"The aim of this book is to consider theoretically the notion of the global competitiveness of regions, as well as giving attention as to how such competitiveness may be empirically measured. With this in mind, the book has three specific objectives: first, to place the concept of regional...

This paper provides evidence of the movement towards a sector-based approach to regional development by the Welsh Development Agency, its effects on economic competitiveness and its role as a focal point for stimulating the development of specialized industrial clusters. The paper concentrates...

The author reviews and examines the relevant literature concerning the role that networks have played in the local economic development activities of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). The analysis focuses on TECs as actors within, and catalysts of, networks -- specifically at the local...

This paper investigates awareness among Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and firms in the UK of inter-firm networking, and the effectiveness of the instruments used by TECs to generate networking. It evaluates the consequential outputs of and barriers to networking, the level of...

This article reports on an in-depth evaluation of European Union (EU) Objective 2 Structural Funding in Industrial South Wales (ISW). The central aim of the evaluation was to assess the main results obtained during the programming period 1989-93, as part of an analytical review of the main...

The academic discussion of business co-operation and networks is often undertaken in fairly abstract terms. The objective of this paper is to add some realism through “on-the-ground” examples of inter-firm networks in which Training and Enterprise Councils (TECS) have acted in a facilitating...

The objective of this paper is to review, from a TEC perspective, the effect of changing Conservative Government policies in the 1990s, such as the introduction of Business Links, on local economic development strategies. The paper focuses on the effects of the Government's attempt to vest in...