ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a “cross-hairs” approach for nonmetropolitan industrial targeting based on both industrial and occupational characteristics. This new occupational-functional approach uses a distinctive set of five occupations to identify each of the five basic economic functions of any industry: entrepreneurship, headquarters decision making, research and development, precision operations, and routine work. The chapter reviews the fundamentals of cross-hair targeting and provides examples of its usefulness in rural area and small town development planning. If the local economy were strong across the board in all of the key occupations, then the normal market process of profit maximization and competition would probably have long ago attracted the industry. The cyclical instability of a small place may arise largely out of extreme industrial specialization, especially if its dominant product is a durable good. Development strategists must make comparisons and trade-offs between the industries they want most and the work they do best or better than competing places.
