ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 17, 1996 TAG: 9612170029
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Last of a series
IN AN ERA of economic globalization, boosting Western Virginia's export business is both necessary and desirable. So how to encourage it?
For starters, our community needs to nurture a cultural sensibility that is open to the outside world. A railroad heritage and educational institutions have helped reduce the sense of isolation. But we need to keep working on this.
More specifically, individual businesses must be alert to the world of opportunities: especially the fact that exporting is no longer the exclusive franchise of huge companies, and that the range of goods and services with export potential is widening.
Assistance is available from Joseph Robinson, the Roanoke-based international-marketing manager for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. His job is to "educate and expedite" export business in the region.
A focus on exports also has public-policy implications, including:
* A revised economic-development strategy.
Robinson's office, a creation of the Virginia General Assembly in partnership with the private sector, is a good example of such a revision. Rather than try to lure businesses from elsewhere with subsidies or promises of bargain-rate land and labor, the new strategy helps existing and start-up businesses expand their reach.
An export-oriented economic-development strategy stresses development of the high-value-added products that reflect America's comparative advantage in the international marketplace. It also offers a level playing field between old firms and new, big firms and small.
* A renewed emphasis on regionalism.
Robinson's office, which serves a multicounty region, is again a good example, this time of the power of regional resource-pooling. Only on the regional level, too, are the investment and other resources available to promote the kind of clustering of knowledge-based industries that creates export powerhouses.
Also, only by thinking regionally can Western Virginia extract full value from the presence of Virginia Tech, the state's largest university, and other institutions of higher education.
* Continuously improving public schools.
Just as vital as strong connections with higher-education's research and educational resources is high-quality K-12 education; it is the key to sustaining the kind of high-skill work force that produces saleable exports. In addition to basic literacy, an export focus recommends increased emphasis on learning to speak foreign languages and to understand foreign cultures.
More generally, critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills will have to supplement Western Virginians' traditionally strong work ethic if our region is to secure a prosperous place in the new economy.
* A first-rate transportation system.
Any modern economy must be able to move goods and get people from homes to work; an export-oriented economy must also plug in to international transportation systems. However well a Western Virginia product might otherwise be greeted in distant markets, its export potential is limited if it can't be delivered in timely fashion.
The region's tradition as a rail center continues. To that export tie-in should be added such improvements as the proposed Interstate 73 from Roanoke to the Greensboro, N.C., area; the "smart road" between Roanoke and Blacksburg; and an expanded air-freight facility near Dublin, as proposed by the New Century Council.
In the end, government's role in boosting exports is less in "economic development" as narrowly defined than in ensuring that the underlying educational and infrastructure conditions meet the test.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB