Reviewing an economic development strategy is normally done on an annual basis, usually in conjunction with the local authority's financial planning cycle. Both the local authority group and the steering committee should be involved in the review process. | | |
Issues include: §        Is the SWOT analysis still valid or have circumstances changed? §        Is there more information at hand that changes the view of the issues? §        Are changes required in the vision, goals or objectives to reflect changing circumstances? §        Are projects achieving what was hoped they would achieve? §        If not, what should be done? §        Are the performance indicators being met? §        If not, why not? §        What changes need to be made? §        Should the indicators be changed? §        Should there be more action on projects? §        Should the projects be changed?  Even though Local Economic Development is a relatively new discipline, there is no shortage of examples of bad practice that should be highlighted to remind one of the potential for wasteful mistakes. Most of the mistakes can be directly attributed to just a few causes: §        Politics (including exclusion of key interest groups, inappropriate zoning and so on); §        Lack of strategic thought (resulting in inappropriate strategies); §        Inadequate research, monitoring and evaluation (resulting in inappropriate strategies and initiatives); §        Grant chasing; §        Following the latest fad (blindly).  The LED strategy should change continuously to respond to the competitive environment. |
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