Chapter 4 Regional economic development
4.4 Regional governance
75 corporations or organisations need to make decisions about where to locate or relocate and according to Kero (2002), these decisions have implications for cities and regions as they are continuously required to position themselves in ever-changing and competitive environment.
It is thus the responsibility of cities and regions to find “strategic development approaches that stimulate the business community on the one hand and serve the needs of the residents on another” (Kero, 2002). One such approach is working on coordinated investments for regional marketing. Before a place can be promoted as an investment site, there must be investment, or effort, in making the brand of the place or region to be what it is sold as. Such investments, or efforts, are what is widely referred to as determinants of FDI location (Toner, 2004). Examples include investments in infrastructure, skills development and investment, incentives, a stable political climate, proximity to raw materials and taxation rates. For purposes of this study, three of these have been selected and will be further discussed under regional marketing.
76 Barnes and Foster (2012) define regional governance as deliberate efforts by multiple actors to achieve goals in multi-jurisdiction environments. In this definition, they imply that regional governance
Crosses borders, by definition jurisdictional, and also usually sectoral (public, private, non-profit, civic) and/or functional (environmental, economic, social, etc.);
Encompasses, but goes beyond, the institutions, tools, or structures that may establish and implement decision-making and action;
Involves purposes and goals – solving a regional problem or seizing a regional opportunity – as the object of a regional governance effort;
Is a kind of politics and does not assume consensus or cooperation as a dominant mode, but does assume the attempt to exercise power on behalf of interests, ideas, and values;
and
It is not the end in itself; it is the means by which a goal is sought.
The Center for Regional Development (2009) notes that many models of regional governance are emerging around the world. This varied and vibrant spectrum of experience is framed by two extremes. At one end of the spectrum, the driving force for the region-wide partnership comes from the public sector: public officials organise consultations of local private associations and companies; in most cases, the consultation is largely advisory, with the information flow influencing and benefitting government decision-making processes. At the other end, regional dialogue and strategy is driven mainly by private sector leaders; this may reflect a lack of strong public sector leadership or it may reflect the influence of the private sector in local government.
Table 4-1 sets out three general components and eight principles for effective regional governance. The components are collaboration, sustained citizen engagement and leveraging of regional resources. In collaboration we see crossing of the public, private and non-profit sectors. There is also crossing of political boundaries. In sustained citizen engagement, under- represented groups are encouraged to speak out on development issues and how these affect them, in this way helping them to envision a different and better future for themselves.
Leveraging regional resources requires analysis of the region’s competitive advantage, strengthening of competencies, engaging key intermediaries and investing local capital (Barnes
& Foster, 2012).
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Table 4-1 Components and principles for effective governance of regions
Three general components Eight principles
Collaboration -Crossing sectors (public, private, non-profit) -Crossing political boundaries, recognising regions Sustained Citizen Engagement -Welcoming new voices (especially under-represented
individuals and youth)
-Visioning a different future (bottom-up process) Leveraging Regional
Resources
-Analysing region’s competitive advantages (focus on strengths, identify clusters)
-Strengthening competencies of local elected officials -Engaging key intermediaries
-Investing local capital Adapted from Barnes and Foster (2012)
Barnes and Foster (2012) reframe regional governance with less focus on structure and more on capacity and purpose. Capacity, in their formulation, is the set of attributes of regional governance that reflect how actors make decisions to organise, determine means of action, accumulate appropriate resources, and act on a specific regional problem or issue. Purpose becomes the goal regarding the problem or issue. They conceive of regional governance as a complex, multi-faceted politics, part of historical processes of adaptation in the political economy to changing environments and vicissitudes. This evolution, they say, manifests in various decision-making structures, modes of governing, attitudes, and outcomes across topic, space and time. They identify five dimensions and fifteen underlying indicators (or contributing factors) to describe and measure regional governance for a particular place, time, and goal, as shown in Table 4-2.
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Table 4-2 Dimensions and indicators/factors of regional governance
Agenda: the purpose and goals of the effort
1. Agenda framing: clarifying vision, goals, and priorities
2. Agenda assessment: weighing support for and opposition to the agenda
3. Comprehension of the agenda: assessing how much people know about the goals and issues
Actor group: individuals and organisations that will work together on the agenda 4. Actor group composition: deciding who will be at the table
5. Leadership roles: identifying who does what ... and when
6. Actor group commitment: assessing people’s passion and sense of purpose Internal capacity: the ability to secure in-region resources
7. Money and related resources: developing a budget of financial, in-kind needs 8. Information and expertise: gaining the knowledge needed to succeed
9. Authority and legitimacy: assessing the actor group’s standing in the region External capacity: the ability to secure resources from outside the region
10. Connectedness inside the region: assessing the group’s regional links 11. Connectedness outside the region: assessing the group’s external links 12. State-level influence: securing help from state government
13. Federal-level influence: securing help from the federal government
Implementation experience: experience and legacy of operating at the regional level 14. Overall region-scale activity: weighing the history of collaborative problem solving
in the area
15. Region-scale activity on goal: learning from similar previous efforts Adapted from Barnes and Foster (2012:3)
The dimensions and indicators in the figure above indicate that before a regional project can begin there needs to be an agenda which sets out the purpose and goals of the concerted efforts.
The vision, goals and priorities need to be clarified so that ultimately even those who oppose it get to understand it. The actor groups, made up of individuals and organisations that will work together, need to be clearly defined and known so that their composition is evident and
79 the various roles of leadership are understood. It is also important to map out both internal and external capacity.
Internally, there should be ability to secure in-region resources like money, other related sources such as information and expertise, and also authority and legitimacy. Externally, links are assessed and the extent to which the actors may be able to secure help from national government. Lastly, the implementation experience requires that previously implemented regional projects be revisited for benchmarking purposes.
To summarise: the discussion has outlined what regional governance is and how it entails a partnership between public, private and non-profit leaders. These actors share a common economic vision and work together collaboratively while they maintain a citizen engagement and leverage regional resources. Also noted is the importance of the agenda setting out the goals and purpose of the effort. The actor groups to be involved need to be clearly established, and the group should have the ability to secure resources from inside and outside of the region.