Gill Bentley

Plant closures and taskforce responses: an analysis of the impact of and policy response to MG Rover in Birmingham

This paper explores the socio-economic impacts and associated policy responses to the collapse of MG Rover at Longbridge in Birmingham. Critically, it attempts to move beyond a ‘standard’ taskforce narrative that emphasizes the role of the regional response. While recognizing that significant policy ‘successes’ were indeed evident at the regional level in anticipating and responding to the crisis, a wider perspective is required that situates this taskforce response in (1) a fuller understanding of labour market precariousness (that in turn mitigates some of its policy ‘successes’), and (2) more local perspectives that highlight the local impacts of closure, the role of the neighbourhood level officials and the third sector in mediating these. Taking this broader perspective suggests that longer-term, workers face a precarious situation and the need for policies to create and sustain ‘good quality’ jobs remains paramount. Adding in more local perspectives, a key lesson from the Longbridge experience for dealing with closures more generally is that the public policy responses must be: multidimensional in that they transcend narrow sector-based concerns and addresses broader spatial impacts; inclusive in that they build on a broad coalition of economic and social stakeholders; and long-term in that they acknowledge that adaptation takes many years. If anything, the Birmingham Longbridge experience demonstrates the difficulty of achieving such responses in the context of crisis where action is imperative and deliberation a luxury.

Storming or performing? Local Enterprise Partnerships two years on

Local Enterprise Partnerships are a key feature of the Coalition Government’s attempts to support economic growth. In light of each of the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships reaching their second birthday by 2013 there is merit in considering what advances have been made in the intervening period. Viewed by the state, amongst others, as the latest intended policy fix in a complex lineage of ‘adjourned’ agencies, the article looks at how they might evolve over future years, including analysing whether they will survive institutional oblivion beyond the next general election. It is clear that each Local Enterprise Partnership is at a different stage of development, but why is this so? The article utilises Tuckman’s theory of group development to explore the characteristics of economic partnerships and provide some explanations pertaining to their varied development trajectories. It concludes that if Local Enterprise Partnerships receive more tangible responsibilities and resources over the coming years then, in order to perform, some may deem it necessary to establish more formal arrangements, not too dissimilar to the ‘economic development agency’ model. Yet for those economic partnership configurations that remain mired in the ‘storming’ phase, they may need to consider ‘adjourning’ and/or ‘(re)forming’.

Leadership and systems of governance: the constraints on the scope for leadership of place-based development in sub-national territories

ABSTRACT Leadership and systems of governance: the constraints on the scope for leadership of place-based development in sub-national territories. Regional Studies. A triadic conceptualization of leadership, governance systems and central–local relations is constructed in order to aid understandings about the influence of systems of governance on the scope for place-based leadership. Deploying the dual concepts of ‘permissibility’ and ‘acceptability’ provides an innovative analytical device for deciphering the actually existing nature of place-based leadership. Recently initiated public–private partnerships in one of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) most centralized countries are analysed to articulate characteristics of controlling mechanisms of the national system of governance which shape the degree of autonomy of leadership of city and regional development in sub-national terrains.

Shifting paradigms: People-centred models, active regional development, space-blind policies and place-based approaches

There is gathering academic and policy momentum, although not without challenge, critique and ferocious debate, that an apparent ‘place-based’ mode of activity has emerged. Such a paradigm shift may in part be explained as a response to the deficiencies of ‘people-centred’ models, active regional development and space-blind policies. This article critically reviews some of the primary literatures relating to these competing, contradictory and also complementary methods of development. The place-based mode of working can be conceptualised as potentially offering the scope, through supportive institutional frameworks and collaborative means of governance, for developing embedded, multi-scalar and multi-annual strategies that are tailored to the complex geographies, capabilities, knowledge-sets, assets and resources of particular places (and networks of places). Whilst appearing to offer a panacea for securing economic growth in a sustainable and socially inclusive manner that releases the potential, creativity and knowledge of local actants, the dominant narrative associated with the place-based approach has not escaped critique and controversy. It is our contention that place-based thinking reflects the continual search for solutions to address territorial, social and economic inequalities and development capacities. Whether it provides a workable policy solution will be contingent on a number of factors, not least spatial context in terms of social, cultural, economic and institutional characteristics. Reflecting the multiplicity of places, place-based approaches, in raising questions about the relationship between scales of operation and institutional structures, are a subset of broader debates and issues concerning not only what works but also where.

Economic development 2010–2013: A mid-term assessment

The primary aim of this Special Issue of Local Economy was to examine UK economic development under the Cameronled Coalition Government. Since the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats struck upon a deal to forge a coalition in May 2010 how we had come to understand local and regional economic development has had to be reconsidered. In the words of Rob Huggins and Piers Thompson, ‘the spatio-political economy of Britain has undergone significant change’. Similarly, Sarah Ayres and Graham Pearce noted in their article that ‘the scale and speed of change in sub-national governance in England over recent years has been remarkable’. The spirit and character of local economic development practice has undoubtedly been transformed. The extent of these alterations remains open to debate and conjecture, influenced in part by specific initiatives and geographies under scrutiny. The 2010 UK General Election may come to be viewed as a landmark moment in the trajectory of UK economic development and policy, especially as this signalled an abrupt shift in political ideology and policy discourse from previous governmental regimes. Nonetheless, there is a strong flavour of policy continuity as well as some modest shifts in the design of particular initiatives, which should not overshadow the appeal of transfigured ‘newness’ and ‘radical change’. In this respect, the Special Issue has sought to examine some of the major inconsistencies and contradictions that are secreted in sub-national economic development policy. Upon entering office, the Coalition Government embarked on an adventurous programme of political renewal and policy reform that attempts to recast relations between state, business and society. At the time of writing, in August 2013, this is by no means cohesive or indeed complete; the project remains ongoing although some of the many shifts to date have been no less dramatic. Institutional reconfigurations are a defining feature of economic development under the Coalition Government, specifically, though not exclusively limited to the demise of Regional Development Agencies

State Strategies and Entrepreneurial Governance

Abstract Purpose Refining and updating Harvey’s theorisation of the shift from managerialism to entrepreneurialism, this chapter charts the changing business of entrepreneurial governance through an examination of English economic development practice. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), sub-national entrepreneurial governance entities, provide the empirical lens to understand the contemporary role of private interests in the pursuit of public goals in securing innovative approaches to economic development. Methodology/approach Comparative analysis of the strategic priorities, ways of working and interventions of LEPs operating across Greater Birmingham and the North East of England is undertaken against the backdrop of a competitive environment where the mantra is ‘the market knows best’. Findings The key finding is that while some policy outcomes are prosaic, albeit across contextually distinct entrepreneurial governance places, more innovative policy approaches are emerging. Practical implications The chapter shows that there remains value in business involvement in urban governance in its present mode. A more permissive, entrepreneurial mode of governance with the liberation of private enterprise may be leading to imaginative as well as boosterist ways of securing sustainable growth. Originality/value of the chapter The chapter suggests some options for policy-makers and a series of challenges for decision-makers.

Fitting the piece in the jigsaw puzzle? the governance of local economic development policy and regeneration in birmingham

Birmingham and the West Midlands illustrate what is happening to the local economic development function in England at the start of the 21st century. The 2004 Audit Commission report said that local leaders play the role of ‘all the King’s horses and all the King’s men’, as they try to put the pieces back together again, when the ‘Humpty Dumpty’ – the economic development and regeneration policy silos – hit the ground (Audit Commission, 2004). However, arguably, the government has been building a new localism in economic development, which puts local government in the driving seat to secure local economic development, both as a separate activity and as part of area-based regeneration. The Treasury/ODPM paper Productivity in the UK: 4 – The Local Dimension says that: ‘Local authorities . . . have a central role in shaping regional economic strategies and in leading and developing partnerships to take forward these . . . strategies . . . and is . . . concerned with economic development as . . . part of improving the well being of their areas’ (HMT/ODPM, 2003). This development would appear to offer scope to turn the patchwork quilt of the 1989 Audit Commission report into the jigsaw of the 2004 report; and, to better fit economic development policy into the local puzzle (Audit Commission, 1989). Birmingham goes some way towards showing that this is the case.

Place-based development strategies: Possibilities, dilemmas and ongoing debates:

This article concludes the special issue – (Re)appraising place-based economic development strategies – by weaving together some of the key strands explored, debated and examined by each contribution. The place-based meta-approach is far from an uncontested concept. It may be more accurately understood (and more efficiently practised) as an innumerable range of place-based economic strategies – each one connected by some common attributes, which could form an ideal-typical place-based policy model, although each approach to place-based development is likely to be contextually distinct. Actualising a place-based mode of thinking shapes how places are understood, conceptualised and codified, which can have significant implications for the formulation of policy and the implementation of development initiatives. The article also identifies some of the most pertinent research gaps, as we conclude by exploring potential future directions as part of the ongoing search for solutions to addressing uneven patterns of development. In many ways, the search has only just begun. Theories and philosophical presuppositions will be challenged, concepts will be deconstructed and reconstructed, machineries of governance will be remodelled, policies will be recast and practice will be recalibrated. Consequently, a continued (re)appraisal of place-based endeavours will be necessary if we are to achieve a qualitative improvement in the present situation marked by an unequal and unsustainable global society.

(Re)appraising place-based economic development strategies

The place-based approach to local and regional development is a potentially significant emergent paradigm, which is finding favour across different supranational institutions, national-legal contexts, regional jurisdictions, as well as numerous other socio-spatial formations. With some strong affiliations to European policy discourse, place-based narratives have also permeated, mutated and circulated around other places and policy spaces throughout the globe. Consequently, it has been the subject of academic, policy and even popular debate. It is therefore timely to (re)appraise the thinking and practice of place-based approaches. This editorial introduces and outlines the body of empirical and conceptual work in the 19 contributions from across the world in this special issue of Local Economy. The articles, individually and collectively, indicate some of the potentialities of contextually distinct place-based approaches, although different (supposedly) place-based variants do not escape critique. This provokes a stark warning that the policy appeal of place-based thinking and place-based narratives could inadvertently nullify its emancipatory feature: that context of place matters.

Resilience, adaptation and survival in industry sectors: remaking and remodelling of the automotive sector: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Development in Uncertain Times

The chapter explores the notion of sectoral resilience in context of the discussion about the resilience of regions. The case study of the automotive industry sector shows that the UK auto industry has the capacity to recover after economic shocks and firms undertake a range of avoidance and adaptive actions in remaking and remodelling themselves in order to survive. It notes, however, that sectoral resilience is a contestable concept; being seen as the outcome of the actions of individual firms in the sector is not sectoral resilience per se. It suggests that sectoral resilience needs to be conceptualized rather in terms of the complexities in the interactions in the development of multi-scalar patterns of relational geographies of production in industrial sectors and that it is this that shapes regional resilience. It requires a policy response to match this complexity: a holistic approach to regional and industrial policy.