Winning development agencies develop dedicated value propositions

Economic development agencies all over the world often present themselves in the same way: brochures, interactive websites, regular e-mail updates about always crucial new investments, flash drives with – if printed – hundreds of pages of background information. But who really reads this? Which potential investor gets convinced by supply driven information? Buck Consultants International helps economic development organizations, whether it is on a city, regional, state or country level with the right answer: dedicated value propositions.

Value proposition

Value propositions refer to the set of benefits or values that a region promises to deliver to potential investors to satisfy their need. The Buck Consultants International approach to developing value propositions consists of 6 elements, whether it is for a biotech park, an automotive region, an inland distribution center or an airport cargo site:

• Focus: who is your target group? Understanding : what are the exact requirements and location criteria of the chosen target group?
• Solution: what is the answer to the requirements of the potential investors?
• Benefits: how does your target benefit from locating in your region? Think about costs, quality of the business environment, risks, flexibility
• Differentiation: how does your target benefit from locating in your region in comparison with other regions?
• Support: how can you facilitate (e.g. expertise, contact network, incentives)?

Technology Example

Instead of executing a marketing action based on an in-depth traditional supply oriented inside-out documents Buck Consultants International has been very successful in assisting regions and cities with outside-in value propositions in various technology fields, such as biotech, medtech, high-tech systems, new energy sources. A technology value proposition consists of four steps:

Step 1

Focus on technology niches, based on the regional availability of technologies, knowledge, products/materials and/or facilities

Step 2

Develop a value proposition (about 30 PowerPoint slides) through desk research and interviews with all relevant stakeholders, academic leaders, technology experts and leading companies in that particular technology niche. Answer (crucial) questions like: in what technology niches are our universities, Centers of Excellence, technology institutes and companies really world class?

Step 3

Based on size, growth and technology leadership identify companies who should have your region/cluster on their radar screen.

Step 4

Get in touch with target companies to show them how your region can help them to cope with their business and innovation challenges.

Buck Consultants International has developed technology value propositions for regions in a.o. Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium.