In 2007, Market Street , in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, commissioned a  national study that revealed that membership in a local chamber of commerce can significantly boost a business’s image among consumers, as well as among other businesses.  In a scientific survey of 2000 U.S. adults, The Schapiro Group, an Atlanta-based strategic consulting firm, found positive perceptions of chamber members in a number of areas, including overall favorability, consumer...

By Matthew Tarleton, Project Associate.   In recent weeks, we’ve begun to see a few signs that various forecasts of a recovery beginning in the third quarter may be correct. It’s important to note that recovery is defined as positive economic output growth, meaning that GDP will grow by some annualized marginal percentage in the third quarter of 2009. So what are the signs we’ve been seeing? New orders from manufacturers jumped sharply in April, a leading indicator that industrial...