Resource:

collateral material

Answers.com has a definition of collateral material. Here it is defined as one or more supplemental items that supports a marketing or business networking effort.

Economic development as a practice ... may be considered as a specialized form of marketing (source of quote). Ancillary material used to support and reinforce economic development marketing include fulfillment packages as well as community profiles, both of which typically contain location data that is either promotional or responsive to what specific prospects want. Marketing collaterals also include news releases, letters to prospects, directories, maps, real estate information, and advertising supplements.

Resource:

project basics

The basic steps of an enterprise development projects that involve site selection are ...

1. Make a Plan / plan includes organizing selection criteria

2. Activate / begin project work in one of 3 stages

3. Contacts / resource and service providers include location data suppliers

4. Gather Information / business decision makers need continuous inflow

5. Analyze / ongoing process of eliminating options (comparative analysis)

6. Field Work / inspections and conformations of facts, offers, promises, etc.

7. Risk Analysis / a continuous analysis process of intense focus at final stage.

Resource and service providers want to know project status as site selection project managers and business decision makers involved as enterprise developers approach them for assistance and to begin building working relationships. It may be simple enough and acceptable to present project status as being one of the following: (1) tentative, (2) preliminary, or (3) active. Scroll down for more information.

Project: tentative status

... means that information is needed make a risk analysis before funding or fully funding the planned project. The project may be shelved for reexamination at a later date or abandoned completely if the top business decision maker determines that its not worth the risk. An enterprise developer may hire a consultant at this stage. For example, a site selection consultant may be hired to gather information and do a comparative analysis of places of interest. Consultants are likely to be accepted by their network of location data suppliers as having preliminary or active projects, especially if they do field work.

Today's approach to site selection has changed much from the time before the Internet. Consultants can now do much of their preliminary work of gathering location data online. Also, enterprise developers can now gather information from directly online from location data suppliers who are area and local development representatives. The collateral material they may seek about places seeking economic development are referred to as location profiles or community profiles. Also, fulfillment packages can be requested online.

Project: preliminary status

... means that enough of the elements of a full-blown project are organized to begin identifying potential resource and service providers as well as making contact with certain ones who are allies and advisors to brief. Those who are engaged in enterprise and economic development activities know the value of project networks.

A preliminary project has a projected time-line for accomplishing certain objectives.

Savvy enterprise developers make plans for protecting confidentiality confidential information before entering the preliminary stage. It is not unusual in competitive situations for the identity of the enterprise to be withheld from outsiders, nevertheless, it is important that enough convincing information, such as selection criteria in the case of a site selection project) be made available to resource and service providers so that they are responsive.

The point is made under tentative project status about using the Internet. A project at the preliminary stage can continue to be worked online but the shift is made from simply gathering information to building and maintaining working relationships with contacts.

The enterprise and economic development network you are using provides resources for finding and establishing working relationships with resource and service providers.

Project: active status

... means that the project is full-blow to the extent that it is being worked with a complete set of specifications or site selection criteria. Also, the progress of an active project is measured by a time-line with benchmark points for achieving specified objectives. Active in this case means time is of the essence. benchmark points.

The information gathering process shifts to fieldwork. Analysis of information moves quickly into the hands of decision makers if they are not, in fact, actually working hands on with the active projects. For example, a hired management advisor working as a site selector typically makes one or more preliminary reports from doing comparative analyses in order for the enterprise developer to create short-list ever shorter lists of places of interest. The experienced enterprise developer is keen on risk management and continuously evaluates the project. As mentioned under preliminary status above, one concern that an alert business decision maker has is continuous protection of things confidential. Lingering in the back of mind is the old war adage ... loose lips sink ships.

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The project profiles that either contains or covers specifications is the most important element of the information that an enterprise developer provides to resource and service providers when requesting introductions, proposals or other input. It defines the scope of the project. In the case of a site selection project specifications are a set of selection criteria.

The Network also enjoys support through financial contributions from users wanting it to see it continue as an online information service the way it was originally introduced ... open access. Contributors don't buy in to control or influence operations, only to assure that there is a B2B enterprise on the Web as a share network for enterprise and economic development.

go back

whereas also overall business plan of the enterprise is accomplished or, conversely, when it something happens so that it no longer serves the plan. It is suggested at the end of the above 5-step overview of an enterprise development project that it be continuously monitored in order to make decisions about its feasibility status. A project may be brought to an unhappy end by outsiders when there is a failure to protect confidential plans and activities.

A project ends

... when, for example, the final benchmark of its time-line is successfully reached and the top-level enterprise developer as decision maker says so. The progress of a project may cease at it goes on the shelf, a action that ends it permanently or temporarily. The longer a project is placed on the shelf the more useless information, analyses, and decisions become. Enterprise development projects invariably die on the shelf.

Various types of announcements are made when projects or certain parts of them come to a successful end. A site selection project comes to end when a location is chosen and all of the deals surrounding it are finalized; i.e., the site is chosen and secured. It may be referred to as a economic development project by community leaders of the chosen location and announced as an investment. The number of jobs created in the local economy may be a part of the announcement. Later, the project may be announced again at ground breaking. When a construction project is completed and its time for the enterprise operation to startup, a ribbon cutting may take place as a form of announcement. The example sequence of announcements is familiar to those who are engaged in the enterprise and economic development process.