The basic tenet of economic development (ED) is to help make an area, and area businesses, more economically efficient, maximize economic potential, and correct or mitigate barriers to achieving that potential. All this is done with a view to how economic structures, at all scales, are evolving, and how this evolution relates to the local situation (and vice-versa). By necessity then, ED practice applies a long-term perspective to promoting prosperity.
To the extent regions do this, the need for migration based on economic hardship is minimized, existing infrastructure and other investment tends to remain in use, and “natural” prosperity is supported. All such results also support the principles of sustainability.
To truly maximize this sustainability connection, ED practice will incorporate the following common principles:
- Support new/expanding companies that have economically sound reasons for locating there, and avoid the temptation to “buy” employers.
- Stay current on economic trends, from international to local, that could affect local competitiveness, etc.
- Educate the local constituency on the economic development situation, why certain ED actions are being taken, and how they can best take advantage of the ED system and the information it has available to workers, businesspersons, etc.
- Recognize the importance of business retention/expansion, and help the community understand this.
- Involve stakeholders in strategic planning sessions, and help laypersons understand the competitive advantage inherent in a community when it is comprehensively organized, and focused, to achieve economic development goals.
- Generate, follow, and rigorously update a strategic plan solidly grounded in sound principles, facts, etc. and integrated into the ED conditions, plans (the good ones), etc. of surrounding regions.
The key component in all of this is that the locale can claim sustainability credentials simply by doing what they are supposed to do. For example, the development of a strategic ED plan, which can be used as a tool to better understand/evaluate current economic development conditions and identify goals/strategies that will optimize the area’s future economic development potential, provides a low-cost, low-impact investment in the region, using minimal resources.
Going a step further, explicit inclusion of sustainability principles into an ED plan will allow the community another way of, potentially, establishing a competitive advantage, while enhancing their ability to attract complementary business and industry activity. Well-integrated sustainability components provide a way for economic development plans to:
- Foster a competitive advantage for a community and hosted firms through supporting innovation in sustainability technology and practices;
- Promote cohesion among development uses (e.g. industrial symbiosis);• Demonstrate a community’s commitment to quality development; and
- Encourage mechanisms and activities related to public/private partnerships, which generally increase the options for attracting preferred businesses.
From a marketing perspective, the development of a strategic ED plan becomes a key marketing piece. Effective marketing measures require the alignment of targets, goals and strategies that typically result from the strategic plan process. For a further discussion on marketing and economic development, please visit the following link to view our newsletter from August 2010.
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