June 2004 Editor's Desk


Duke Power at 100

It was cheap electricity from the hydroelectric dams Duke Power built a century ago on the Yadkin River that pulled the textile industry out of the Northeast and into the Piedmont. Textiles provided a powerful boost to the Carolinas economy for generations but now is fading fast. No one understands that better than the big utility, which wants to help the two-state region discover its next economic destiny.

To mark its 100th anniversary, Duke Power passed up the balloons and confetti in favor of staging a forum on how best to reposition the Piedmont economy for the next 100 years. As Duke Power President Ruth Shaw points out in her Executive Voices column on page 35, the utility is more dependent that most other businesses on a healthy economy in both Carolinas. She reminds us that Duke’s history is one that was fundamentally based on driving economic growth through the generation and distribution of inexpensive electricity for the textile mills. 

Shaw knows getting Carolinas business leaders to think and act regionally is important to Duke’s next 100 years. Duke’s growth has been flat to 1 percent for several years, so strategies that promote growth are important to its bottom line.

Those strategies may have emerged at the recent “Carolinas Competitiveness Forum,” an event attended by more than 300 leaders from business, government, economic development, academia and the non-profit sector. The Charlotte event was intended to be provocative, test some deeply-held beliefs and promote new ideas for a more regional — even two-state — approach to economic development and to find ways to revive our troubled manufacturing sector.

The forum was not simply a series of nice meals, but instead featured visionary and somewhat controversial comments from international economist Kenichi Ohmae urging even more aggressive and regional approaches to economic development.

An attractive model featured at the forum was the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, a cooperative effort of nine universities and laboratories in the two states. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded more than $1.4 million to support programs and research conducted by the consortium. Could the Carolinas do the same?

NCCBI applauds Duke Power for continuing to build on its leadership in our state’s economic development and we look forward to seeing the company and the forum’s participants take what they have learned in the field to leverage the tremendous growth capabilities our region offers existing and new industries. -- Steve Tuttle

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