Mice Dogs About ten years ago, economic development professionals began talking about gazelles fast-growing firms poised to be tomorrow s major employers.
Gazelles distinguish themselves from traditional growth companies by the speed of their expansion.
Traditional examples of gazelles would be firms such as Microsoft or Intel. According to Birch, gazelles create most of the jobs in an economy, rather than the other types of employers elephants and mice. Finally, the antithesis of gazelles are dogs , employers experiencing three consecutive periods of greater than 10 percent losses in employment. From the economic development perspective, communities want to attract, encourage and retain gazelles as a means of advancing their economic health. If gazelles are indeed the source of the majority of new jobs, then economic and economic development policy should be targeted precisely to stimulate and nurture these emerging companies.