Economic GardeningA Business-Growth Approach to Regional Prosperity

The basics

01

Table of contents

Second stage companies

02

How it works

03Examples

04

What is Economic

Gardening?

Where did it originate?

thebasics

4

What is Economic Gardening?

Just as a gardener carefully tends their plants, Economic Gardening

represents an economic development approach focused on

company growth.

Economic Gardening accelerates the growth of smaller Indiana companies by

linking them more closely with the assets of Purdue University.

Economic Gardening does not concentrate on start-up companies in their

first stage of growth. Rather, Economic Gardening focuses on second stage,

growth-oriented companies, typically with between 10 and 100 employees,

between $750,000 and $10 million in annual revenues and with the interest

in a capacity to grow.

The basics

section 01

5

Where did the Economic Gardening approach originate?

Purdue Center for Regional Development

(PCRD)’s team has been trained by Chris and

is fully-certified by NCEG to do this work.

The basics

section 01

Chris Gibbons pioneered Economic Gardening

when he led economic development for Littleton,

Colorado, in the 1980s.

During the 20 years that Chris implemented

Economic Gardening in Colorado, jobs grew

from 15,000 to 30,000 and sales tax

revenue grew from $6 million to $21 million.

A few years ago, Chris partnered with the

Edward Lowe Foundation to establish the National

Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG) to teach

others how to do this work.

What are second stage

companies?

Why focus on second stage

companies?

second stage

companies

7

What are second stage companies?

Generating at least

$750,000 but not more

than $10 million in

annual revenue

Second stage companies

section 02

Second-stage companies are defined as follows:

Being a for-profit

and privately held

business

Employing at least

10 people, but not

more than 100 people

Maintaining its

principal place of

business in Indiana for

at least the previous

two years

8

Why focus on second stage growth companies?

Second stage companies

section 02

Research shows that second stage companies whose top

management is committed to high-growth make a big difference

in growing an economy.

These smaller high-growth companies disproportionately contribute to

prosperity in our economy. In most communities and regions they account

for about 10 percent of all firms but 40 percent of all jobs. They create

more high-paying jobs for Hoosiers.

At the same time, these companies also need help. They need quick

access to the resources that will help them grow. Too often, they do not

have the organizational, financial or technical resources of larger

companies. Economic Gardening helps them fill these gaps quickly.

Second stage

companies account for

40 percent of all jobs in

most communities

How does Economic

Gardening work?

how it works

10

How does Economic Gardening work?

How it works

section 03

As companies grow past the initial start-up,

managers need to develop more

disciplined business practices.

This step includes more formal procedures and

systems, including a more rigorous approach to

innovation, product development and market

development.

These challenges are sophisticated, and many

companies in this second stage do not have the

resources in place to develop the more

disciplined business practices internally.

Companies can stay in the second stage for a

long, long time.

That’s where Economic Gardening comes in.

An Economic Gardening team can work

with management to diagnose issues and

opportunities and quickly find the gaps

that need filling and realize the

opportunities that need seizing.

The team can respond to these needs by

calling on the resources anchored by

Purdue and its partners.

Analyzing geographic

expansion

Migrating marketing efforts

to the internet

How PCRD partners

examples

12

Can you give me an example?

Examples

section 04

Take the example of a craft brewer of beer that has established a

stable position in the local market.

Top management sees opportunities to expand regionally. Yet, they do not

have a rigorous method in place to identify or evaluate adjacent geographic

markets.

They know that a great deal of data are available. These data can be more

easily analyzed on maps, yet the company does not have internal staff to

map the data.

The Economic Gardening team can take on this project and provide a more

rigorous approach to analyze the best path for geographic expansion.

13

How about another example?

Examples

section 04

Take the example of developing a more

formal approach to marketing.

Marketing is different from sales. Most

companies develop their marketing capabilities

as they grow their sales.

The purpose of marketing is to engage different

potential customers to make them aware and

interested of the company and its offerings.

As awareness grows and potential customers

identify themselves to the company, the sales

function can take over.

Many early-stage, high-growth firms do not have

these skills readily available to them.

An Economic Gardening team can guide firms

through the integration of marketing and the

Internet.

Increasingly,

marketing is taking

place through the

Internet.

This new

technology

platform, while

powerful, requires

a sophisticated

set of skills.

14

How does PCRD partner with local and regional economic development organizations?

Examples

section 04

Local and regional economic development

organizations are PCRD’s primary partners in

Economic Gardening.

PCRD works with and through these organizations to

select the second stage firms that participate in

Economic Gardening.

PCRD works hand-in-hand with economic development

professionals to help them identify the second stage

firms in their area, decide on a second stage firm

strategy that makes sense and then execute the

program.

PCRD helps local organizations

identify second stage firms in

their area

Together they decide on a second

stage firm strategy that makes

sense

Local organizations execute the

strategy program

1 2 3

For more information,

please contact Scott

Hutcheson, PCRD

Senior Associate, at

hutcheson@purdue.edu

765-494-7273

The Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD) seeks to pioneer

new ideas and strategies that contribute to regional collaboration,

innovation and prosperity.