Develop what you do best, says expert

Economic development is not something that has to happen in one region or country at the expense of another, a leading British expert says.

Martin Briggs, chief executive of the East Midlands Development Agency is in New Zealand to talk to economic development officials and believes everyone can win out of greater co-operation.

"It's not about doing the same thing as each other -- it's about learning what works and putting that into practice. Competitive advantage is less about what you know and more about how you apply it."

Rather than be threatened by globalisation, smaller markets like New Zealand should concentrate on what they do best and compete in that area.

"There's a sense of fear on the part of local communities that globalisation means homogenisation, that everything will turn out the same. But the reason markets work is because . . . people concentrate on the things they do best."

However, regions cannot "invent" what areas they will specialise in, they have to work with the resources and skill sets available. This means business leaders, who know the market realities, need to be involved in developing economies, Mr Briggs said.

"In New Zealand there's an absolute riot of different models for economic development. But there are common threads in terms of raising productivity, increasing investment and increasing skills."

One of the keys to development is to have a strategy that gets involvement from business, government and the community. Also having a plan of action, not just words, is crucial.

"That's at the very heart of this. It's not about developing ever more high level ambitions, its' about translating the good ones we've got into what the practical actions need to be in every part of the country."

He wants the current system of swapping ideas between New Zealand and Britain to be formalised into a regular exchange of economic development officials. Despite apparent differences of scale, he said many of the issues facing New Zealand and Britain are similar, as are those of most OECD countries.

"It's about productivity and economic growth, but not at the expense of social and environmental goals. No developed country can afford to take that view."

Mr Briggs is the keynote speaker at a three-day Regional Development Conference starting today in Napier.

- NZPA