The road to sustainable growth

In today’s globally competitive environment it is the regions of the world, including America, which hold the keys to economic success. According to Mick Fleming, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), “spurring regional, sustainable development is one of the major issues facing local chambers of commerce, in the 21st century.”

Those regions which plan and practice sustainable development are more likely the regions we will want to emulate over the next 20 years.

Robert J. Grow, founding chair emeritus for Envision Utah, said “Regional Visioning is the most effective tool to create sustainable communities and regions.”

In our chamber’s adopted policy declarations, we have defined sustainable development as “a growth strategy that is neither environmentally nor economically self-limiting, which can be sustained over time, resulting in a closer balance between the economy, the environment, and social equity.”

We also state that “regional sustainable development creates collective prosperity now and in the future through an integrated bottom line approach that minimizes our environmental footprint, affords equitable opportunities and generates economic benefits.”

We further call for the creation and development of an integrated local and regional sustainable development plan, by working together with a Sustainable Development Alliance to include local and regional partners from throughout the public and private sectors, as well as those serving the charitable nonprofit sector.

Here in North Myrtle Beach, our chamber’s board of directors has adopted a goal to diversify the North Myrtle Beach economy as part of our five-year Sustainable Growth and Prosperity Initiative, which we have dubbed “Building North Myrtle Beach.” The first action step in our plan is to develop a shared long-range economic and community development vision for North Myrtle Beach in concert with the city of North Myrtle Beach and the wider community to assure sustainable development built around the positive factors of the “green economy,” further enhancing our amicable quality of life.

We also state that our planning and efforts will be initiated in collaboration with the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation. MBREDC is our countywide economic development organization and has recently undergone a positive and encouraging restructuring and brought in a professional energetic, and experienced staff to lead our county in new job growth, through both the growth of existing businesses and relocation of new companies compatible to our area.

So, who takes the leadership responsibility to make this happen and why are some regions more successful than others in global competition? This was addressed two years ago at our region’s first Sustainable Development Forum, co-hosted by CCU and Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Truthfully, not much progress has been made since then, although a couple of initiatives under way at this time have been aided by some of the relationships made at this inaugural forum.

Literacy and public mass transportation were both identified at our forum as two of the top three priorities that needed to be addressed enabling regional sustainable development, and each is currently being addressed.

Our keynote speaker for the sustainability forum was Ted Abernathy, executive director of the Southern Growth Policies Board, the 40-year-old public policy think-tank, supported by the seated governors from 14 southern states. Mr. Abernathy stressed the importance of first identifying your multicounty region and then creating a regional plan to maximize competitiveness through collaboration.

The Council on Competiveness published “Collaborate” in 2010 which concluded that one of the reasons that some regions were more successful than others was their ability to collaborate as a region and to have “effective regional leadership.” The report also states “new regional leadership must create a shared regional narrative, build consensus, institutionalize innovation and lead change.”

So, where are we as a region in creating a shared sustainable development plan? Who is responsible for taking the lead? Who is benchmarking the success of other regions and asking the important questions such as why we lead the country’s metropolitan counties in the lowest average wages earned? Who is taking responsibility to create shared plans at the local level to assist MBREDC and other public-private partners in creating sustainable jobs for our area?

In North Myrtle Beach our chamber has a vision. That vision is to transform the organization into one of the preeminent chambers of commerce in America, advancing the welfare and prosperity of North Myrtle Beach as we achieve a thriving, diverse, sustainable economy.

We are anxious to follow and participate at the regional level to create a shared regional narrative; build consensus; innovate; and lead change, resulting in sustainable growth and prosperity for everyone.

Jordan is president and CEO of the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.