Regional Development Policies

This chapter addresses the topic of ‘localisation policies’ (measures and\r\nincentives for attracting and developing companies) in relation to the\r\nactual subjects of such policies, their aims and targets. The existence of\r\nbusiness relationships and networks, and the ubiquity of interaction\r\nprocesses make contemporary policy measures problematic in all these\r\nthree aspects. Conceiving the business landscape as interactive and heterogeneous\r\nbusiness networks leads the authors to argue that policy\r\nmeasures become ineffective when these neglect the networked nature of\r\nthe business landscape. It is argued that localisation policies consist of\r\nmultiple initiatives and involve ‘a network of policy actors’, rather than\r\nonly one institution. Acknowledging the plurality of policy actors and\r\nmeans leads to focus on the need to orchestrate multifaceted localisation\r\npolicies. Incentives, regulatory frameworks and public investments are\r\nsome of the elements of the toolbox of localisation policy. The authors\r\nalso argue that the business network perspective translates into the need\r\nto tailor policy measures differentiated for specific companies.