Ledcast

Shawn and Jorg discuss why some people are uncomfortable with the notion of competition, what the upside and downside of competition is, and how to become competitive.

Michael Feiler, project manager at IBA See, explains their experimental, innovation-focused approach to the conversion of a region that has been shaped by decades of open pit lignite mining.

Jorg Meyer-Stamer and Grant McKenzie discuss what lessons Change Management has to offer for territorial development.

Zdravko Miovcic, director of EDA - Development Agency, Banja Luka, shares experiences and lessons learnt in many years of doing LED in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Shawn Cunningham and Jorg Meyer-Stamer discuss the origin and main messages of the concept of Systemic Competitiveness, an approach that helps in formulating a holistic perspective of a local economy. More information, including the Benchmarking Table that we mention in the show, is available here.

Michele Clara, industrial development officer in the Cluster and Business Linkages Unit of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) shares some of the lessons learnt over many years of cluster promotion.

Sonja Ende interviews Kasim Abdukadir, who is running a small business-oriented programme in a local radio station in Niger province, Nigeria, and Veronique Stolz, who is with a GTZ programme and promotes developmental radio in Nigeria. The publication she mentions is available at http://www.led.co.za/docs/362.pdf.

Sonja Ende interviews Margaret Joshua who is working with GTZ's LED programme in Nigeria. Margaret shares the experience with Business Development Committees that have been created at a local level in order to improve the local business environment.

Jorg Meyer-Stamer and Colin Mitchell discuss why the management of expectations in development activities so often goes wrong.

Shawn Cunningham and Jorg Meyer-Stamer discuss the background, main characteristics and evolution of the Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA) method.

Mpumi Fundam, responsible for LED in the Amatole district municipality (i e the region around East London) in South Africa, and Colin Mitchell, the author of the Genesis method, explain how Genesis helped Amatole to identify its potential competitive advantage, formulate a strategic perspective and identify catalytic projects.

Jorg Meyer-Stamer interviews Zini Godden, a South African LED trainer and facilitator, on her experience with LED training courses for councillors, i.e. the elected representatives in local government.

Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke has a conversation with Andrea Schunk who is involved in tourism development in Colonia de Sacramento, a world cultural heritage site in Uruguay.

Shawn and Jorg explain the Compass, a performance management tool for LED that turns the Balanced Scorecard into a practical and exciting workshop format. You can find a detailed description of the Compass here.

Shawn Cunningham and Jorg Meyer-Stamer discuss the issue of market failure: What is it? How can you address it? And how does it relate to other modes of organising economic transactions?

Christian Schoen interviews David Walke on the subject of business registration. David explains the do's and don'ts in the introduction of one stop shops.

Jorg Meyer-Stamer interviews Peter Knorringa about social standards, the upcoming ISO 26 000 standard and the way in which local actors can respond to global standards.

Shawn Cunningham and Christian Schoen share insights from a PACA Exercise in the Marble Mountain cluster close to Da Nang, Vietnam. In particular, they discuss how slightly shady business practices impact on LED.

Mark Lundy and Jorg Meyer-Stamer discuss the middleman: Who is he, or she, why is s/he so important, why do local stakeholders often suggest to cut out the middleman, and why is this not necessarily a good idea.

Peter Knorringa (ISS, The Hague) explains what social capital is and how it can be addressed in LED.