EDO

• Skills required for an Economic Development Officer (EDO)

  • People skills - working with a variety of individuals and organizations in the community, negotiating, developing partnerships and networking
  • Communication skills - developing and delivering public presentations, public and media relations, developing communications plan
  • Technical expertise - knowledge of the economic development process, skills in business planning, facilitation, project development and project management
  • Clerical skills - computer skills, basic accounting, website management, etc.
  • Flexibility - to adapt to change and new ideas
  • Planning expertise - strategic plans and municipal plans
  • Marketing abilities - developing and implementing marketing and sales plans
• "The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do." (Michael Porter, economist & business strategy guru)
• Strategic planning


  Businesses identify their strengths and weaknesses and choose what not to do and which opportunities should be pursued
• Strategic planning


  Used to set up long-term goals and priorities for an organization
• Strategic plan


  A written document that outlines these goals
• Strategic planning


  Focused on long-term goals
• Tactical planning


  Focused on the short-term
• Vision statement


  Serves as your company's "North Star", helping to align your team and guiding your organization as it grows. It is your company's guiding beacon - it looks out to give perspective on the overarching reasons for your company's mission. It describes how your company seeks to impact and improve the world around it.
• Mission statement


  Describes what your company does in the present. It's comprised of three parts: what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.
• A project proposal is a document that outlines everything stakeholders need to know to initiate a project. It's a necessary first step towards getting a project off the ground.
• Sections of a project proposal

  • Executive Summary
  • Background/History
  • Requirements
  • Solution
  • Authorization
  • Appendix
• Steps in writing a project proposal

  1. Define the problem

  2. Present your solution

  3. Define your deliverables and success criteria

  4. State your plan or approach

  5. Outline your schedule and budget

  6. Tie it all together

  7. Edit or proofread your proposal
• 1. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
• Balanced Scorecard (BSC)


  The model can help businesses develop a customer focus
• Customers' concerns in the Balanced Scorecard

  • Time
  • Quality
  • Performance and service
  • Cost
• Putting the Balanced Scorecard to work

  1. Articulate goals for time, quality, and performance and service

  2. Translate these goals into specific measures
• Balanced Scorecard


  • Can be applied to different areas of the business, like sales, marketing, and operations
• Objectives and Key Results (OKR)


  This model is broken down into objectives and key results
• Objectives and Key Results (OKR)

  1. Organizations will determine three to five objectives

  2. List three to five key results below each objective
• Theory of Change


  This method requires you to think backward and identify the conditions that are necessary for you to achieve your goals
• Theory of Change


  1. Used for goal setting

  2. Building a team

  3. Planning an initiative

  4. Developing an action plan
• Strategy Map


  A visual tool designed to clearly communicate a strategic plan and achieve high-level business goals
• Strategy mapping


  • It is a major part of the Balanced Scorecard (though it isn't exclusive to the BSC)
  • It offers an excellent way to communicate the high-level information across your organization in an easily digestible format
• Benefits of a strategy map

  • It provides a simple, clean, visual representation that is easily referred back to
  • It unifies all goals into a single strategy
  • It gives every employee a clear goal to keep in mind while accomplishing tasks and measures
  • It helps identify your key goals
  • It allows you to better understand which elements of your strategy need work
  • It helps you see how your objectives affect the others
• VRIO Framework


  A tool used to identify the competitive advantages of your product or service
• Elements of the VRIO Framework

  • Value: Does it provide value to customers?
  • Rarity: Do you have control over a rare resource or piece of technology?
  • Imitability: Can it easily be copied by competitors?
  • Organization: Does your business have the operations and systems in place to capitalize on its resources?
• Issue-Based Strategic Model


  A strategic model that is oriented in the present and projects into the future, aiming to identify the major challenges your organization faces now
• Issue-based Model

  • It is typically a short-term (6-12 months), internally focused process
  • It is ideal for young or resource-restricted organizations
• Goal-Based Strategic Planning


  A strategic planning approach that works backward from the future to the present, starting with the organization's vision
• Goal-based planning


  • It sets measurable goals that align with vision and strategic plan
  • Goal time frames are typically about three to five years
  • Stakeholders will create action plans for each goal and begin tracking and measuring progress
• Alignment Strategic Planning Tool

  A strategic planning model that focuses on first looking internally to develop a strategy, designed to sync the organization's internal operations with its strategic goals
• Alignment strategic planning


  • It starts by identifying a goal and analyzing which operations or resources need to be aligned with that goal
  • It identifies which parts of operations are working well and which are not, brainstorming ideas from the successful aspects on how to address problems
  • It creates a series of proposed changes to operations or processes to achieve goals that will create the desired strategic alignment
• Organic Model


  A strategic planning approach that takes an unconventional approach, focusing on the organization's vision and values, versus plans and processes
• Organic model


  • It uses "natural," self-organizing systems that originate from the organization's values and then leverages its own resources to achieve goals
• Real Time Strategic Planning


  A strategic planning approach that involves three levels of strategy: Organizational, Programmatic, and Operational
• Levels of Real Time Strategic Planning

  • Organizational: Define the organization's mission, vision, market position, competitors, trends, etc.
  • Programmatic: Research the external environment to identify approaches and offerings that would help the organization achieve its mission
  • Operational: Analyze internal processes, systems, and personnel to develop a strategy that addresses in-house weaknesses and strengths
• 1. Research, preparation and development of project proposal based on the immersion.
  2. Primary Research is that done by the principal often through customer feedback, focus groups, surveys, etc.
  3. Secondary Research is most often a review of existing data such as Government data census data, Industry Analysis, trends, experts.
  4. As the feasibility study progresses, the idea may change and be refined and then re-analyzed.
  5. Four areas to look at carefully.
  6. Product or service feasibility
  7. Target Market Feasibility
  8. Organizational Feasibility
  9. Financial Feasibility
• Project proposal


  A document that outlines everything stakeholders need to know to initiate a project. It's a necessary first step towards getting a project off the ground.
• A project proposal is usually selected during the project intake process
• Well-written project proposal


  • Informs and persuades
  • Combines project management skills with research, data analysis, and copywriting