A project begins with a plan:

It goes without saying that business decision makers experienced as enterprise developers know the five steps for working through projects shown below. Some may see the steps as an oversimplication; nevertheless, they stress the essentials that lead to successful project management. The same can be said about the several outlines of project steps for doing location work which are found in the introductory series: About Site Selection.

Finding and contacting the right resource and service providers from whom to gather information for making decisions during course of a project is a step in carrying out any well organized plan. Effective communicators announce their projects in ways that get the attention of contacts so that they are motivated to respond in a timely manner. One of the key elements of a project profile is an announcement of its activity stage. The following three stages are indications of the what, for example, location data suppliers might like to know about a project.

tentative stage:

... the time for makeing a decision about whether there will be a project and, if so, the time for planning. Networks need to be put together if they do not already exist. The information gathering process begins at this stage. Before reaching out for information, however, smart enterprise developers and site selectors develop confidentiality strategies. Resource and service providers sometimes refer to prospects as suspects at this stage.

preliminary stage: (a plan that has funding for moving forward as a project)

... a project exists because someone has made the decison to to spend time and money pursuing its objectives. As in the tentative stage, information continues to be gathered and analyzed but the focus is now on meeting specifications in the case of an enterprise development project. Specifications are details of the wants and needs that are to be satisfied before it can be said that the project is concluded.be two parts everthing that has to do with organizing before time is of the essence at every step falls into this preliminary stage. It is the time to have a project profile firmly in hand and supported by specificatons separated intowhat is wanted but not essential from that which is absolutely necessary to make it feasible to continue step to step.

The preliminary stage is when all of the searching for potential resource and service providers gets done and serious networking begins to tie down relationships with top-choice candidates. It's also the most intense information gathering stageinformation about what looks as if it may match with wants and needs on the one hand and information that feeds into the continuous analysis of project feasibility. Pulling together information and analyzing it as well as targeting contacts for working relationships are short-listing.processes (see the definition of short-list).

networking to build potential projectrelationships tscope of project which includes selection criteria if it has a site location componentsee the .network resource paper, An Introduction to the Enterprise Development Process, where the four essential categories of selection criteria are discussed. A project of preliminary status should undergo continuous feasibility analysis. Time and money are at risk in the preliminary stage which is likely to last three months, at least, before moving to active project status.

project status: active with a established time-line for making critical decisions.

Having an active project means (1) time is of the essence and (2) information on which decisions are based had better be reliable. Also, contacts should be screened for building trust in presentations and promises. Active status is a time to be dealing directly with location development representatives, especially to negotiate incentives and other investment reductions. It also a time to focus on specific real estate sites or properties, for example, available buildings. It's also time to short-list competing locations, sites and facilities of interest.

There is no rule-of-thumb for how long a project should be active but having a time-line that is as short as possible is useful. This is especially true if there are confidential plans and activities.

The three stages of site selection project status for location work listed above should help you gain cooperation within almost any site selection network. The question below will help you zero in on resource and service providers.

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Who wants to know the status of your status of a project?

Those who provide the resources and services for moving enterprise development projects along will want to know up front what they are getting involved in. Site selection is a process of enterprise development. Generally enterprise developers and site selectors with serious projects are expected to provide status information to location data suppliers, especially, if they expect to request assistance in addition to information.

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Are free services available for enterprise development and site selection?

Representatives of locations that seriously seek economic development generally offer information and assistance as a free service. In spite of fact that services may vary in quality, marketing locations for economic development is highly competitive.

The Network advocates the building of an enterprise development network or site selection network at the outset of a project that includes area developers and local development representatives. At the very least, doing so will provide the necessary insight for selecting resource and service providers who are worthwhile contacts. The Network is designed specifically to help you find resource and service providers. It is a free-access resource for enterprise developers and site selectors to discreetly use. It is a worthwhile online information service because of its unique search promise underscoring an unbiased MO.

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quotes from a guide to enterprise development and site selection basics:

How does the introduction to enterprise development basics start out?

The Site Selection Directory default page (of the .network hub you are now using) has links for getting started with site selection and enterprise development. Site selection is work done within an enterprise development project. It's location work. Before there can be a project, however, there needs to be a plan that addresses issues such as financingsee business plan. / go back / source

What does an enterprise developer do?

The enterprise developer takes the risks that control the process.

Enterprise developers may step into the process as hands-on leaders of projects. For example, an enterprise developer may wear the hat of a site selector. An enterprise developer may work solo, run a small business or manage a large, fast growing company. All enterprise developers are members of the target audience of The Network as they make plans and go about moving forward with projects for expansions, relocations, new-ventures, and achieving excellence. Success to a great extent depends on skillful risk management.

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enterprise development (5 steps:)

(1) Start with a plan that makes in possible to write a project profile with specifications.

(2) Target resource and service providers.

(3) Distribute your profile/specifications and begin gathering information for making decisions.

(4) Create a network. Negotiate and reduce its size until you have project team in place.

(5) Pay attention to risk management. Work the plan making a feasibility analysis at each step.

Too much is at risk during the typical enterprise development project for the business decision maker to work in isolation. Networks can be important for seeking advice and bouncing ideas off of experienced business associates as well as simply being the ... group targeted by a business decision maker for purposes of gathering information and proposals, and negotiating, in order to form a team of outside contacts who will work together at various stages of a project (source of quote). Stating that too much is at risk is also a reminder that confidentiality protection should be considered at the outset of a project.

Paying attention to risk management means it's probably a good idea to not linger in negotiations when time is of the essence. Experienced enterprise developers confirm promises and incentive offers. It may not be feasible, for example, to continue to focus a project on a particular location when it becomes known that a promise implied or incentive offered during real estate negotiations was only part of a sales pitch. Smart enterprise developers keep track of their cost latitudes.

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how a project ends:

A projec ends when the enterprise developer or some other authority says it is. An enterprise development project reaching a successful conclusion does so because whatever is accepted as satisfactory is measured against specifications, which are not necessarily the same as those set forth at the outset. Also, a well run concluded A site selection or other type of enterprise development project should be ended when it becomes obvious that an acceptable level of success is not possible. Killing a project is slang for an ending without an interest in reviving it. Shelving a project is slang for bringing things to a hault but leaving information and a record of its progress in place for future use or reactivatoin. The end point for a successful site location project is recognizable when a place of interest and/or real estate that matches selection criteria is found and it appears a deal can be struck.

In the case of an enterprise development project other than one that involves location work the business decision maker may use a time-line to move towards completion. Projects may have specifications or objectives for benchmarking progress. For example, an undertaking to raise the bar of excellence may be measured against a production standard in the latter case.

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Enterprise development and business development can mean the same thing. If you prefer the latter but want a definition, the one for enterprise development should suffice. Here part of a sentence from the definition has the words enterprise and business switched: (Business) development is the type of (enterprise) development that includes all activities to expand, enlarge, improve, locate, or start up a (business) ... (source). Business development, on the other hand, generally has more to do with promotional efforts and attempts by sales people to build and maintain working relationships than with what the quote points out. An explanation by Wikipedia brings the marketing aspect of business development to the forefront. CLICK HERE to read our (who we are) policy regarding use of .network resources for business development.

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incentive offers:

Although incentive is defined in the .network glossary, the following link is provided to an online reprint of an article in a 2005 issue of a site selection magazine. The reprint is titled: Incentives: Part of Business Location Decision. Business Xpansion Journal is the name of the magazine.

The .network Site Selection Directory provides a summary of important things that site selectors should consider laid out in a 10-step sequence. It comments on incentives as a part of fieldwork. Incentive offers may, however, come into play as early as when site location work is being done for a tentative project and the process of gathering location data for comparative analyses is just beginning. This is especially true when data gathering is done online. So called economic development incentives are often included along with community profiles at the websites of area and local development representatives. The fact that incentive offers are published doesn't necessarily preclude deal-making.

More about incentives can be found by using links provided in the answer to questions put to The Network about the best way to find site selection resources online. Also, here is a partial quote from the definition of location search: ... sixty-five percent of enterprise developers who apparently use the websites of economic development organizations can have an online resource at their fingertips. The percentage is a reference to a study that indicates well over half of enterprise developers look for information about economic development incentives at the websites of area and local development representatives.

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Site Selection Directory announcements:

... project profiles with one or more response items (specifications) published online for viewing by resource and/or service providers. They may also be distributed with or without being published online by using services that go along with the Site Selection Directory. Resource and service providers interested in responding to a specific announcement in the directory see it more of less as a request for proposal. Most site selection project announcements made in the Site Selection Directory are calls for responses from location data suppliers. Those who are considering taking advantage of the offer of a free webpage for making an announcement should take a look at the three phases of project status suggested above (page up).

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Using the search tool at the top of this page we Googled for ... manufacturers information network. We then include Australia in the keyword combination and came up with Smart Link.net.AU (National Institute for manufacturing management). Before searching for Australia we found the website of the Tooling and Manufacturing Association. TMA is a manufacturers' information network because among industry related links it listed associations and societies.

Appendix B of the .network glossary has more information about various types of networks.

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The resource paper, An Introduction to the Enterprise Development Process, has been replaced by About Enterprise Development in Site Location Assistance.com select either link for access to resources. Also, there are resources on this page (page up) beginning with comments about project planning and wrapping up with thoughs about how a project ends.

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