Five golden rules for attracting new logistics activities
The economic structure of a city, region or country is continuously changing. Shifting economies at a global scale, increasing competition between regions and technological and labor market developments within economic sectors accelerate these changes and raise new challenges for policy makers.
So, economic renewal and a tailor-made economic development strategy are essential for regions and cities to cope with all these challenges. The key starting point for such a strategy is a profound understanding of the changes ahead in relation to the specific cluster capabilities and qualities of the region or city. A successful local or regional economic development strategy consists of a mix of policies. This mix includes improvement of the economic structure (key sectors and actors), development of attractive business and living environments, building (ecological and energy) sustainability and human capital development (talent and education).
Understanding the regional economic structure of a region by analyzing trends and development is an important step to define the starting points for an economic development strategy. Economic analyses can be carried out at various levels, starting at a global level all the way to the level of a specific region or city. The aim of an economic analysis is to have a clear understanding of a region’s economic profile and its current strengths and weaknesses. The analysis describes the economic structure that functions as the foundation for further economic development.
Next, six groups of trends can be identified which have an impact in the future on the economic performance of a city or region:
In an economic development strategy, it is essential to make choices in a complex environment. Success factors for winning strategic visions with alignment of all stakeholders are the combination of broad experience within these kind of complex processes, practical knowledge of specific economic, technological and talent related topics and the drive to optimize recommended economic actions (by way of business cases and cost benefit analysis). Combining these elements is key to design and implement realistic plans.
BCI is involved in a large number of urban area development projects. These vary from the development of train station areas and the development of zones alongside infrastructure to restructuring of outdated business sites and the (re)development of a city neighborhood (living and working areas).
Our advisors can fulfil different roles in all stages of urban area development: from the idea phase (drafting a master plan with explicit attention to economic feasibility), through a thorough execution strategy (agreements with the takeholders in question to realize the drafted plans) to implementation and actual realization of plans.
Economic programs are mainly developed on behalf of regional authorities and municipalities. A distinction can be made between the development of a strategic vision and the development of an action oriented economic development program.
Development of a city and regional strategy includes:
The strategy can be translated into an economic action plan or roadmap looking forward to the next five years. Actions are formulated for each strategic objective focusing for example on:
Pursuing a successful spatial economic policy calls for regular analysis of what the policy has delivered or could deliver. It is for this reason that BCI is often involved in policy and project evaluations as well.
In our approach we combine in-depth expertise (for example sector and cluster knowledge, real estate, marketing), the development of innovative (real estate) concepts and using analytical tools such as cost benefit analysis and business case development.
Our added value in short:
Below we summed up a sample of our clients within this field of activities
