LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR TBILISI ... - LED

1. Strategic management framework and the city competitiveness
Cities are now competing at both a national and international level to attract
investment, citizens as well as visitors.
Where globalization has had a positive effect in stimulating economic growth,
these benefits have not been evenly distributed. Cities therefore continue to
experience problems of poverty and inequality. In developing cities these
problems are compounded by urbanization which has led to problems of
unemployment, the proliferation of informal settlements and environmental
degradation. All cities have to face challenges because of:
1. economy transformation from the traditional to new knowledge based
economy
2. limited revenue capacity of companies, citizens and local
governments
3. movement of people and businesses
4. suburbanization and poverty in central areas
5. need of new education following workforce development demand
And last but not list there is huge pressure to change city government roles
and management methodologies to follow all these changes and challenges.
Since the 1980s there have been increasing efforts to introduce new
management methodologies to city administrations. Different solutions were
exercised in different countries but two issues were key elements of new
systems:
1. strategic planning methodology when new strategies and polices were
developed
2. integration of strategic management framework to coordinate all
sectoral plans and different partners involved in a timeframe
Transformation require efficient management to follow all changes, to face
challenges and to utilize resources efficiently. It's universally known that
better performing cities and those recognized as skilfully managed are more
attractive for new businesses. Although there is a lack of comparative
standards with which to measure whether a city is well performing and
assess key drivers of high performance, it is obvious that ability to cope with
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