Economic development sections of strategies usually consist of three parts. The first describes the current state of the economy. The second is the major investment projects that will definitely be implemented. The third is regional measures to financially support the economy. And nothing more.
My main complaint about the strategies studied is that a representative of a small and medium-sized business, reading them, will not see a possible niche for himself, will not understand which of the large investment projects he could join. If a company was not initially included in the group of participants in such projects, it would seem that it has no place in the future of the regional economy. But it does not have to be that way.
Large investment projects being implemented in the region should be described in strategies not in retrospect, but in the future: data should be provided not on the volume of funds already invested and jobs created, as is usual, but on the needs that the new project has. This will allow local companies to offer their services and solutions to problems, create new cooperation chains, help small and medium-sized businesses contribute to the development of megaprojects and receive a share of the revenues. Which will ultimately have a positive impact on the overall economic activity of the region.
It would also be useful to complement the strategy with an analysis of the geographical position of the region’s resources, as well as to draw up a “map” of the existing business, divided into clusters. This is needed by large investors looking for land for industrial facilities. It is very important for them to have a network of potential partners in the region: suppliers of raw materials, contractors, distributors of products.
Let me give you a positive example in this area. We recently conducted analyses for one of the Russian regions and found that cable production, including for electronics, is very well developed there. This information was of vital importance to a large investor who decided to set up a printed circuit board factory in this region, because there was a good resource base for this.
Of course, to include accurate analysis in the strategy, it is necessary to work hard: conduct field market research in the main markets, study the data obtained and use it to predict economic development options. The work is not easy, but without it it is impossible to comprehensively reflect the potential of the territory in the strategy.
In summary, I will say: in my opinion, a good strategy for the economic development of a region should, in a certain sense, resemble a “cake”, each layer of which reflects the interests of different groups of the economically active population: large, medium and small businesses, employees, young professionals, etc. planning their professional career, etc. Only in this case the strategy will cease to be a formal document for reporting and will become a truly suitable document for implementation, of interest to both authorities and business.
