BusinessWeek has a special online-only report on entrepeneurs bypassing the big city in favor of small communities:
“There’s the old axiom, ‘Go west, young man,’” says John Boyd, president of Boyd Co., a site-selection consultancy based in Princeton, N.J. “But really, the mantra now is ‘Go small, young man.’”
“Micropolitan” centers, as some call them, which lie somewhere between a city and a rural town, now trumpet their mix of beautiful settings, affordable housing, and attractive lifestyles. With communication technology blurring geographic borders, entrepreneurs in search of the proverbial good life are building companies where they want to live, as much as where they think they should work.
And communities that want to attract business development are learning that they can no longer rely on the cluster effect of a dominant industry to spawn further economic growth. “The widest, broadest mix of choice in housing, neighborhoods, shopping, and the widest range in cultural and entertainment offerings, leisure, and recreation is what makes a place a desirable one to start a business,” says Michael Beyard, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and other locales have followed this strategy, seeing some of the fastest-growing business economies in the nation.
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