Harvard biz profs arrive in GT

Twenty faculty members of the Harvard Business School, led by senior associate dean for research Jan Rivkin, will meet with East Mississippi government leaders and officials with the Golden Triangle Development LINK beginning Oct. 30 to learn about the region’s economic success. The HBU faculty started a project in 2011, which Rivkin co-chairs, on U.S. competitiveness. He learned about the Golden Triangle from a CBS "60 Minutes" segment on LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins. The HBS project had been focusing “a lot of time” looking at the world” instead of “perhaps” not enough time on America, Rivkin said. While in the Golden Triangle, the group will meet with LINK representatives and government leaders from Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties; and tour East Mississippi Community College's Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Mississippi State University's National Strategic Planning and Research Center, Steel Dynamics and PACCAR - a Fortune 500 firm that established a commercial vehicle diesel engine facility in Columbus, Miss. The HBS faculty may draw up a case study for students or delve into other regions issues. "It's always hard to know before you go to a place what you'll learn," Rivkin said. "The thing that most fascinates me is the coordination that appears to be taking place, between government, businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions. (Source: Columbus Dispatch 10/28/17)