Here’s what a regional economic development expert, ex CEO of Glasgow Development Agency said about The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘈 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭. “

A business can have a passionate founder, an innovative product, and a professional plan — and still be heading for failure because the numbers don’t work.

Revenue model, cost structure, gross margin, and cash conversion aren’t accounting technicalities — they’re the difference between a viable business and an expensive gesture. A service business trading on hourly rates faces completely different growth constraints than a subscription model or a product business managing inventory and working capital.

Better practice looks different. It front-loads business model validation and financial literacy — before premises, before finance, before anything else. It distinguishes between businesses where the fundamentals work and those where the kindest intervention is helping founders recognise a fatal flaw before they spend years and savings on it.

This isn’t about gatekeeping support. Most businesses will remain small, providing livelihoods rather than scaling into high-growth firms — and that’s a legitimate outcome worth supporting. But it requires honest assessment, and more intensive support for the businesses that have a credible chance of scaling or providing internationally tradeable goods or services.

The Handbook (out on 27 April) explains the essentials as part of each chapter. In the enterprise chapter, I explain the fundamentals of business performance and survival. In the poverty chapter, I explain what poverty is and how it constrains and affects economic performance and growth.