Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Creative Destruction and Economic Revival in Detroit

Hat Tip to the boys at Cafe Hayek.

Creative destruction, a term popularized by economist Joseph Schumpeter, refers to the radical changes in direction economies can make due to failing businesses and subsequent innovation. This article from NPR describes how many biotech, defense, and consulting firms are finding pools of very hard-working and highly knowledgeable laborers among the rubble of the auto manufacturers. Let's hope these small businesses can hire them as fast as the Big 3 can lay them off.

Venture Capitalists, Entrepreneurs Bet On Detroit


"As Detroit's "Big Three" keep getting smaller, the challenge is to somehow create jobs as fast as the auto industry loses them. To do that, Michigan is making a series of bets on smaller companies like defense contractors and biotech firms."

and....

So why isn't his whole work force in India?

"The majority of our workforce is in the U.S.," Dubey says. "When I go to financial investors, they ask, this makes no sense, what is wrong with you? And the answer there is the Michigan workforce, which has significant experience in automotive and manufacturing industry, understands how things work."

Former auto employees know the American industries that Dubey wants to serve.

That same auto-industry DNA attracted venture capital to Detroit. Investors were drawn to minority-owned firms, knowing that the Big Three had given many minorities in the area business experience.

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