Understanding the Role of Consumer Services in Local Economic Development: Some Evidence from the Fens

1996 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
C C Williams

Through a critical review of economic base theory, it is argued in this paper that the ability of locally-oriented activities to prevent income from leaking out of an area can be seen as as important to local economic development as the external income-generating function of outward-oriented industries. Given this, consumer-service activities are posited to contribute to the development of a local economy not only in the much neglected role of basic activities which attract external income but also in the nonbasic locally-oriented role of curbing the seepage of income out of an area. With use of a case study of the East Anglian Fens rural economy, the extent to which the consumer-service sector fulfils these functions in practice is investigated, revealing the positive role of these services in local economic development both as generators of external income and as leakage preventers.

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-127
Author(s):  
Caroline Piquet

For over a century in Egypt, the Suez Canal Company reflected the role of the concession in European economic expansion overseas. Concession was a European business practice widespread in Egypt; it was an institution inherited from a system of privileges for Europeans since the Middle Ages. It promised a way for Egypt to adopt modern infrastructures and receive needed European help for digging the canal. The results of the Suez Company are indisputable: the desert of the Suez Isthmus became a lively economic region with active ports, growing cities, and an expanding labor force. And the region was linked to the rest of the country by a new road network. At the same time, however, the concession system denied Egypt full benefit of this infrastructure. The canal served the financial and strategic interests of the company, not the interests of the local economy. This outcome embodied all the contradictions of the concession system: on the one hand, concessions were a necessity for modern infrastructure development in Egypt; on the other, they were a hindrance to further national economic development.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Phele ◽  
S Roberts ◽  
I Steuart

This  article explores the challenges for the development of manufacturing through a case study of the foundry industry in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. Ekurhuleni Metro covers the largest concentration in South Africa, but the industry’s performance has been poor over the past decade.  The findings reported here highlight the need to understand firm decisions around investment, technology and skills, and the role of local economic linkages in this regard.  The differing performance of foundries strongly supports the need to develop concrete action plans and effective institutions at local level to support the development of local agglomerations.


1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1975-1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Boyle

The author sets out to interrogate the manner in which cultural festivals have been theorised in the context of accounts of the role of civic boosterism—or what he terms ‘Urban Propaganda Projects' (UPPs)—in the politics of local economic development. Attention is focused primarily upon how authors account for the way in which ‘locals' respond to boosterism. Based upon the thesis advanced by the Ohio School, and a review of later work, the central argument pursued is that work to date has operated with remarkably impoverished conceptions of the antecedent material and cultural contexts within which hallmark events are being organised. In regard to their conception of the ‘audience’ for UPPs, authors have worked with the unacknowledged assumption that locals consume and relate to events largely in terms of the extent to which they buy into, resist (culturally or economically), or become disoriented, by the versions of local identity which are being promoted. Even when critical or Marxist in nature, this form of analysis limits enquiry to the terms of reference of the boosterist agenda itself. The author argues that more imaginative conceptual frameworks might orient analysts to look for other modes of consumption—modes which indeed might refuse to recognise the language of boosterism (for good or bad) and which might require a different entry point to analysis. Using a case study of Glasgow's role as European City of Culture 1990, the author develops the contours of one such framework, with the aid of key concepts of institutional positions and strategic orientations. Although amenable to appropriation within existing critical or Marxist accounts, these concepts are not the products of that framework and thus generate, at the very least, a problematic relationship with it. It is concluded that accounts of local reactions to cultural festivals in particular, and to civic boosterism in general, must escape the epistemological straightjacket that the Marxist/boosterist agenda presents.


1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Binns ◽  
Etienne Nel

The failure of successive generations of imported, Western development strategies and projects to deliver meaningful reductions in poverty and achieve basic needs in Africa, has provoked a deep questioning of Western concepts and methodologies of development. Non-governmental organisations and development practitioners are increasingly focusing their attention on strategies which build upon local knowledge, skills and resources. The concepts of ‘self- reliance’ and local economic development are examined in the context of development challenges which face Africa. This is followed by a detailed case study of local economic development in the rural Mpofu District of the former Ciskei Homeland, which was incorporated into the Eastern Cape province of South Africa with the demise of apartheid in 1994.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13318
Author(s):  
Jianxia Li ◽  
Sorina Cernaianu ◽  
Claude Sobry ◽  
Xijia Liu

Chongli, an internationally renowned ski mecca, is famous for hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics. As a booster of local economic development, ski tourism facilitates Chongli in moving away from poverty, and provides a new model for the economic development of other impoverished areas in China. The aim of this research is to analyze the impact of ski tourism in Chongli on local economic development in detail, to clarify the relationship between ski tourism and its related industries, and propose improvement measures, using the methods of the literature review, Delphi and investigation. This paper presents a detailed analysis of indicators which reflect ski tourism and its economic development, and calculates the degree of influence of skiing tourism on local economic development. The results show that, except for transportation, storage and postal services, the local economy of Chongli is positively affected by the income of ski tourism and the number of ski tourists. The influence coefficient of ski tourism has exceeded the average level of social influence. Based on the place of ski tourism in Chongli, some strategies, such as extending the industrial chain and improving product quality to strengthen the economic impact of ski tourism, are proposed.


IIUC Studies ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 323-334
Author(s):  
Shafiqur Rahman ◽  
Nicholas McDonald

This paper presents the role of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) to the recent economic development in Bangladesh. The study analyses published texts, articles, websites and annual report of this bank through a content analysis. Key findings of this study manifest the contribution of this bank in different areas of economic development in Bangladesh like generating employment, earning foreign remittance, strengthening rural economy, promoting ecology and green banking, boosting industrialization, developing the SMEs, assisting in foreign trade (import-export), developing the housing sector etc. This study also identifies IBBL’s significant contribution to the national exchequer. This paper contributes to the field of economic development of Bangladesh and the role of IBBL behind it and fills the gap of literature in this specific area.IIUC Studies Vol.9 December 2012: 323-334


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