Firms looking to rural areas as new frontier, expert says
Posted on Tuesday, October 24, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/170668/
Broadband Internet access in rural areas is no guarantee of economic growth, a social scientist told telecom professionals from across the nation Monday at the 10 th annual RuralTeleCon conference in North Little Rock.
“It’s not about the technology,” said Kenneth E. Pigg, an associate professor in rural sociology at the University of Missouri at Columbia. “It’s about people, the social nature of the community and whether its organizations are prepared to do what needs to be done.”
Unless small towns — and preferably entire regions — collaborate to identify and showcase their distinctive wares, services and qualities, opportunities will continue to be elusive, he said.
“The big question for many communities is, once you get it [broadband ], what do you do with it ?” Pigg said. “Do we really know how to deploy it ? It’s a much more important question than deployment — and one we need to start thinking about.”
In a reversal of recent trends that sent millions of American jobs abroad, unstable economies and political unrest have many companies looking to rural America for new manufacturing plants and satellite facilities, said Greg Smith, chairman of the Rural Telecommunication Congress.
Some high-tech businesses already are making the move, citing lower cost of living, a “reduced hassle” lifestyle, improved labor force, recreation opportunities, and lower taxes and business costs, he said.
“Now things are much more defined, to the point where technology is pointing to things that will definitely happen and education is rising up to meet that demand,” Smith said. “Regional health is one such area. I can guarantee there will be jobs in rural areas and you’ll see regional health organizations in places like Monticello within the next few years.”
To attract development, rural areas must become adept at identifying economic strengths and pulling them together to benefit the region as a whole. As an example, Pigg pointed to Columbus, Kan., a city that has about 20 printing shops within a 20-mile radius.
“They all work apart, but they could be working to develop a regional base and be better off in the long run,” he said.
But regional thinking requires a cultural change in rural communities.
Cities and towns that have traditionally been rivals must abandon those barriers if they hope to benefit from a “new economy” that is home-grown.
“Distance is not as meaningful as it used to be,” Pigg said. “Telecom has flattened the world, so to speak. It speeds the process of everything.”
More than 100 people are attending the event, hosted by the Little Rock-based Association for Users of Telecommunications and Information Systems. The conference concludes on Wednesday.