e region's legitimacy as a distinct economic region is underlined by the presence of the Wheatbelt Area Consultative Committee and recognition of the region in the Kelty Report (1993, p.53).
             The organisation responsible for the preparation of "Shaping the Future" is the Wheatbelt Development Commission. The Commission's objects, functions and corporate structure appear at Appendix 1. It operates under the Regional Development Commissions (WA) Act of 1993 and few would question its authority or capacity to prepare an economic development strategy for the region.
             The course notes (Topic 7, p.1) suggest that an economic development strategy should "...consist of a number of components including an economic audit/profile, SWOT analysis, community consultation, strategy and action plans."
             Roy Powell and Tom Murphy in the course readings (Reading 7.2, p.2) refer to the preparation of economic development strategies by consultants who have historically;
             · gathered a considerable amount of small area statistics,
             · conducted several future search workshops,
             · undertaken some sort of survey or call for written submissions,
             · conducted a SWOT analysis and
             · developed action plans that "...consisted of a lengthy list of opportunities to be realised with only vague consideration about who would achieve them and how they were to be achieved."
             Powell and Murphy (Reading 7.2, p.3) also refer to innovations in the use of input-output tables and "... the export orientation of regional strategies following the McKinsey Report which urged regions to act local and compete global." There was also a focus "...on leadership ...[which]... alerted those preparing strategies to the need to address leadership in the strategy..."
             The weighting given to each of these components within "Shaping the Future" is quite varied.
             While littl...