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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GUIDE Network Survey Continues to Build Knowledge-BaseAt the CoreNet Global Summit in San Diego (Nov 16-20, 2002), Global Direct Investment Solutions will have a booth and continue to explain how economic development agencies can benefit from early participation in the GUIDE Area Profile and SICR services, while also launching the GUIDE Network Survey to gather information from areas which may not yet choose to participate more actively.November 12, 2002 -- For those who like short and simple surveys with a useful purpose, here's a new approach. At the CoreNet Global Summit in San Diego, GDI Solutions has distilled a fairly detailed survey into seven questions which fit neatly (although in somewhat small print) on the back of a business card. For those with an aversion to fine print, the same questions are also available on a post card which has been sent out to roughly 1000 economic development professionals this week. The full survey (6 pages) can be downloaded from the website (www.gdi-solutions.com/guide_network_survey_area.htm ) for those who need further explanations of the questions, or who wish to respond in more detail. The "short form", however, is adequate. The GUIDE Network Survey addresses seven very basic topics : · Contacts : who to call in your area to support project referrals, and how investors can reach them. · Geographic area served, and other organizations you work with (other roles or overlapping areas). · Scope of support services offered to existing or potential investors in the area. · Suggestions of reliable sources of information and knowledge about the area to support investors. · Information challenges which investors may confront (misleading or obsolete data, stereotypes, etc.). · Competitive advantages of the area from the perspective of potential investors. Examples. · Highlights of recent major changes, new investments, or closures of interest in the area. The purpose of the Survey is to make it easier for GDI Solutions to respond to enquiries from corporate executives about their interests when facing strategic choices about where they do business (where to establish, expand, or restructure their operations as markets or plans change). Unlike opinion surveys or "data gathering" surveys which aggregate statistics for analysis, the GUIDE Network Survey is intended to gather very basic knowledge about many areas in a consistent way for future reference. The text responses (unlike other types of surveys) can then be hyperlinked or indexed in multiple ways, and also used for text searches. This makes it easier to deal with the complexity of keeping track of developments in many locations worldwide, and responding quickly and flexibly to the unpredictable information needs of specific corporate executives. This complements the significant information which is already readily available to anyone through the hundreds of website links offered in the "Participants" section of the GDI Solutions website (www.gdi-solutions.com/participants.htm) for leading professional service providers and economic development organizations in regions around the world. Those lists of contacts are selective, reflecting only some of the thousands of available contacts which can be helpful to investors. There are also links to other sources of information, such as professional associations and magazines, including selective links to articles about some areas. The GUIDE Network Survey, which is free, is intended to provide a timely and consistent base of locally-sourced knowledge about many areas worldwide by simply applying some basic structure to information which is typically scattered through websites, advertisements, directory listings, and promotional materials. Given the thousands of economic development organizations, and the inconsistent availability or presentation of such knowledge through many channels, it can be a nightmare to compile such basic information from the available sources. The GUIDE Network Survey cuts through this complexity in a very simple way - by asking those with the knowledge to share it, which shouldn't take much time or effort at all. The seven questions above shouldn't require tedious research work to respond, unlike some other data-aggregation processes which focus on statistical information for more traditional database analyses. Most areas should be able to respond adequately to the seven topics in the survey by e-mail in less than one hour. Why is this valuable? Incredible as it may seem, there are many economic development websites on which it can be tedious or difficult to find something as basic as the name and phone number of a specific person for an executive to contact when interested in investment in the area. That might be OK if the executive's interest were limited to just one area, and strong enough to persevere in the search for a means to establish direct contact, but it can be frustrating when trying to gather basic information about even a handful of investment alternatives. It is not unusual to need to wade through the downloading of many pictures or multimedia presentations before finding what an investor is seeking, but in a few cases the contact information is not even provided. Instead, there is only a response process, through which the website visitor much reply and await follow-up contact. If it is that hard to simply find a contact name and phone number consistently, imagine what it is like when trying to do something more ambitious, such as find out about recent investment activity in several areas, or sources of reliable information for issues such as typical costs or human resources considerations which a new investor in the area would need to know. The GUIDE Network Survey cuts through that complexity to make it easier to arrange relevant introductions of executives to the area representatives of potential interest.. For any area which replies, the existence of the Survey response will be indicated on the GDI Solutions website so that any investor will know at a glance that such information is readily available. Areas are also welcome to include their GUIDE Network Survey responses as a sort of "executive summary" on their own websites, if they wish to do so. GDI Solutions uses the Survey responses to reinforce the knowledge which is already available through a relationship management database which includes thousands of contacts worldwide. It complements any other research and experience with timely local input so that it becomes easier to make relevant referrals in response to enquiries from executives. The Survey isn't intended to answer all the questions which executives might have about an area of potential interest. It simply makes it easier to quickly identify areas of potential relevance, and how to reach the local contacts and sources of information to pursue such interests. The Survey, however, should not be confused with the larger work of GDI Solutions, such as the GUIDE Area Profile and SICR services. It is intended mainly for those areas which choose, for whatever reason, not to invest in such work. For example, the GUIDE Area Profile is a process to develop and maintain far better knowledge of an area by establishing a fairly basic working relationship. Each participating area has a designated relationship leader who works with them to ensure that GDI Solutions has good basic knowledge about their area, including any necessary updates to an executive summary of such knowledge as made openly available on the GDI Solutions website (see examples for County Durham, England or Tri-Cities, Washington). In effect, the GUIDE Area Profile provides more in-depth understanding of an area than is possible through the limited GUIDE Network Survey, because it involves a minimal investment in the work required to maintain such knowledge. The SICR service takes that base of knowledge (both the GUIDE Network Survey, the GUIDE Area Profile, and other knowledge developed through experience and research) and goes to market proactively to develop relationships among executives who are responsible for the planning of major direct investment projects. In other words, instead of just waiting for an executive to find out about GDI Solutions and make use of it, either through direct contact or by use of the website content and links, the SICR service is an investment in finding those executives who will welcome such support, and then continually improving the base of knowledge in anticipation of and in response to their needs. The seven simple GUIDE Network Survey questions on the business card or postcard are therefore part of a much larger process to transform how executives are supported for global direct investment project decisions - from anywhere, to anywhere. For More Information Contact: Bruce Donnelly |
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