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GUIDE Service Profile : Business Location Strategy, Selection and
Incentives Consulting
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WDG
Consulting (Wadley-Donovan-Gutshaw)
(formerly known as The Wadley-Donovan Group) |
| Executive Summary
WDG Consulting (formerly known as The Wadley-Donovan Group) has specialized in advisory services for business
location strategy, location selection, and the relocation of business
operations since 1975. It grew to become the largest independent
location consulting firm in North America, competing directly against the
services of larger firms which do not specialize entirely in this niche,
such as the major accounting and tax firms, corporate real estate networks,
and engineering firms. In response to the changing needs of major clients,
it has expanded capabilities directly and through alliances in recent years
to support direct investment projects in international markets. The
firm was originally specialized primarily in North American location
decisions, especially for office projects, but in recent years has also
performed more manufacturing projects. In Europe, it has collaborated with
Buck Consultants International as the largest independent location
consulting firm in that market. Similarly, in Asia it has collaborated
with Tractus.
Dennis Donovan teaches professional certification
courses for corporate real estate executives in the business location
selection specialty, and is a frequent guest speaker at professional
conferences in this niche, including CoreNet Global and other organizations.
The firm also provides some advisory services for economic development agencies,
especially in North America, which contributes to more detailed and timely
knowledge of many leading business locations. Most of the work,
however, is for corporate clients. |
Contact information
Dennis J. Donovan
Principal
WDG Consulting,
LLC
991 US Highway 22
West, Suite 202
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
TEL
908-864-5580
FAX 908-575-3269
e-mail :
ddonovan@wdgconsulting.com
Alternate contacts :
K. John Gutshaw, Operations Director
Katie S. Burdorf, Principal
Website :
www.wdgconsulting.com
NOTE - Economic Development Organizations : refer to
the Comments section for
remarks about the information which they typically need to request from
EDO's. They already know where to find most of the information they
need, but some standard questions require timely local market knowledge
which isn't readily available through published sources. It would be
helpful to provide such information through the local EDO websites, and make
it easier to find quickly through this channel. |
| Scope of Services - refer to their
website for detailed descriptions Their
Corporate
Location Services include
- Strategic planning : how the operations of a firm
are deployed geographically
- Relocation feasibility : whether to relocate
existing or future operations
- Location selection : picking the areas in which
to grow business operations
- Site selection : finding, picking, and
negotiating for specific properties
- Labor market studies : analysis of HR factors in
existing or new locations
- Logistics : warehouse network analysis with a
strategic alliance partner, Synergy Solutions
- Human resources mobility consulting (e.g.,
employee relocation) with a strategic alliance partner, Enterprise
Achievement Services
- Incentives negotiations, with a strategic alliance
partner
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Biographic Information
- Dennis Donovan - biographic sketch
available on their website
- Katie S. Burdorf
- biographic sketch available on their website
- K. John Gutshaw - biographic sketch available on
their website
Published articles
The "Press
Room" on their website highlights recent articles.
Refer also to our
Consultant Tips
section for various articles. |
| Specialties : Types of projects
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Their website includes a summary of the typical decision
process which they follow for location selection services, and the benefits
of their services to clients, at :
"The
Site Location Decision Process"
"Why
Use Wadley-Donovan-Gutshaw Consulting?" |
Illustrative project summaries -
Refer to their website for a few "project
case studies" or contact directly.
Their project experience covers a wide variety of
industries and types of projects, such as headquarters, regional offices,
customer contact centers, manufacturing, and distribution. |
| Illustrative
client list
-
Refer to their website list or contact them directly.
They have served many prominent companies and economic development agencies.
The latter work enhances their knowledge of many attractive business
locations while also helping such agencies to provide better services to
corporate investors and their communities.
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Other related services of the firm -
Unlike accounting, tax, or general management consultancy
firms or real estate firms which offer a wide variety of other services, WDG Consulting
is specialized in this niche of corporate direct investment projects and
just teams up with specialists at other firms for specific project
requirements beyond their own capabilities. |
| Relationship Disclosure
There is no relationship at this time beyond general
awareness of prior experience through many years of informal contact. This
is a
leading consultant in the US market. For details about their services at this time, please contact
Dennis Donovan directly, and please let
him know
how you found him !
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Relationship leader at GDI Solutions for potential clients
:
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| Feedback / Comments
from Dennis Donovan
It would be helpful, for quick reference, for
more economic development organizations to share timely information through
this site as a summary of major recent developments and what really
differentiates their area for potential investors.
- Why should it be on the long list or
short list?
- What advantages can the area offer?
- What types of projects would be most
relevant to the strengths of the area?
In particular, what I would really like to be
able to find quickly is the typical information that
we must verbally or electronically request, which should be standard
offerings by EDO's.
This includes a factual executive summary with direct
links to verify details for :
- major employers by sector,
- new and expanding firms, or downsizing firms,
- tax practices and rates,
- synopsis of incentives,
- electric power supply, reliability, and cost,
- telecommunications infrastructure, matrix
- summary of available sites and buildings, market
averages for occupancy costs,
- median wages for 15-20 occupations,
- environmental attainment / non-attainment, and
- SAT or ACT scores.
This information is needed for almost all projects and yet
in the vast majority of instances we have to do one-on-one data collection
from long-listed area economic development groups (often 10). The
process is inefficient for all parties. That is why posting these data at a
central site would be so beneficial for the customer. |
Alliances with other firms -
see their website for additional details By the
nature of this specialty, the group often needs to work with other
specialists to offer a more complete service, and has therefore developed
alliances with :
There are also other informal relationships for
specialties such as move management, call center design, architectural /
engineering work, and telecommunications. In 2002
the Wadley-Donovan Group became part of the
worldwide corporate real estate services firm of
Grubb & Ellis Knight
Frank to offer a more integrated solution for business location decisions, real
estate transactions, and related corporate real estate advisory and
management services. The group separated again from Grubb & Ellis in
March 2004, and is now known as WDG Consulting, LLC. |
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Standard legal disclaimer
: about
professional service provider participants, contacts, and information |
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