Globalization and the Transformation of
North Carolina’s Economy

Industry Profiles
In this project students map out industrial change in North Carolina and
document the shifting competitiveness of five of the state’s key industries:
traditional sectors such as Agriculture, Textiles and Furniture, as well as
emerging sectors such as Information Technology and Biotechnology.  

Through empirical analysis and grounded interviews with public and private
actors, students map out the base-line structure of each industry and trace
ongoing changes and transformations.  Short summaries of each industry
study are followed by full reports that can be downloaded.  The goal of the
project is to trace the evolution of these industries by documenting shifts
in baseline data every two years.



Leveraging Marine Trades in North Carolina’s
Water Counties

Marine Trades report
As part of the Department of City and Regional Planning’s core planning
workshop class, a team of students worked with the Carteret County Economic
Development Council in the Spring of 2006 to develop strategies to support
the long-term competitiveness of the marine trades industry in five Eastern
counties – Carteret, Craven, Onslow, Jones, and Pamlico.  

Although well-established and an important provider of businesses and jobs,
the industry is under pressure from a loss of waterfront access for boats and
a shortage of qualified workers.   The graduate-level workshop class, entitled
“Leveraging Marine Trades in North Carolina's Water Counties”, was designed
around these issues.  The students of the class spent four months analyzing
the conditions of the industry.