses are simply quaint remnants of the past, unable to compete in the global economy. But in The Small-Mart Revolution, Michael Shuman shows that the benefits these mega-stores and huge corporations supposedly deliver to communities are illusory. Crunch the numbers and you'll find that locally owned businesses turn out to be much more reliable generators of good jobs, economic growth, tax dollars, community wealth, charitable contributions, social stability, and political participation. Unlike their global competitors, they do this without massive tax breaks and subsidies that often put local economies in a permanent hole. Plus, contrary to popular belief, local businesses are competitive with the multinationals--and gaining ground every day. Shuman highlights numerous trends that are making the old "bigger is better" economies of scale argument obsolete, and he describes a variety of innovative strategies these businesses are using to successfully compete with their over-sized competitors. He also shows how consumers, investors, and policymakers can support their own communities by "going local." The Small-Mart Revolution offers a robust alternative to "go-go" globalization, one that nurtures the creative capacities of local businesses and enables communities everywhere to thrive.

Download or read book Looptail written by Bruce Poon Tip and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can a company be cool, socially responsible ... and still make money? Welcome to the looptail. This is the extraordinary true story of Bruce Poon Tip and how, with nothing more than two credit cards and a burning desire to create an authentic, sustainable travel experience like nothing the world had ever seen, he created G Adventures, the world's most successful adventure travel company. G Adventures operates in more than 100 countries, on all seven continents, serves more than 100,000 customers every year - and is now a significant player in Australia. In this unique first-person account, Poon Tip reveals his unusual management secrets that allowed him to keep growing his company, his employees fully engaged and energised, and his customers extremely happy. This is a singularly stunning story of why community, culture and karma matter in business, and how one man's desire to do the right thing and generate profits can be blended into a win–win for all involved. In this special Australian edition, Bruce Poon Tip writes about the unique experiences and lessons learned which have fuelled the growth of his Australian business, and also about how Australia really could be better at presenting itself to the world's travellers. www.gadventures.com.au