Development bodies, networking and business promotion: The case of North Jutland, Denmark

During the last decade, local and regional initiatives in economic development have mushroomed in Denmark, and today a multitude of separate public or semi-public bodies are active in the field of regional development and business support. This chapter introduces the conceptual framework, and this is followed by an overview of the organisations involved in business promotion in North Jutland and the wider policy context in which they operate. It then presents a more detailed analysis of the policies, positioning and resource dependencies of these organisations is undertaken, and on the basis of this the patterns of cooperation between the organisations are discussed. The resources on which the organisations depend have been grouped according to four general types: authority, finance, information and organisation. The chapter concludes with some general reflections on the possible consequences of the existing institutional pattern for the capacity of the region to respond to new challenges.