Targeted Industries
The competition for economic development opportunities takes place in a global context. To be successful, communities must identify how they add value to a corporation’s operations and focus their proactive business attraction efforts on those target industries. The secret to successful recruitment is to become a strategic partner, adding value to the firm.
Using this approach allows the City of Dallas to focus on the industries that will best fit Dallas and give the City the greatest return on our economic development resources. By the same logic, some corporations benefit a community more than others because they more closely match the community’s work force, infrastructure capabilities and technology assets. By focusing on these industries that can be successful in Dallas, the City will facilitate faster growth, increased investment and a more robust local economy.
Economic developers identify the work force needs of local clusters and encourage universities, colleges and schools to provide relevant skills training corresponding to the needs of local clusters.
To identify a set of industries that can prosper in Dallas and maximize the return on the City's economic development resources, OED completed an extensive analysis of the Dallas economy and the national and international prospects of approximately 250 industries. The analysis included the following steps:
- Review previous studies
- Identify Dallas’ global economic role
- Identify Dallas’ regional economic role
- Identify our unique industry mix
- Understand global economic and business trends
- Do a detailed statistical analysis of all industries and develop a short list
- Understand work force conditions
- Inventory our business real estate assets
- Perform a qualitative analysis of short list industries (SWOT)
From this research OED identified:
Five top prospects:
Year one:
- High IT Use Services (finance, accounting, distribution, health care)
- Prefabricated Building Materials
Year two the strategy adds:
- Media (converging content, Spanish markets)
- Food Processing and Distribution
- Instrument Manufacturing