Focus on existing clusters first, exec says

By Matthew French
Staff Writer

Now that the Charleston Regional Development Alliance has its action plan in place that dictates its direction for the next five years, the organization needs to determine how it is going to prioritize its five-pronged mission.

A report researched and presented by the Austin, Texas-based AngelouEconomics, an economic development company that helps guide municipalities in their pursuit of economic growth, indicates the mission of the development alliance needs to focus on attracting companies in five industry clusters: aircraft and aerospace; automotive; biosciences; creative industries, which includes historical preservation, architecture, film and visual media, and urban planning; and advanced security, which includes tracking and surveillance, biometric access, and security and intelligence software.

But the region is not necessarily ready to support each of those clusters at the moment, and a more solid foundation may be required before the alliance can legitimately expect to lure certain companies to the Lowcountry.

“We will have to prioritize our clusters,” says David Ginn, president and chief executive officer of the regional development alliance. “They will not all be marketed the same and will not be given equal weight.”

Amy Holloway, vice president of economic development for AngelouEconomics, says at least one of the clusters was entirely dependent on a single deal.

“We wouldn’t have chosen an aircraft cluster as a legitimate concern for this area before Vought-Alenia announced they were coming,” she says. “But it was a major coup and could spur on an entirely new cluster for the region.”

While the development alliance would like to strike while the iron is still hot, Ginn says he recognizes that it will likely take some time before the area can market itself as a legitimate and robust aerospace center.

“With Vought coming here comes an acknowledgement from one of the biggest suppliers in that field in the world that this must be a good place to do business,” he says. “But they haven’t actually started doing business yet.”

Ginn says the aerospace cluster could certainly become one of the most lucrative, but other companies in this cluster will probably want to see how Vought makes out before making a similar commitment.

“With the automotive cluster, we can probably move faster because it’s a bit deeper here,” he says. “Robert Bosch is the largest manufacturer in the region and, with other companies like Cummins Inc. being here, we can probably move on that cluster more immediately.”

North Charleston and Summerville are home to some of the area’s largest manufacturing employers, and the automotive industry accounts for a significant portion of that. Robert Bosch Corp. is the largest, with more than 2,000 employees, but the area also plays host to American LaFrance; MTU Drive Shafts, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler; Cummins Inc.; ThyssenKrupp Elevators and Summerville Preferred Partners, a recent addition to the area that manufactures truck chassis.

The biosciences cluster would have to capitalize on inroads made by the Medical University of South Carolina, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Vegetable Laboratory and the Hollings Marine Lab. However, the region lacks a wet lab incubator, something that is a must for the bioscience cluster to thrive, Holloway says.

“Given the new state emphasis on the biosciences, good higher education and the small but growing cluster here, biosciences marks a clear opportunity for the Charleston region,” she says.

The report contains a marketing action plan for each of the clusters, some of which begin immediately. Others look farther into the future and wouldn’t begin until next year.

Matthew French is a staff writer for the business journal. E-mail him at mfrench@crbj.com.

SUBSCRIBE | REPRINTS | CONTACT US

Phone: 843-849-3100    Fax: 843-849-3122