WestGroup supports APNE
WestGroup V.P. Kathy DeBoer is volunteering her time and expertise to the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy (APNE). Kathy is an active member of the Marketing and Communications Sub-committee and is assisting with APNE's market research needs.
APNE? Hmmmm...What?... I imagine you probably have two questions right now. "What do you mean by the "New Economy?" and "What exactly does the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy do?" Both are good questions.
First, let's talk about the "new economy." What do you think it means? Well, we asked 402 Valley residents that question during our September WestTrack study (see Research 101 for more details about WestTrack). We found that greater than one-third (36%) of Arizona residents are familiar with the term "New Economy." Arizona residents aware of the term are most likely to think it refers to an increase in business or money due to the Internet (19%) and/or an increase in technology or "the technology age" (17%). Are you nodding in agreement? Not sure? You are not alone, nearly one in five (18%) aware of the term "The New Economy" were unable to give any type of definition of it.
Governor Hull stated "The New Economy is NOT about dominance by the Internet, high tech industries and the products and services they offer. Although these things drive the New Economy, they are merely tools. The New Economy IS about creativity — in using the high tech tools like the Internet to do traditional work of business and government, in producing goods, providing services and interacting with each other."
Okay, you can go home now, you've learned something today! But wait, not yet. We still have to figure out this whole APNE thing. The objective of the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy, formed by Governor Hull in November 1999, is to position Arizona as a leader in the New Economy. Still fuzzy? APNE will consider the issues and create action plans that maximize Arizona's potential for both urban and rural locations. In many cases, meeting the needs of our rural communities will require innovative thinking. Addressing these unique needs and identifying creative opportunities for these communities is part of APNE's challenge.
Where does Arizona stand now?
We're not sure, but we wanted to find out what you think. We gave a definition of "the New Economy" to our WestTrack respondents and asked them to rank Arizona compared to other states. After hearing a definition of the New Economy, nearly one half (47%) of residents perceived Arizona as being in the top 25 states for applying the New Economy. While one-third (32%) rank Arizona as being in the bottom 25 states, more than one in five residents (22%) did not hold an opinion about Arizona's ranking.
For more details about the study you can view the full APNE WestTrack report here.
NOVEMBER 2000 Answers:
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