April 6, 1999
UW Business School bringing Eastman Kodak CEO, Harvard professor to Seattle to discuss inner-city economic development
ATTENTION EDITORS: Reporters and photographers are invited to hear Eastman Kodak Chairman George Fisher and Harvard Business Professor Michael Porter speak on inner-city economic development to the Seattle Rotary Club at noon on April 14 in the grand ballroom at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers.
Rosy reports on Washington’s economy overshadow the growing divide between those enjoying the boom and those being left behind. The income gap between Washington’s urban and rural areas is seventh largest in the nation, rivaling Mississippi and West Virginia. Also, inner-city wages lag the state’s median household income by more than 50 percent in some cases. But there is reason for optimism, according to Michael Porter, a Harvard University business professor and consultant to numerous Fortune 500 companies who sees competitive advantages for businesses in inner cities.
Porter and Eastman Kodak Chairman George Fisher will be in Seattle April 14 to address inner-city economic development issues as guests of the University of Washington Business School‘s business and economic development program. Porter and Fisher each will teach a UW business class in the morning then will speak to the Seattle Rotary Club at noon at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers.
“Given the economic distress of several Seattle neighborhoods and the relative strength of the overall economy, now is the time to invest in inner cities,” says Michael Verchot, director of the UW business and economic development program. “The private sector in Seattle has been very interested in inner-city development during the 1990s. Michael Porter and George Fisher will be able to provide us with some new perspectives on how to ensure that this work translates into higher wage jobs and increased business ownership by residents of inner-city communities.”
Fisher was appointed CEO of Eastman Kodak Co. in 1993, after a successful stint as head of Motorola. While leading the company through a major restructuring and downsizing, Fisher has been active in workforce development and training issues in Rochester, N.Y., Eastman Kodak’s longtime headquarters. He currently chairs a group of CEOs looking at inner-city revitalization in Rochester.
Porter, an international business strategist whose book “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” has been a fixture on business school reading lists for 25 years, is turning his attention to America’s inner cities. Through his non-profit Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, Porter argues that inner-city businesses are good investments because they generally have good access to transportation hubs, downtown business cores and available labor.
To tap that potential while providing students with practical learning experiences, the UW business and economic development program offers free consulting services for inner-city businesses in Seattle. Now in its fourth year, Verchot says the outreach effort is responsible for 125 new jobs and $3 million in new revenues. This year alone, 65 students, 25 alumni and 10 mentors from the Seattle Rotary Club are working as consultants with 13 different companies in the central area, Rainier Valley and International District. The consultant teams volunteer as many as 300 hours over six months to help businesses with everything from installing new accounting systems to developing business strategies and marketing plans.
“We believe that if we can invest our time and knowledge, just as a venture capitalist invests money, we can help these companies to grow and succeed,” Verchot says. “Investments in education and business development made now, when times are good, create an economic infrastructure for when times aren’t so good.”
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For more information, contact Verchot at (206) 543-9327 or mverchot@u.washington.edu.
