A Closer Look at Executive-Level Decision Making
April 18, 2018 | By: Steve Duncan
What would an economic developer give to be in the company boardroom during a site location process? Surely a left leg or right arm would be worth the intelligence gained from the complex discussions and the value it would bring to the business development process for years to come.
Yet, with each company having its own set of priorities, unique project preferences and different data sets, a fly on the wall in one executive suite might still come away with a completely different outlook than a fly on the wall of another. So where does that leave place marketers responsible for influencing decision-makers and generating leads?
With that question in mind, DCI prepared our latest Q Report titled, Know Your C-suite: A Closer Look at Executive-Level Decision-Making. We compiled various data points from existing research, a fresh survey to corporate real estate executives and a “persona” exercise focusing on key supporting roles within the executive team.
Some of the takeaways?
- Site selection decision-making teams in larger firms predominantly consist of approximately 5-10 team members.
- The CEO, CFO and COO lead the way as the site selection “point person,” but other key roles include regional VPs and divisional mangers, as well as the Chief Development Officer.
- Legal and real estate counsel are the most in-demand needs for larger firms.
- With workforce concerns among a company’s top priorities in a site selection process, “total quantity of labor in required occupations within a market” is the most important data point.
Download the report here for more on these discussion points, and for a series of deeper executive profiles on the COO, Chief People Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Information Officer roles.