Looking back to see ahead.

• Author: Kinney, David
• Position: UP FRONT

Twenty years ago, BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA published its first Economic Almanac, an issue of the magazine devoted to examining changes that affected the state economy during the past year while trying to forecast those it would face in the future. Over the years, we accomplished that by breaking the state apart and examining the pieces.

Some years we did it by industry; others, by region. Sometimes we picked a theme--the way we work, the decade ahead, the state's rivers, its highways--as a frame to build the editorial content upon. These special issues proved popular with readers and advertisers and won the magazine national awards. But taken as a whole--comparing one year's almanac with the next--they didn't provide a comprehensive, coherent picture of what was transpiring over time.

So in 1994 we launched the Business Handbook. The first featured our Mover and Shaker of the Year, but the focus was on packing as much data on Tar Heel industries and places as we could get between two covers. The next year, we plucked the Mover and Shaker piece, placing it in the preceding issue, where it appears today.

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By 1996, we were back to themes--concentration on big stories that kicked off the issue and led into the lists, snapshots...