Unique needs of Economic Development Corporations
Economic Development Corporations have as their mission or goal to promote economic growth within their geographical sphere, i.e. to attract new industry, to address resident needs and interests, etc. This increasingly competitive arena faces many challenges. First and foremost is clarity on strategy.
For example, does an EDC focus on development of their community to provide attractors for industry, or does the organization focus on marketing/ incentives and other methods to promote the community to businesses looking to expand or re-locate? PGS has worked with EDC’s to help them understand where they sit competitively and then develop an effective long-term strategy for growth.
How does PGS address the unique needs of Economic Development Corporations?
Our philosophy is that a community needs to first understand itself, it’s DNA if you will, before embarking on a development journey. Attempting to emulate success stories in other communities has not worked well. Rather, understand your own strengths and passions, a community can build on itself and attract like-minded individuals and communities to the quality of life they have defined for themselves
PGS products and services defining methods to involve business and community as a whole in the effort.
Examples
Challenge
The Anchorage Economic Development Corp. had been somewhat stagnant for years when its new CEO came on the scene late in 2010. Early the next year, he asked us to take the organization through our Vision Navigation® process to determine if the board had an appetite for achieving something great. The vision of making Anchorage the #1 place to Live,Work,Play by 2025 emerged and was the catalyst for what has become a viral movement in the community.
Solution
Now, with over 200 sponsors supporting the effort and seven focus groups engaged in an initial set of projects to get there, the effort has real momentum. PGS has also helped AEDC revise its organizational and governance structure to achieve that end. Anchorage is now at #9 when averaging some 31 metrics selected to measure the journey.