Economic Development – Big Business Today versus Big Business 50 Years Ago

We have to think differently about “attracting” big businesses to Wyoming. The nature of big business is changing and leveraged correctly, that can be a great asset to Wyoming and our future economic success.

What does it mean to be a big business today?

“Apple, Alphabet (parent of Google) and Facebook generated $333 billion of revenue combined last year with 205,000 employees worldwide. In 1993, three of the most successful, technologically oriented companies based in the Northeast — Kodak, IBM, and AT&T — needed more than three times as many employees, 675,000, to generate 27 percent less in inflation-adjusted revenue. The 10 most valuable tech companies have 1.5 million employees, according to calculations by Michael Mandel of the Progressive Policy Institute, compared with 2.2 million employed by the 10 biggest industrial companies in 1979.” Neil Irwin https://nyti.ms/2x1YnuD

Technology and mechanization have made it easier and faster to bring a product or service to market than ever before in history. With advances in digital marketing, you can go from an idea to a fully-funded business with platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. You can reach your target customer from halfway across the world and make a sale without an office or a storefront.

These technological advances mean businesses are smaller and more agile than ever before. With a small population and no metropolitan area above 100,000 people, small businesses can have a significant, positive economic impact on Wyoming communities.

So what do we do?

Support entrepreneurs with knowledge and training. Help them understand the undertaking of building a real business. Help them understand the personality that builds a business versus the personality that builds a job. Town and cities do not need one Facebook, they need lots of “small” businesses that generate skilled and unskilled jobs.