Sustainable Development Orientations–A Perspective Of Less-developed Townships In Southwest China

Small township is perceived as quite important body for promoting social and economic development,narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas,and perfecting new-type urbanization.The 19^th CPC National Congress issued in October2017 that strategies relating to rural vitalization and regional coordinated development have a central place on the work agenda of China as they directly concern our country‘s stability and our people‘s wellbeing.Small township,as the transfer channel for urban and rural areas,is the key to implementing the strategies about rural vitalization and corresponding development of regional system.The decisive step to achieve prosperity for small townships is to achieve industrial sustainable development.However,existing studies pointed out that small townships particularly in those developing countries such as China often do not have adequate industrial orientation.There are cases reported that the efforts contributed in industrial development become void because of no clear development orientations.In other cases,investments have been attracted but the projects invested cannot generate benefits and are abandoned in the end because of improper development orientation defined.This phenomenon is particularly prominent in these less developed small townships in China.The townships in Southwestern region in China are typically less-developed.Furthermore,78%of the townships in Southwestern region are characterized with mountainous terrain,indicating a fragile ecological environment and limited carrying capacity in supporting industrial and economic activities.Therefore,it is essential to define proper development orientation for less-developed townships in order to achieve sustainable development of small townships.This paper presents a decision-making method called matching coefficient model for supporting these less-developed townships to identify suitable development orientations,and then sustainable development level of small townships is measured using comprehensive evaluation method combined entropy method with AHP,which aims to optimize identification results of development orientation.The application of the research procedures is demonstrated by a sample of 28 townships located in Southwest China.Research data employed are collected through on-spot investigations and semi-structured interviews with the officials in these sample townships.The research reveals that:1)Agritourism business is most suitable for application in these townships in order to develop small townships,and strategic emerging industry seems not suitable.Furthermore,commerce and logistics is considered suitable for those townships located close to cities or central urban areas;2)The actual development orientations adopted in some sample townships are the same as the reference choice,coincidently,according to the practical surveys,these townships are fairly good both in social and economic development.Conversely,the development orientations adopted in other sample townships are not in line with the references,the economic and social performance for most of these towns appears not good;3)The existing development orientations adopted in many less-developed Chinese townships do not match the resources endowment they possess,thus the achievement of their sustainable development has been limited;4)The development of the leading industry is not only related to the local resources and social needs,but also to the practical level of sustainable development in small townships.The townships can be distinguished as four types?A,B,C,and D types?using quadrant chart analysis tool from two dimensions of matching coefficient and sustainable development level.Generally,small townships belonged to A-type have more advantages to achieve sustainable development,C-type have weak potential;5)The identification results of development orientation have been optimized according to sustainable development level and existing industries in small townships.The research results provide valuable reference for township governments to design development orientations and adopt measures towards effective cultivation of industry.The research methods adopted in this study provide valuable reference for examining development orientations not only in the context of China but also in other developing countries.The development of the matching coefficient decision making model contributes to the development of the literature in the field of township development.