New Mexico faces major decisions in its economic development arena. Should it invest in:

1. Technology?
2. Services?
3. Tourism?
4. Southwestern Art?
5. All of the above?

And if the investment is in technology, what areas?
These questions are hard and require analysis. The analysis includes:

1. Understanding New Mexico’s current capabilities and how well do we perform vis-à-vis the rest of our competitors
2. How well can New Mexico meet the needs of the particular industry from work force to capital to support, etc?
3. What is the future market forecast for a particular area and can we forward a profitable endeavor in this area?

Complicating things is the political power of those constituencies that demand certain actions that might not be optimal for the state but sub-optimal for that political group.

NM needs this type of analysis so that we can make the right decisions or at least know the consequences of our actions. Anderson School can provide unbiased analysis to weigh-in on these decisions.

New Mexico has many comparative (climate/natural beauty/energy reserves) and competitive (two national laboratories; three major research universities; four major military establishments and a burgeoning aircraft industry) advantages that augur well for future growth. The Economic Development Chair should play a role in leveraging these advantages into better jobs and higher living standards for all New Mexicans.

Using current modeling technology, the Economic Development Chair will be able to develop “what if” scenarios. Such modeling will inform policy makers and potential investors of the economic (tax revenue, job growth, re-spending effects etc.) and natural resource (water usage, traffic flows, land use, etc) impact of proposed business ventures and related economic development programs.

The Chair will work with the diverse economic development initiatives within the University and the State to foster entrepreneurial activity serving as a liaison between the University and organizations such as AED, Economic Forum, State Economic Development Department, NexGen, TVC, Verge and Flywheel Ventures and the many others whose job is to shepherd discovery into commercial ventures. The Economic Development Chair at the Anderson School of Management will also take the opportunity to cooperate with counterparts at other New Mexico universities.

Historically, business schools have worked to foster economic development through efforts with individual firms--class projects, Small Business Administration advocacy through 8A programs and participation in SBA programs. Although these efforts represent important and noble work, such activity does not impact residents of the State evenly, nor does it leverage the skill set of the Anderson faculty as wisely as it might. The role of the Chair in economic development is to offer outreach that informs business decisions and economic policy making based on state-of-the-art management expertise--thus accelerating economic development within the state.

Anderson can also partner with the state and its institutions to offer programs that support the decisions that these groups have made. As an example, when New Mexico moved to make “Digital Media” one of its priorities, Anderson can offer support for business activities in this area through research (is financing a digital media company different from financing a restaurant?), courses (business planning for digital media startups) and service (advisory boards of digital media providers). This obviously requires fast action but with resources and the benefits that accrue to Anderson, it is feasible.

Finally, the Economic Development Chair can motivate students in the MBA and potentially the Ph.D. program at Anderson to focus on economic development so we now have more policy analysts that can perform the myriad of studies that can help New Mexico.

The proposed Chair in Economic Development is designed to leverage the intellectual resources of Anderson to inform policy making among primary advocates of economic development--organizations such as the Association for Commerce and Industry, New Mexico First, Albuquerque Economic Development, Chambers of Commerce, Leadership New Mexico, Gubernatorial task forces, the State Legislature and others.

Decisions regarding a host of issues such as tax policy, tax abatements, incentives and bond issues all influence the rate at which the State grows. Offering reasoned, non-partisan analysis and commercial due diligence is essential for lawmakers and business advocates to build trust and synergy in their efforts to build on our comparative and competitive advantages with a goal of attracting high value-added jobs to the state.