Industry Task Forces As Pragmatic Planning: The Effect of Ideology, Planning Process, and Economic Context on Strategy Selection

Abstract

Industry task forces represent a new approach to local economic develop ment planning. It is being applied to many industries and cities by a wide variety of sponsors, who approach the issues with different ideologies and use different planning processes. Yet the outcomes of these planning efforts often exhibit surprising simi larities. It appears that the specifics of the planning processes used, as well as the concept of a task force itself, lead to a washing-out process which subdues most differences and produces a form of "generic plan ning." This confirms other recent re search which suggests that, in local planning, pragmatism suppresses ideological differences.