EMRA published ‘ Destined for Success’ (700KB PDF), its Scrutiny Panel review into emda’s performance at attracting and retaining Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in June 2005.

The Panel consisted of;

Chair: Roger Begy, Rutland County Council

Tim Roache, GMB

Vernon George, IOD

Phil Derges, Rolls Royce

Dr David Williams, Nottingham Business School

Jenny Gammon, Lincolnshire Development

The Review made 10 recommendations, which are;

RECOMMENDATION 1

emda should re-evaluate the strategic purpose and value to the region’s economy of attracting and retaining FDI and indigenous business investment to support the review of the Regional Economic Strategy.

RECOMMENDATION 2

emda should work with partners to agree and publish a renewed regional strategy for the retention and attraction of FDI, within the context of increasing overall business investment. The strategy should:

a) set objectives to attract higher value investment and employment that will contribute to the skills, diversification, cluster development, productivity, GDP and sub-regional regeneration objectives of the RES.

b) detail a clear approach to achieving the objectives of the strategy, including:

• the promotion of regional and sub-regional products
• the level and type of investment, firm and market to be targeted
• the appropriate balance between investor development and attracting new investment
• effective working with other emda departments and partners.

c) establish a more robust framework to measure regional performance against objectives.

RECOMMENDATION 3

emda should develop and implement an Action Plan to deliver the FDI Strategy that includes output targets and regular reviews of emda’s performance.

RECOMMENDATION 4

emda should review its resource allocation against the objectives of the FDI Strategy to derive greater outputs from more focused FDI expenditure, including harnessing partners’ resources.

RECOMMENDATION 5

emda should continue to thoroughly review its network of overseas offices and agency arrangements in the context of market assessments in its FDI Strategy to establish a smaller, more focused and productive network with performance related contracts that are;

• appropriate to the scale and maturity of the market in question
• clearly defined
• cost effective
• capable of easier management by emda and more central direction
• based on delivering outputs that specifically support a regional FDI Strategy

RECOMMENDATION 6

emda should further review the quality and scope of their investor development and business support programmes to ensure that they contribute directly to the objectives of the regional FDI strategy. emda should ensure that they work closely with large indigenous firms to retain and increase their investment in the region.

RECOMMENDATION 7

emda should implement a more strategic and pro-active approach to enquiry generation and handling with targeting and filtering criteria that directly relate to the objectives of the regional FDI Strategy.

RECOMMENDATION 8

emda should develop and implement monitoring and feedback procedures to improve their service to potential investors. This includes feedback to sub-regional partners on the quality of information and services they provide.

RECOMMENDATION 9

emda should agree a co-ordinated approach with partners on research and information to shape the FDI Strategy and improve their services.

RECOMMENDATION 10

emda should implement agreed protocols with partners on FDI activity for enquiry generation and handling, the sharing of information and decision-making that take account of subregional variations in service delivery arrangements.

In October 2005, the Regional Scrutiny Board considered the Action Plan (60KB PDF) developed by emda and in March 2006 RSB considered emda’s Progress Report (60KB PDF).

EMDA shared their Final Assessment Report (60KB PDF)with the RSB in January 2007.