Global Direct Investment Solutions

Corporate Development for a Networked World

OnTheShortList.com     SurgeUSA.org

ShortListNews.com

GUIDE Services

Bruce Donnelly   bruce@gdi-solutions.com    (Biography)

See also : the Graphic Executive Summary of GUIDE, showing how more reliable local knowledge about two key dimensions for executive decisions, Data and Experience, combine to provide investors with higher confidence in support of faster and better investment decisions. 

This is further explained in the section: GUIDE - What is it? , which complements the links found in the table below.

Refer also to: the Graphic Executive Summary for SICR, as well as the introductory graphic showing how SICR fits into the structure of our knowledge and research support for executives through GUIDE, and the typical "funnel" process for investment location decisions.

Think of GUIDE as a distributed, consistent knowledgebase about investment considerations and support contacts all over the world.  Different levels of detail and support services may be available according to the different levels of commitment and capabilities to support the interests of investors, but the idea isn't to create a massive database in one place, or to keep all the knowledge to ourselves. 

GUIDE creates a consistent framework so that more reliable and timely market knowledge can be shared openly to support the information needs of executives and their advisors. The very "high level" information is consolidated here for convenient reference.  Most of the detailed knowledge (Reports, etc.) is maintained locally, such as on the websites of participating area representatives, so that it can remain more timely.  Executives or their advisors can then further test and provide feedback about the reliability and value of the available information (for continuous improvement) for their purposes as their investment planning work proceeds.

The promotional websites for participating areas may remain completely inconsistent and full of vague "hype" which makes everyplace sound the same, but it should become easy to find consistent, well-substantiated, and valuable GUIDE content about the leading investment locations, and others should soon follow their lead.

This website, our research work and networks of contacts, and our SICR relationship development work can make it easier for executives and their advisors to find relevant areas and reliable knowledge and contacts quickly, anywhere in the world, for faster and better investment decisions.  By making it very easy to reach what is already available, we hope to also help to improve the quality of knowledge which is shared openly to support investors.

GUIDE makes it easier for executives to consider location alternatives which they might not identify or invest the time and resources to research on their own.  GUIDE services are performed for participating economic development organizations, whether directly by GDI Solutions or by agreement with other professional services.

It is a consistent process to develop useful "off the shelf" knowledge about local business conditions to various levels of detail, from the most basic Network Survey or Area Profiles to the more detailed Area and Experience Reports.

GUIDE differs radically from traditional database-oriented approaches to the screening of many locations for potential suitability according to available demographic or other statistical data.  Such readily available statistical data is typically compiled for other purposes, rather than to support investment decisions, and can be outdated, misleading or inadequate for many reasons.  In many locations worldwide, good data is simply unavailable, or is not readily comparable to other locations, especially for multi-country comparisons.

Instead of using statistics to support high-level hypotheses about how areas compare to each other, GUIDE is a process to share more detailed local knowledge and investor experiences about what differentiates one location from another for investment purposes. 

One can then test whether the facts support that direct report of "reality" for investors, rather than test whether reality is consistent with statistical hypotheses which were not necessarily correct, perhaps because the people making the hypotheses simply didn't have adequate local market knowledge available to test whether their assumptions and analysis were reliable.  Even accurate data which looks very convincing can support flawed analysis.

In other words, GUIDE changes the process by providing a local knowledge foundation even at a very exploratory "high level" stage of analysis.  The basic concept behind GUIDE is to take advantage of the capabilities in a "networked world" to organize timely local market knowledge in cooperation with many local contacts. 

Think of it as analogous to being able to browse through a fairly well-organized bookstore or library to find what is of interest, with trained staff available to help find what your are seeking, while you can have a quick look for yourself at any time to see whether a particular item seems worth investing a little time and expense to investigate further.

We don't want to try to aggregate, publish, and maintain all of that detailed knowledge in one place - just as retail bookstores or libraries don't try to write and publish everything they make available on their shelves.  We just want to know where to find it, quickly and easily, and provide services to make it easy to connect with what is available.

 GUIDE supports executives in rapid and flexible ways to find what they are seeking through more reliable and comparable information about investment in many locations, and makes it easy to meet relevant contacts to further explore any specific interests.

This section further explains the basic concepts behind the various GUIDE services, and how they fit together to support the location selection process for investment projects.  Refer also to the GUIDE Graphic Executive Summary.

Area Representatives - Refer to the pricing section for examples of the costs of the various GUIDE services, and note any special offers which may still be available at the time, such as for new services.

The free Network Survey is the tool which enables GDI Solutions to maintain timely and useful basic knowledge about many locations worldwide.  The Survey is very easy to complete quickly.  We don't publish individual responses, but we refer to them (as well as other sources) when handling project enquiries from executives, and can link to published replies (see also Participants - Area Representatives).

Option : We can publish suitable responses for a small fee.  Refer to the Template and the pricing section to explore this alternative.

We selectively publish information about major sites and buildings, cross-referenced to Area Profiles and sources for details about the area as a place to do business, as well as lists of other companies in the area.  This can also highlight planned closures, such as to help identify potential investors before an operation is closed down.

We also ask corporate executives to help us improve the various GUIDE services by providing feedback about their information needs and how they make investment decisions.

Regardless of where or when an ad was published, including online ads, we make it easy to find the ad and respond to it.  That can include broadcast media such as links to TV, radio, webcast, or email broadcast presentations on other websites.  We do not publish the ads on this website - we link to ads on the advertiser's website.

We also highlight useful promotional materials, such as research reports or detailed brochures, videos, CD's, newsletters, or other presentations about the area which executives and advisors might not realize are available for reference.

Rather than organize a database of hundreds of data elements in support of a search and analysis process driven by numbers, we've created a process to flexibly share "point of view" analysis of what differentiates an area, with the supporting sources necessary to independently substantiate or explore such promotional assertions.

By openly sharing key promotional assertions or interpretations of "facts", so anyone can see and challenge their validity, we think this can create a marketplace solution to the need for greater transparency and more reliable analysis to support investors.  This shares valuable knowledge early in the selection process, when it can influence the "long list" and "short list" choices to complement older data-screening methods.

We selectively publish standardized descriptions of recent major projects which may be of interest to executives and advisors when researching potential locations for future projects.  The Template illustrates the typical scope of such a Project Profile.

We selectively publish testimonials by top executives about their direct experience doing business in a particular location, such as to share insights about what differentiates such an area and might benefit potential investors.  The Template illustrates the structure of such Testimonial presentations, which are intended to share knowledge which can be independently verified through research into the area.

The GUIDE Area Profile is a simple, basic service to organize information which is typically helpful to executives at the earliest "long-list" or "short list" stages of location selection for investments. 

Have a look at the introductory examples for County Durham, England and Tri-Cities, Washington, but note that the published summaries are just part of this service, which is mainly a basic working relationship between area representatives and GDI Solutions.

Feedback from all participants - corporate executives, area representatives, and professional service providers - should help to continually improve the focus and value of the GUIDE services.

See also the Referral Process Highlights section.

The Area Report is somewhat analogous to an annual report by a company, except that it describes investment considerations in a specific location.  It is prepared by area representatives according to consistent guidelines for such reports in all locations, and then is reviewed by independent professionals for standards compliance.

Conceptually similar to the Area Profiles and Area Reports prepared with Area Representatives, the Service Profiles and Service Reports are standardized presentations about the scope of services offered by participating professional service providers.  This makes it easier to identify relevant capabilities for investors.  See the various examples.

The Experience Report involves a consistent process for market research by independent professionals into the prior experiences of a representative sample of corporate investors in a location.  The feedback from individual companies generally remains confidential, or is shared selectively with their prior consent, while the report summarizes key conclusions from the sample group as a whole.

Once again, the Experience Report for service providers is analogous to the Experience Reports about investment locations, except that the report reflects independent research work within a representative sample group of clients.  This can address the perceived value of such services and specific "lessons learned" or "success stories" as real examples of capabilities and the benefits of such work.