Strategic Economic Development Planning and the Management of Change

Abstract

The management of local economic change can be improved through the use of Strategic Economic Development Planning (SEDP). This article describes SEDP and states its benefits to the community as well as to the individual Economic Development Professional. As changes in technology and demographics shift the economic reality faced by the municipality, SEDP can help ensure that the community is doing the right things, as well as doing things right. There is no single universal model for SEDP, but it generally involves tangible, realistic, and coordinated actions taking 5 years or less that are developed through four stages: organizing, context-setting, planning becoming action, and monitoring & evaluation. A hypothetical case study is provided as an example of the SEDP process. The determinants of success of SEDP include whether the community understands the urgency of economic development and local economic implications of macro level changes, the quality of local leadership, the presence of a shared vision, the degree of local control possible over the community’s economic development, the capacity to innovate, and the level of support for this type of change management through the municipal government. Successful SEDP benefits the community in many ways, including by improving the community’s knowledge of its economic base, identifying the nature and extent of macro influences on the local economy, providing an objective framework to enable achievement of consensus, providing a firm direction in order to lead to realistic development efforts, and enabling coordination. The ways Economic Development Professionals benefit through the use of SEDP includes increased credibility, having a defined mission, and developing a clear understanding of local economic potential through thorough analysis.