Engaging
Industry Innovation Final Report
Executive Summary
The Action Southwest Business Networks Coalition (ASBNC) is a bottom-up,
collaborative
strategy with a mission to grow a greater Southwest Saskatchewan.
This broad-based regional
initiative is the first of its kind in Saskatchewan. Business, government,
crowns, education and
community leaders have come together and carried out a detailed examination
of the Southwest’s
economy. Communities have largely looked within their own boundaries
for solutions to
economic and social challenges faced, until now.
Community leaders and industry leaders from our regions four key
sectors of manufacturing,
energy, tourism and agribusiness came together in this initiative
to analyze their individual
sectors and develop strategies for growth. Each sector provided
a report that identified the
challenges and opportunities faced and then used this information
to develop over 30 flagship
initiatives and action plans as possible solutions. This report
is a compilation of the findings
from these four sectors.
The ASBNC’s approach is three-fold. First we are about creating
a united economy in the
Southwest by beginning to think regionally. Where communities,
businesses, governments and
institutions are open to change and are willing to commit to
new ways of doing business and
making investments that will have a mutually beneficial pay off.
Thinking regionally and
applying collaborative practice is the key to building regional
advantages and achieving a
sustainable and prosperous economy.
The second ASBNC approach looks at developing clusters through
business networks and
strategic alliances. Clusters, a geographically bounded collection
of similar and / or related firms
who work together to create competitive advantages for members
firms and the regional
economy, are the nucleus of successful regions. Cluster development
can happen in the
Southwest by first learning to work interdependently with one
another. Business networking
offers this option. If firms can come together to work on projects
that would normally only be
available to larger firms they will begin to realize that they
in turn will have the ability to expand
their markets, lower costs and improve profits by working together.
Thirdly, the ASBNC believes the key to industry innovation and
growth is by building
community capacity. We can improve the economic and physical
infrastructure of our
communities and region by building on and generating new forms
of capital (economic, social,
natural and human). And we can strengthen our capacity by enhancing
economic, bureaucratic,
associative and reciprocal relationships and networks. The success
of the ASBNC strategy will
empower the region’s industries and communities to recognize
their assets and collaboratively
create ways to build on and generate new forms of them. Success
will breed success in the
Southwest.
Now with a clear understanding of the approaches necessary to
build on the assets of the
Southwest, the ASBNC strategy for success evolved.
Stage 1. Cluster / Network Engagement
This stage involved the formation of a Lead Steering Committee to
manage, oversee and support
all activities in the strategy. This committee is represented by
a broad range of leaders from
urban and rural municipalities, private and public sector businesses,
federal and provincial
government departments, business development organizations and educational
institutions from
across the Southwest.
In addition, the ASBNC began the mobilization of regional stakeholders
representing the four
key sectors. These stakeholders were then asked to participate
in a series of roundtable
discussions for the purpose of developing strategies for growing
industry and the region.
Stage 2. SWOT and Data Analysis
A picture of the overall economic performance of the region is
needed to help determine a future
vision over the next five to ten years and so the performance of
our region’s economy was
examined by: identifying how industry can best address it’s
challenges and opportunities;
evaluating the capacity of our economic foundation; and assessing
the competitive position of all
industries within the region.
Stage 3. Flagship Initiative Development
This next step would serve as a rallying point for regional collaboration.
An opportunity to begin
making changes together that could impact industry and our regional
economy for years to come.
Participants defined the competitiveness challenges they shared
in common, identified the
actions to address those challenges on which they were willing
to work together, and developed
action plans specifying the next steps to be taken to begin the
process of implementation. These
strategies are now living, working documents that should be utilized
by industry and economic
decision makers as the foundation for ongoing action.
Stage 4. Coordination and Implementation
This last stage is all about action and sustaining the momentum
that has been started as a result
of this initiative. It involves, once again, the coordination
of regional stakeholders to take part in
continued development of action plans and ultimately flagship
implementation. In addition,
stakeholders will participate in the structuring of four business
networks that will serve as a role
model to the region and emphasize the power of partnerships.
This collaborative regional strategy is not about forming committees
and drafting reports, its
about learning how to change again and again and making these
changes collaboratively and
through consensus. The participants involved in this initiative
have come to learn that successful
regions achieve their goals, not because of an external agency,
but because the people and their
institutions and organizations are capable of seeing the
world around them differently and are
willing and able to change. These changes are never easy,
but each time change is accomplished
it reinforces the value of undertaking further actions. The
ASBNC perhaps, may one day be
forgotten but the shift in regional behavior towards collaborative
entrepreneurship that this effort
has started can power the region forward to its next generation.
