Economic Development Strategy in Regional Local Government

The initial foray into the subject of strategy quickly revealed that strategy per se is a very complex and ambiguous topic with little consensus among the experts. Yet a very clear understanding of ‘strategy’ is essential before it can be applied in context to regional local government. It is the author’s view that many of the ‘strategies’ published as local government policy are not based on strategic thinking but rather ‘extrapolation of historical data’ – the strategic planners themselves have acknowledged this fact. This paper reviews various theories and aspects of ‘strategy’ for the purpose of clarifying the concept and placing it in context of local government strategy development.