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<br />Lamar County - Paris Economic Development Plan <br /> <br />Geographic - Economic Strengths and Weaknesses. <br /> <br />A primary employer sells its goods or services outside a local economy, importing money to the <br />area. As a result, the company is not dependent upon the local marketplace and does not have to <br />be located in the community. <br /> <br />A retail store depends on the local market and the site selection criteria focus upon proximity to <br />that market. Traffic counts, sign visibility, purchasing power of the customers and many other <br />factors influence where a retail store would choose to locate. <br /> <br />What determines the location of a primary business is a series of geographic - economic factors. <br />The importance of each issue varies among industry sectors. The geo-economic issues determine <br />if a company will be profitable being located in a particular area. <br /> <br />Communities which are very strong in most or all of the factors have the best chance to have a <br />strong economy. Those which are weak have to find ways to overcome this disadvantage. <br /> <br />The following is a lengthy list of geographic - economic issues. For each, the Researcher has <br />graded Paris based upon the following scale. <br /> <br />Strength - Weakness Very Somewhat Average Somewhat Very <br />Strong Strong Weak Weak <br /> 5 4 3 2 1 <br /> <br />As previously mentioned, the Researcher met with focus groups to gain community input. <br />Participants in the focus groups were asked to grade Paris on the same issues. For each issue, the <br />community grade is provided. <br /> <br />The reason the Researcher asked for this input was to measure the "impression" the community <br />had toward the strength or weakness of the issue. The typical citizen is not expected to have a <br />working knowledge of the nature of these issues, and in some cases, the Researcher and the <br />community do not agree. <br /> <br />The grades reflect the relative strength of the issue, with 5 being the strongest. <br /> <br />After a discussion regarding the issue, the Researcher makes a recommendation for action by the <br />community. <br /> <br />Paris Economic Development Corporation <br /> <br />Page 16 <br />