Industrial Modernization: Collaborative Strategies for Regional Development in the South

摘要

In order to be a prosperous region with a high level of public services, the South must retain, create, and attract high performance firms able to compete successfully in national and international markets. Over the past twenty years, the South's manufacturing growth has been driven more by growing numbers of low-wage, technologically backward industrial companies than by the strong performance of innovative firms. This has been called the 'low road' to competitiveness. It leads to low quality jobs, shrinking market share, and declining prosperity. The Southern Technology Council (STC) and the states involved in the network planning project want to put industry on the 'high road' to competitiveness through continuous technical innovation, steadily improved worker skills, and a growing ability to take back lost markets at home and win new ones abroad.