Context for Local Economic Development

• Economic

  • The declining importance of commodities

  • The impact of global strategic alliances between multinational corporations on their investment and buying behaviors

  • The oversupply of manufacturing production in key global sectors

  • Increasingly mobile capital, making finance easier to access nearly everywhere

  • The changing employment dynamics from primary and manufacturing to the service sectors
    

• Technological

  • Technological advances and increased efficiency in production processes etc.

  • Major advances in logistics giving rise to reduced need for, and costs of, shipping

  • No national boundaries to internet communication, e.g., e-commerce and e-government

  • Importance of information services and information technology in all sectors
    

• Political, governmental and regulatory

  • Falling trade barriers

  • The impact of global environmental and labor standards

  • The impact of regional trade groupings and regional integration

 

At the national level issues include:

• Macro-economic and political stability

• Fiscal and political decentralization (a worldwide trend)

• Widespread privatization of whole industries and decentralization of government services

• Increasing democratization that brings increasing pressures and expectations from individuals and groups

• National industrial and economic policies

• Industrial incentive schemes

• Taxation and regulatory reform

 

Few businesses look to locate or expand in a community based only on the advantages of a particular town or city. They look wider to what the region has to offer. Whilst communities in a region will compete to attract investment, there are also many opportunities for collaboration between communities and regional institutions.