Michael Porter comes “home” to South Carolina, applauds state’s push to increase competitiveness

Speaking at New Carolina’s 7th anniversary event, Porter declares “we will succeed.”

COLUMBIA, SC – September 28, 2011 –  Harvard professor andinternationally lauded economic development guru Michael Porter visitedColumbia last week to cheer South Carolina’s progress towardstrengthening its knowledge economy. Porter was in the state to speak atthe 7th anniversary celebration for New Carolina—South Carolina’sCouncil on Competitiveness.  

Widely considered the world’s foremost economic development strategist,Porter gave a notable presentation at an Economic Outlook Conferencehosted by the University of South Carolina in 2003. At that time, hemade eight recommendations for improving South Carolina’s economy. 

Among his suggestions were activating and upgrading industry clusters,increasing support for startups and local firms, and investing more inworkforce development and education. New Carolina was created thefollowing year to tackle those recommendations.  

At the New Carolina celebration, Porter complimented the organization’ssuccesses thus far, noting that it has established 15 cluster committeesand counts more than 1,000 state leaders from the business, non-profit,and government sectors as volunteers. He cited major victories inrecruiting companies and suppliers to the state and winning threefederal grants from the Small Business Administration and the EconomicDevelopment Administration. He also praised New Carolina for building aneffective Education and Workforce Task Force, initiating statewidebusiness incubators, and developing a strategic plan for distressedareas.

Porter expressed fondness and admiration for the place he considers his“home state.” He was born in Michigan (“just a technicality”), but spenthis summers in South Carolina as a boy.

The crowd of more than 200 responded warmly as Porter used the first-person plural in his remarks—“we will succeed.”

As Porter lauded South Carolina for “the sheer determination to makethis work,” he emphasized New Carolina’s critical role in implementingmeasures that will increase the state’s competitiveness. 

New Carolina Chairman of the Board Ed Sellers remarked, “In the pastseven years, we’ve made great progress toward reaching many of the goalswe set for our organization and our state. There are many people whoare dedicated to giving South Carolina a stronger, more competitive, andmore dynamic economy—we’ve achieved so much, and we’re on the verge ofrealizing so much more.” 

“We’re celebrating seven years of hard work and achievement in a varietyof areas, from implementing an overall cluster strategy to specificaccomplishments within our various clusters and focus areas, includingtourism, entrepreneurship, nuclear, creative, and workforce/education,”said New Carolina Executive Director George Fletcher. “We look forwardto continued work toward a stronger state economy with an ever-growingfocus on innovation, education, and collaboration.” 

Along with Porter’s speech, the New Carolina event included a paneldiscussion on the future of South Carolina featuring Porter and Sellersalong with prominent Lake City businesswoman Darla Moore, Boeing SouthCarolina Vice President Marco Cavazzoni, and South Carolina ResearchAuthority CEO Bill Mahoney. 

Also during the event, Sellers, who has served as New Carolina’schairman since its launch, was presented with the Order of the Palmettofor his contributions to South Carolina as a business leader andhumanitarian. 

Sellers recently retired from his position as CEO of BlueCrossBlueShield South Carolina, which he had held since 1987. During histenure, Sellers grew BC/BS by 8,000 employees and built it into a $3.8billion company. His past and present community involvement includesserving on the boards of the Palmetto Institute, the S.C. Governor’sSchool for Science and Technology, the Spoleto Festival, ColumbiaCollege, and the U.S. and S.C. Chambers of Commerce, among other civicgroups.

About New Carolina
New Carolina—South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness is apublic-private partnership working to increase South Carolina’s economiccompetitiveness through a cluster development strategy. Its focus isto: 

Building and supporting clusters was the top recommendation of HarvardProfessor Michael Porter, who presented his analysis of South Carolinawhen he came to South Carolina in 2003. New Carolina is the go-toorganization for cluster development, bringing leaders of companieswithin the same industry together to facilitate, define and implementindustry-wide strategies.