Economic Geography

Regional competitiveness and policy research
Similarly, the study of regional competitiveness also opens up opportunities for a
greater engagement by geographers with public policy research and debate, of
the sort argued for by some commentators (such as Markusen 1999; Martin
2001). As noted above, regional competitiveness policy has tended to rush ahead
of theoretical understanding and the evidence base. Economic geographers 
can make valuable contributions on both fronts. There is a pressing need to
constructively interrogate the meaning and nature of ‘regional competitiveness’,
both to provide a firmer base for understanding regional differences in economic
success and for informing policy discourse. A geographical-theoretic perspective,
for example, would not only highlight the importance that place makes to
economic organisation and performance, and thus how local context matters
even in an increasingly global world, but also – to pick up the argument made by
Porter – how the processes influencing competitive advantage operate and inter-
act at various spatial scales. It would also highlight the need to include intra-
regional (or intra-urban) socio-spatial distributional issues into any definition and
analysis of regional or city competitiveness.
Economic geographers are likewise well placed to engage directly with policy
discourse, not only because competitiveness policy is itself increasingly regional
and city-based, but because such policies are often predicated on an explicit
comparative argument, involving direct comparisons between individual regions
and cities. Geographical research can help reveal the scope for and limits to this
‘benchmarking’ and use of ‘exemplar’ places that seems now to be an essential
part of competitiveness policy at national, regional and city levels. Certainly, if
done properly, regional benchmarking can help identify a region’s or city’s
competitive strengths and weaknesses, and hence form the basis of policy formu-
lation and priorities. It can help mobilise and articulate the interests of the key
actors and groups in the regional economy: the local business community, work-
ers, and public and private institutions. And it can help a region’s business, polit-
ical and social communities forge a common sense of purpose in terms of
ambitions for the future, and in presenting the region to the global market place,
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even in lobbying efforts to influence Government policies and the allocation of
resources. Regional benchmarking can facilitate the development and ongoing
review of a vision defining the region’s role in a world economy characterised by
a steadily increasing and ever-shifting division of labour.
But such benchmarking is fraught with dangers and limitations. What precisely
does it mean to compare one city, one region, with another? While it is certainly
instructive to examine and learn from successful regions, policymakers should be
wary about treating them as exemplars that can be easily replicated or imitated
in their own region. Policies rarely travel well: successful strategies developed in
one region need not transplant easily into other regions (especially in other
countries). Indeed, given that many of the sources of regional competitive
advantage are locally based and embedded, policies necessarily have to respond
to, and take account of, regionally-specific circumstances. Together with the
problems in defining, measuring and explaining regional competitive advantage
discussed in this chapter, it follows that there is unlikely to be any ‘one size fits
all’ strategy for enhancing regional competitiveness. Different regions will face
different problems, different types of competition, and require somewhat differ-
ent policy mixes and emphases. Economists prefer universal tendencies and trans-
ferable policies: economic geographers have a comparative advantage in
recognising and demonstrating the difference that place makes.
Whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, competition 
is an integral feature of economic, political, social and cultural life. It is not
simply a neoliberal invention. Economic geographers have an important role to
play in elucidating the nature of and limits to the idea of ‘regional competitive-
ness’, as a way of thinking about the economic landscape, as an empirical process,
and as a form of policy thinking.