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take a combination ofmany fonns. Different authors apply different tenninology to describe
the variety of fonns of LED interventions. Nevertheless, there exists a spectrum of LED
interventions ranging from those which are seen as market-led or pro-growth on the one hand
to those which are market-critical or pro-poor on the other hand. The market-led approach of
business development aims to enable local economies to adjust more successfully to macro­
economic refonns (Scott and Pawson, 1999) and emphasises the goals of promoting
individual self-reliance, entrepreneurship, expansion of the market, competitiveness,
reduction ofunemployment and sustainable growth. By contrast, the market-critical approach
of community development represents a bottom-up approach geared to goals of achieving
local self-reliance, empowennent, participation, local cooperation, and environmental
sustainability (Scott and Pawson, 1999). Evaluating the socio-economic situation will ensure
appropriate LED interventions to apply in Ulundi and surroundings, so as to improve the
general quality oflife ofthe people in this study.
2.2.1 From pro-growth and market driven perspectives
The post-1970s era has witnessed significant alterations in global-national-local relationships,
with associated modifications in the significance of local place, politics and business in response
to forces as varied as globalization, neo-liberalism, decentralization and structural adjustment.
Enhanced global market flexibility, the fragmentation of labour markets and the increased
inability of local authorities to meet local service needs have introduced a search for new fonns
oflocal level governance, service delivery and growth promotion (Doogan, 1997). As a result of
these dramatic shifts in local dynamics, and in an effort to respond to new global realities.
localities have had to become both more business-like in their interactions with broader
economic forces and more socially inclusive to ensure both buy-in from key stakeholder groups
and the simultaneous pursuit ofnew, innovative growth paths which require widespread support.
In its more sophisticated and scaled-up variant, partnerships are also conceptualised as being
'Growth Coalitions' or 'Growth Machines', representing the transition from active local level
collaboration to defined, economic and investment-led gro....th that is orientated towards the
pursuit of local economic growth, property enhancement and widespread local benefits. The
concept ofgrowth coalition first became prominent in practice and academic theory in the 1970s.
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