Some companies are synonymous with a location, so what happens when that company goes bust as happened with Kodak based in Rochester, NY. Often time the model is one of sustained decline, as the big car manufacturers have declined in Detroit, so has the city. Well a recent NYT article suggest that all is not lost in Rochester and reveals that certain criteria; things like policy making, entrepreneurship, a strong academic, cultural and public sector can all help drive growth and promote business activity.
While such change can be seismic, and distinctive - the next generation will not recognise Rochester as Kodak city anymore - Surely that is better than the alternative, that like the early pioneers, those who can just up and leave and find better ground. And while the change can impact hard, it can also impact well. Hidden away in beautiful countryside what was once the tired and dreary Xerox training/conference centre is now the transformed National Conference Centre, an investment in change which helped transform and sustain Leesburg, Virginia.
