East Asian FDI and the political economy of local development

Abstract

This article situates the experience of the North East region within the context of the debates concerning East Asian FDI and the political economy of local development. The analysis looks in detail at the Sedgefield Borough economy to offer a more critical reading of the role of East Asian FDI in local economic development. The study concludes that East Asian FDI is a small but significant segment of the local economy which reveals evidence of some ‘leading edge’ developments in particular areas in tandem with a recurrence of the structural characteristics reminiscent of previous ‘branch plant’ investments. The conclusions for the business support network concern the need to change the focus and apparent control over the local economic development strategy and to forge strong links to the agenda of more active regional institutions and policy being promoted by the current Labour government.