Editorial: Strategy shift

The Lawrence chamber of commerce plans to revamp its strategy for recruiting new businesses while boosting efforts to support homegrown enterprises.

A shift in Lawrence’s business recruitment strategy and budget seems like a reasonable response to a changing economic development environment.

In the budget it will present to city and county officials, the Lawrence chamber of commerce is proposing a boost in funding for a new program to support local business and a corresponding reduction in its spending on business recruitment efforts. The Chamber plans to dedicate $40,000 to a new program called BizFuel, which will work with the Lawrence Public Library and local economic development agencies to offer seminars and assistance for local small businesses or startup companies.

The Chamber also plans to cut in half, from $66,000 to $33,000, its business recruitment line item. The reduction will mean that local economic development officials will attend fewer conferences in an effort to meet site selectors and depend more on connections Lawrence has with the Kansas Department of Commerce and Kansas City Area Development Council.

Those agencies increasingly are the initial point of contact for companies that want to locate a large project in the area. Working with Commerce and KCADC and making sure they know about the opportunities in Lawrence probably is a more productive use of local resources than trying to recruit large projects on our own. If Commerce and KCADC are impressed with what’s going on in Lawrence, they will be more likely to share their enthusiasm with inquiring businesses. Then, Lawrence officials need to be ready to roll out the welcome mat, present a compelling case for the community and close the deal.

Helping foster local businesses and startups is a good strategy for Lawrence. And, as always, local economic development officials need to be ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities that arise perhaps because someone has a past connection to Kansas University or Lawrence.

Hopefully, with the completion of the Kansas Highway 10 loop around Lawrence and the availability of land in the new Lawrence VenturePark and new acreage that may be added for business and industrial development, officials will have many opportunities to sell Lawrence to new business prospects. The Chamber’s proposed spending shift will allow it to continue to recruit new businesses while also giving added support to new and expanding homegrown ventures.