Emergent good practice approaches to business support : implications for local government

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Policy makers and development practitioners particularly in developing countries facedaunting challenges in formulating strategies to achieve sustained growth and improvedstandards of living through productive engagement of the population in the economyrather than through welfare transfers. Business activities are self-sustaining andtherefore have the potential to contribute greatly through the economic system to thecreation of sustainable employment and prosperity. Yet many developing countries arefaced with inadequate levels of business activity and business growth. Historicalapproaches to stimulating and supporting business development have proved largelycost ineffective and unequal to the challenge. The hypothesis that fundamental paradigmshifts in the approach to business support are taking place internationally is tested in thisthesis. Key features of an evolving entrepreneurial approach to business support areidentified and described representing the defining elements of the new businessdevelopment support paradigm. Institutional implications of the approach in the contextof institutional development theory and current approaches to the stimulation of localeconomic development at local community level are also discussed, as are keyimplications of the new paradigm for local government.