Developing A Nigerian Local Government Through Economic Gardening: A Roadmap
Keywords:
Economic gardening; Local government; Economic development; Entrepreneurship; Nigeria.
Abstract
Economic Gardening is an innovative economic development strategy whereby local businesses are fostered and encouraged, and the skills of local workers are upgraded. Since its inception in Littleton, Colorado in 1989, this concept has been put forward by various scholars as a viable and more sustainable economic development strategy than the traditional business attraction strategy. Various implementation experiences have provided further evidence of its effectiveness in improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of a community. This paper charts a roadmap for the development and future implementation of an economic gardening strategy for a Nigerian local government whose officials have shown an interest in adopting such a strategy. A seven-step process was adopted from a review of economic gardening scholarship: 1) Working hand-in-hand with local government officials and other stakeholders, 2) Identifying the community’s assets, 3) Developing a collaborative effort amongst all stakeholders, 4) Developing a clear and transparent operating agreement, 5) Identifying the key targets for services, 6) Developing an effective way to deliver these services, and 7) Communicating regularly with the community so as to gain and retain their support. A lack of political will and a lack of adequate infrastructure were identified as the two biggest obstacles to the successful implementation of the economic gardening strategy in the local government. The first obstacle was mitigated by the fact that it was the local government officials who approached our team to develop the strategy, whilst the second obstacle was mitigated by a proposal for the development of a solar farm within the local government via a public-private partnership with an international solar firm. It is hoped that a successful implementation of this strategy will improve the lives of the inhabitants of the local government and serve as an example for other Nigerian local governments.
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References
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Blackwell, A., & Coltman, T. (2007). Economic Gardening in Australia: Measuring Attitudes towards Growth. Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, Sydney, 1-14.
Boskov, T. (2018). EU Market Perspectives for Macedonian Companies. IJIBM International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 10(2), 115-122.
Braun, P., Harman, J., & Paton, F. (2014). Economic gardening: Capacity building for stronger regions. Journal of Economic and Social Policy, 16(1), 1-25.
Braun, P., Harman, J., & Paton, F. (2014). Economic gardening: Capacity building for stronger regions. Journal of Economic & Social Policy, 16(1), 177.
Carvalho, J. M., Costa, R. V., Marnoto, S., Sousa, C. A., & Vieira, J. C. (2018). Toward a Resource?Based View of City Quality: A New Framework. Growth and Change, 49(2), 266-285.
Cecere, G., & Mazzanti, M. (2017). Green jobs and eco-innovations in European SMEs. Resource and Energy Economics, 49, 86-98.
Cleave, E., Arku, G., & Chatwin, M. (2019). One step forward, two steps back? Consultant influence on local economic development policy in Canada. Canadian Public Administration. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/capa.12299
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Cordoba, G. F. (2019). Does the recognition of indigenous territories impact household economic situations? Evidence from western Panama. Journal of Comparative Economics, 47(1), 225-237.
Cowell, M., Lyon-Hill, S., & Tate, S. (2018). It takes all kinds: understanding diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 12(2), 178-198.
Engbers, T. A., & Rubin, B. M. (2018). Theory to Practice: Policy Recommendations for Fostering Economic Development through Social Capital. Public Administration Review, 78(4), 567-578.
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Girdwood, J., & Girdwood, C. (2011). Economic Gardening and Business Incubation: Modern Municipal Economic Growth and Development Strategies. Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, 22-32.
Ha, H., & Feiock, R. C. (2012). Bargaining, networks, and management of municipal development subsidies. The American Review of Public Administration, 42(4), 481-497.
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Leavitt, L. L., Hamilton-Pennell, C., & Fails, B. (2010). An economic gardening pilot project in Michigan: Libraries and economic development agencies collaborating to promote entrepreneurship. Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, 15(3-4), 208-219.
Leviten?Reid, C., & Parker, B. (2018). Left out? Housing insecurity for one?person, low?income, non?senior households in Cape Breton Regional Municipality. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 62(4), 470-481.
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Markley, D. M., Lyons, T. S., & Macke, D. W. (2015). Creating entrepreneurial communities: building community capacity for ecosystem development. Community development, 46(5), 580-598.
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Minchin, T. J. (2018). Labor rights are civil rights: inter-racial unionism and the struggle to unionize Nissan in Canton, Mississippi. Labor History, 59(6), 720-745.
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Norris, L. (2019). Urban prototypes: Growing local circular cloth economies. Business History, 61(1), 205-224.
North, P. (2014). Ten square miles surrounded by reality? Materialising alternative economies using local currencies. Antipode, 46(1), 246-265.
Overbey, T. A. (2019). Food Deserts, Libraries, and Urban Communities: What Is the Connection?. Public Library Quarterly, 1-13.
Patton, M. A., Patton, H. L., & Dobish, H. (Challenges in Developing or Attracting New Entrepreneurs to “Un-Glamorous” Communities: A Rescue Plan Based in Internal Economic Gardening.
Perera, D., & Chand, P. (2015). Issues in the adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES). Advances in accounting, 31(1), 165-178.
Peter, A. S. (2017). Cyber resilience preparedness of Africa’s top-12 emerging economies. International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, 17, 49-59.
Pochert, R. (2010). Economic Gardening Helps Com-munities Grow Their Own Jobs. Retrieved from http://opportunityseized.com/pdf/wp-gardening.pdf
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Roberts, J., Hudspeth, P., Lay, C., & Ruiz, M. (2012). The Suitability and Opportunity for an Economic Gardening Program for Rural Lane County. Retrieved from http://lanemetro.com/workspace/upload/pdf/Economic%20Gardening%20Report%202012.pdf
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Shetty, A. J. K., & Vasanthi, M. K. (2019). Micro Finance: An Emerging Horizon of Inclusive Growth. Social Science and Humanities Journal, 801-808.
Taabazuing, M., Arku, G., & Mkandawire, P. (2015). Economic development approaches in a changing global economy: what do practitioners think?. Urban Research & Practice, 8(2), 145-164.
Wang, J. (2018). Strategic interaction and economic development incentives policy: Evidence from US States. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 68, 249-259.
Whittemore, A. H., & BenDor, T. K. (2018). Talking about density: An empirical investigation of framing. Land use policy, 72, 181-191.
Yamamoto, T. (2007, January). East meets west in an entrepreneurial farming village in Japan: endogenous development theories and economic gardening practices. Retrieved from http://www.thebhc.org/sites/default/files/yamamoto.pdf
Yi Hsieh, J. (2011). A multilevel growth assessment of the diffusion of management innovation nested in state levels: The case of US local economic development programs. Innovation, 13(1), 2-19.
Zeier, K., Plimmer, G., & Franken, E. (2018). Developing shared leadership in a public organisation: Processes, paradoxes and consequences. Journal of Management & Organization, 1-18.
Adua, L., & Lobao, L. (2015). Business Attraction and Redistribution by US Local Governments: To What Extent Is There a Zero-sum Relationship between Business and Citizens' Interests?. State and Local Government Review, 47(4), 223-239.
Arku, G. (2014). Competition and cooperation in economic development: Examining the perceptions of practitioners in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Urban Affairs, 36(1), 99-118.
Assenza, P. (2016). Identifying Fertile Ground: Peripheral Stakeholder Contribution to a Healthy Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 28(1), 31.
Barrios, S., & Barrios, D. (2004). Reconsidering economic development: The prospects for economic gardening. Public Administration Quarterly, 70-101.
Blackwell, A., & Coltman, T. (2007). Economic Gardening in Australia: Measuring Attitudes towards Growth. Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, Sydney, 1-14.
Boskov, T. (2018). EU Market Perspectives for Macedonian Companies. IJIBM International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 10(2), 115-122.
Braun, P., Harman, J., & Paton, F. (2014). Economic gardening: Capacity building for stronger regions. Journal of Economic and Social Policy, 16(1), 1-25.
Braun, P., Harman, J., & Paton, F. (2014). Economic gardening: Capacity building for stronger regions. Journal of Economic & Social Policy, 16(1), 177.
Carvalho, J. M., Costa, R. V., Marnoto, S., Sousa, C. A., & Vieira, J. C. (2018). Toward a Resource?Based View of City Quality: A New Framework. Growth and Change, 49(2), 266-285.
Cecere, G., & Mazzanti, M. (2017). Green jobs and eco-innovations in European SMEs. Resource and Energy Economics, 49, 86-98.
Cleave, E., Arku, G., & Chatwin, M. (2019). One step forward, two steps back? Consultant influence on local economic development policy in Canada. Canadian Public Administration. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/capa.12299
Conroy, T., Deller, S., & Tsvetkova, A. (2016). Regional business climate and interstate manufacturing relocation decisions. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 60, 155-168.
Corbett, M. (2015). Towards a rural sociological imagination: Ethnography and schooling in mobile modernity. Ethnography and education, 10(3), 263-277.
Cordoba, G. F. (2019). Does the recognition of indigenous territories impact household economic situations? Evidence from western Panama. Journal of Comparative Economics, 47(1), 225-237.
Cowell, M., Lyon-Hill, S., & Tate, S. (2018). It takes all kinds: understanding diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 12(2), 178-198.
Engbers, T. A., & Rubin, B. M. (2018). Theory to Practice: Policy Recommendations for Fostering Economic Development through Social Capital. Public Administration Review, 78(4), 567-578.
Gibbons, C. (2010). Economic Gardening. Economic Development Journal,9(3), 5-11.
Girdwood, J., & Girdwood, C. (2011). Economic Gardening and Business Incubation: Modern Municipal Economic Growth and Development Strategies. Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, 22-32.
Ha, H., & Feiock, R. C. (2012). Bargaining, networks, and management of municipal development subsidies. The American Review of Public Administration, 42(4), 481-497.
Hancks, J. W. (2012). Rural public libraries' role in community economic development. Public Library Quarterly, 31(3), 220-236.
Hultquist, A., Harsell, D. M., Wood, R. S., & Flynn, D. T. (2017). Assessing the impacts of transaction costs and rapid growth on local government service provision and delivery arrangement choices in North Dakota. Journal of rural studies, 53, 14-25.
Kirkpatrick, J. B., & Davison, A. (2018). Home-grown: Gardens, practices and motivations in urban domestic vegetable production. Landscape and Urban Planning, 170, 24-33.
Lamb, W. B., & Sherman, H. (2010). Developing high-growth businesses in rural areas: A study of four US States. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, 13(2), 9-19.
Leavitt, L. L., Hamilton-Pennell, C., & Fails, B. (2010). An economic gardening pilot project in Michigan: Libraries and economic development agencies collaborating to promote entrepreneurship. Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, 15(3-4), 208-219.
Leviten?Reid, C., & Parker, B. (2018). Left out? Housing insecurity for one?person, low?income, non?senior households in Cape Breton Regional Municipality. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 62(4), 470-481.
Lin, D., Allan, A., & Cui, J. (2017). Sub-centres, socio-economic characteristics and commuting: A case study and its implications. International Journal of Urban Sciences, 21(2), 147-171.
Markley, D. M., Lyons, T. S., & Macke, D. W. (2015). Creating entrepreneurial communities: building community capacity for ecosystem development. Community development, 46(5), 580-598.
Miles, M. P., & Morrison, M. (2018). An effectual leadership perspective for developing rural entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 1-17.
Minchin, T. J. (2018). Labor rights are civil rights: inter-racial unionism and the struggle to unionize Nissan in Canton, Mississippi. Labor History, 59(6), 720-745.
Minter, J. (2012). Economic Gardening: Mapping Fertile Gardens. Retrieved from https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/43471/JohnMinter_Economic%20Gardening.pdf
Monnat, S. M., & Brown, D. L. (2017). More than a Rural Revolt: Landscapes of Despair and the 2016 Presidential Election. Journal of rural studies, 55, 227-236.
Ness, G. (2013). Economic Gardening as a Tool of Economic Development. Retrieved from http://www.cola.kku.ac.th/main2/images/POR/book_online/Public_Management.pdf#page=21.
Norris, L. (2019). Urban prototypes: Growing local circular cloth economies. Business History, 61(1), 205-224.
North, P. (2014). Ten square miles surrounded by reality? Materialising alternative economies using local currencies. Antipode, 46(1), 246-265.
Overbey, T. A. (2019). Food Deserts, Libraries, and Urban Communities: What Is the Connection?. Public Library Quarterly, 1-13.
Patton, M. A., Patton, H. L., & Dobish, H. (Challenges in Developing or Attracting New Entrepreneurs to “Un-Glamorous” Communities: A Rescue Plan Based in Internal Economic Gardening.
Perera, D., & Chand, P. (2015). Issues in the adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES). Advances in accounting, 31(1), 165-178.
Peter, A. S. (2017). Cyber resilience preparedness of Africa’s top-12 emerging economies. International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, 17, 49-59.
Pochert, R. (2010). Economic Gardening Helps Com-munities Grow Their Own Jobs. Retrieved from http://opportunityseized.com/pdf/wp-gardening.pdf
Prijatelj, C. (2013). Superintendents as a Catalyst of Economic Development: Academic Excellence vs. Economic Gardening (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/17636/1/prijateljc_etdPitt2013.pdf
Robbins, L. W., & Allen IV, J. E. (2015). Economic Gardening and the Grow Kentucky Program. Retrieved from http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AgriculturalEconomics/pubs/extgrowkyeg57.pdf
Roberts, J., Hudspeth, P., Lay, C., & Ruiz, M. (2012). The Suitability and Opportunity for an Economic Gardening Program for Rural Lane County. Retrieved from http://lanemetro.com/workspace/upload/pdf/Economic%20Gardening%20Report%202012.pdf
Roosevelt, E. (2013). Toward a Sustainable Community. Retrieved from http://www.epcounty.com/rsted/documents/SustainabilityToolkit2013Volume2.pdf
Shetty, A. J. K., & Vasanthi, M. K. (2019). Micro Finance: An Emerging Horizon of Inclusive Growth. Social Science and Humanities Journal, 801-808.
Taabazuing, M., Arku, G., & Mkandawire, P. (2015). Economic development approaches in a changing global economy: what do practitioners think?. Urban Research & Practice, 8(2), 145-164.
Wang, J. (2018). Strategic interaction and economic development incentives policy: Evidence from US States. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 68, 249-259.
Whittemore, A. H., & BenDor, T. K. (2018). Talking about density: An empirical investigation of framing. Land use policy, 72, 181-191.
Yamamoto, T. (2007, January). East meets west in an entrepreneurial farming village in Japan: endogenous development theories and economic gardening practices. Retrieved from http://www.thebhc.org/sites/default/files/yamamoto.pdf
Yi Hsieh, J. (2011). A multilevel growth assessment of the diffusion of management innovation nested in state levels: The case of US local economic development programs. Innovation, 13(1), 2-19.
Zeier, K., Plimmer, G., & Franken, E. (2018). Developing shared leadership in a public organisation: Processes, paradoxes and consequences. Journal of Management & Organization, 1-18.
Published
2019-03-30
Section
Articles
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