In April 1996, business leaders in the state of Campeche, Mexico arranged funding for and launched a 15-month cluster-based economic strategy project.  This unique, private sector-led project has three phases: Phase I provides a diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of the state’s economy, while in Phase II ETG staff developed strategic options for Campeche’s future using a process-intensive, working group approach.  In the third and final phase of the project, specific initiatives will be launched under the guidance of the consulting team, which includes Mexican sub-contractors with direct experience from the Chihuahua Siglo XXI project, in addition to ETG staff.

Campeche’s economy is currently dominated by resource-extraction industries such as fishing and agriculture, with some secondary contributions from tourism.  Aside from fish processing, the state has no well established industrial activities, and the key strategic question is whether Campeche should strive simply to extract natural resources more efficiently and competitively, or whether a broader transformation into manufacturing is desirable, and if so, how it can be accomplished given Campeche’s assets and challenges.  The business community is acutely aware of the trade-offs involved, and by the time the Transformando Campecheproject is completed, the private and public sectors will have settled on a joint, focused vision of the state’s future and the means for implementing that vision.

Since 1998, Campeche has achieved a major transformation of its primarily agriculture and fishing economy into a diversified one with a boom in both light industry (8,000 new industrial jobs from 1997-2000, the highest growth (48% increase) in Southeast Mexico.
www.repcampdf.gob.mx/Ejecutivo/T_Campeche/ResumenEjecutivo/RETCampeche.html