ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY
and be known as the ‘place’ for innovation, and to
some extent they can. What they can’t do, is do it all
in the one place at the same time, and so we come
to the subject of comparative advantages. What
does your region have that no one else does? This
is a big subject with lots of academic papers written
on it. Suffice to say that no region can wake up one
day and decide that they are going to be the centre
for any industry (aviation for argument’s sake) if
they don’t have the basic building blocks (let’s say
an airport). There may be arguments to say this
is not always the case, such as building solar cell
manufacturing plants in the desert like Mr Musk. But
I dare say those players have more money and the
sustainability of such decisions are not yet proven.
"For those considering
undertaking investment
attraction for the first time, I
strongly encourage you to do
so, as it is a most rewarding
profession where the fruits of
your labour can be directly seen
by the community, whose people
are afforded jobs and careers
that were once unavailable."
You need a grain of sand to make a pearl and this is
also true in investment attraction. It doesn’t matter
how small the asset or the advantage, you need
to have something small to make something big.
I acknowledge those from Northern Grampians
and the town of Stawell that took a very big hole
in their backyard and have attempted to turn it into
an Underground Physics Laboratory in the search
for dark matter, having the vision and commitment
of taking this asset (a gold mine) to give them a
competitive advantage in their quest for innovation,
smarts and high paid jobs. This underlines the
project is on hold due to the mine going into care
and maintenance, but there is certainly nothing
wrong with the idea and underlines the need to look
at turning existing assets into economic generators
if other issues like timing, capital and government/
corporate commitment can also be addressed.
For those considering undertaking investment
attraction for the first time, I strongly encourage
you to do so, as it is a most rewarding profession
where the fruits of your labour can be directly seen
by the community, whose people are afforded jobs
and careers that were once unavailable. For those
already engaged in this field, I encourage you to
compete aggressively (some of my EDA colleagues
already do!) as the stronger the competition, the
better the outcome for our clients, and bigger and
better resources will flow into investment attraction.
What can be better than a career that provides
better opportunities for our communities? In
summary I would like to say:
• Commit to the long haul,
• Be 100% committed or don’t commit at all,
• The market is competitive and sophisticated, so
should you be,
• Be specific in what you want, what you need to
get it and how you go about it,
• Don’t overlook the small opportunities, the
experience gained will serve you well,
• Don’t compete within regions as resources are
already tight, complement each other’s efforts
and add value and;
• Celebrate the wins to garner the support for
addressing future challenges as they invariably
arise.
SOURCES AND OTHER READING
1. Source: Attracting FDI: How Much Does Investment Climate
Matter? 2011
2. Source: Roll Out the Red Carpet and They Will Come: Investment
Promotion and FDI Inflows 2011
3. Attracting Employment & Investment to the Casey-Cardinia
Region, AEC 2011
4. Source: Investment Climate Department, World Bank Group 2012
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex is currently the Head of Investment Attraction at
Sunshine Coast Council. He holds a postgraduate
qualification from the Securities Institute of Australia and
undergraduate qualifications in education, marketing and
finance from various universities. He is a past Senior
Associate of the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance
and Associate of the Australian Institute of Management.
He has participated as secretariat to various economic and
tourism boards and won the 2016 EDA Agent of Change
Award as well as other EDA awards in previous years.
A father of two young boys, he states his interests are
investment destination marketing and watching multiple
repeats of Paw Patrol with his boys…
VOL.11 NO.1 2018 | 11