Place Based Economic Development with Simon White

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Assess the local business environment

Creating a better local business environment (Part 2): What to measure

How to assess the local business environment In this post I examine the ways to assess the local business environment and improve it. In the first post in this series I described the role of local government in supporting local business growth and the importance of a business environment that

Local government creates better business environments

Creating a better local business environment (Part 1): The role of local government

How local governments create better business environments for SMEs In this post, I look at how local government can create better business environments. How local government can influence the decisions of businesspeople to invest and create jobs Local government is often overlooked as a critical arena for microeconomic reforms. Local

Better business regulations create jobs

Better business regulations create jobs

Business environment reform for job creation I this post, I explore how business environment reform nurtures job creation. The World Bank’s annual Doing Business assessment was released today with some important claims regarding the impact of regulatory reform on job creation. There has been much debate over the years

Small Business Development

SME Development Agencies

Over the last few months, I’ve provided advice to a number of government funded national SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) development agencies. Such agencies are very popular among governments, but less so among enterprise development specialist. While they can focus government efforts on supporting the small business sector, they

The failure of community economic development

The failure of community economic development

I began my professional working life in the field of ‘community economic development’ (CED) and ‘local economic development’ (LED). These models of development provide an important contribution to understanding the problems facing local communities, but they are often seen as a poor cousin to ‘real’ economic development. Whilst this is

Global supply chains

Global economy drives SME growth and job creation

This article examines how the global economy drives SME growth and job creation. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in economic development and job creation. While the general features of this role are understood, there are many features of this that require more research. Of particular interest

Blue economy

Blue entrepreneurship

Blue entrepreneurship is about treating our marine environments better and in a more sustainable manner. It creates the opportunity to rethink how we manage resources and generate new economic and employment opportunities. Many local economies around the world rely on the blue economy for jobs and income. Oceans are fundamental