What to Expect In Your Economic Gardening Engagement

What is Economic Gardening?  An economic development program  Focused on “growing your own” companies – As opposed to hunting companies – Coined by Phil Burgess  Focused strictly on growth companies in Iowa that fit some basic criteria.some basic criteria

Where did it come from?  Developed in Littleton, Colorado 1987  25 year results – Jobs15,000 – 30,000 – Sales tax$6 – 20 million – Population growth23%  No recruitment of companies  No incentives

What Makes It Different?  Focus on Stage II growth companiesStage II growth companies  Focus on strategic issues  High end, sophisticated corporate level tools  Deep underlying scientific principles  Used in five frameworks for dealing with classes of business problems

What Kind of Help Will I Get?  Strategic Information – Market research – Competitor intelligence – Industry trends – Custom research  Strategic Frameworks for five classes of business problems – Market dynamics – Core strategy – Innovation – Qualified sales leads – Team dynamics

What Will I Not Get  Operational assistance  Implementation  Financial analysis  Primary research – Focus groups, surveys, etc. – Recommendations

So how will this unfold?  Initial interview with call leader (1-2 hours)  Phone call with full team to clarify information and develop research tasks  Information (and s) posted on “Greenhouse’ collaboration web site  Follow up explanations from specialists  Close out

How long will it take?  You will get about 40 hours of high quality assistance from our team  They will focus on one or two major issues  The engagement will wrap up in about three weeks

What kind of tools do you use?  Search Engine Optimization – Web marketing – Competitor strategies  Geographic Info Systems – Qualified sales leads – Heat maps  Database research – Market info – Competitor intelligence – Industry trends

What are these New Sciences?  New sciences being developed around biological systems – Business as biology  Complexity  Systems Thinking  Temperament  Network Economics

How will we work together?  Not consultants – Not deep in your industry – Do not make recommendations  Extension of your team – Give best info to make decisions – Framework for trouble shooting problems – Work quickly, hand in glove

Do I get qualified sales leads?  Core Strategy  Market Dynamics  Innovation  Temperament  Marketing/Qualified Sales Leads

Examples of Research  Wire harness competitors  USDA outlook for trucking industry  Pest management associations  Niche applications for barge rental  Medical supply industry report  Bloggers in construction industry  Hearing instrument customer profiles

CEO Feedback  “Loved the depth and detail”  We will add employees sooner than expected based on this assistance”  “Particularly appreciated help in understanding Google Analytics and page ranking”  “Lifestyle info was extremely valuable for our pilot launch”  “Excited about how to use keywords to pursue opportunities in the disaster recovery arena”

How to get the most of the program  Use this project as a time to review strategy  Bring in key personnel  Speak with each specialist and the team leader  Ask a lot of questions

Welcome to the program  Questions about expectations  Next steps  Give us feedback  Dan Beenken, Director – –