Sheboygan Co. Economic Development Corporation: Launches business retention survey blitz

Effort Aimed at Visiting Over 200 Sheboygan County Companies

Building upon business retention and expansion successes in 2010, the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) is leading an effort to contact and visit 225 companies throughout Sheboygan County. The SCEDC is proactively reaching out to companies in targeted industry sectors, or companies identified as being prime candidates for high employment growth within the next ten years, in order to gather opinions and data on local business conditions. Backed by almost 30 volunteers, the effort will occur through June 30, 2011. Volunteers will schedule meetings with selected company executives and conduct a detailed survey regarding local business issues and opportunities.

According to the SCEDC’s Executive Director, Patrick Drinan, the program is designed to emphasize the importance of local business retention and to establish communications with area companies. “Business retention activities tend to achieve high returns on investment,” said Drinan. “The vast majority of job growth is derived from the expansion of local businesses. Our coordinated outreach program is an important step in an effort to identify business issues, identify growth and employment opportunities, and provide valuable resources to existing companies in Sheboygan County to help them achieve success.”

Information gathered during the visits will be kept private, though the aggregated survey data will be shared with the public later this year. SCEDC officials hope the information allows them to be more responsive to issues facing local companies and in recruiting others to open or expand here.

“This effort serves as an early warning system for the SCEDC, to help identify companies that may be leaving, the challenges they are facing, or opportunities where they might be constrained for space and looking for opportunities to grow,” Drinan said. “It puts us in a position to proactively provide resources to help business leaders address those issues.”

For Additional Information, Contact:

Patrick Drinan, Executive Director

Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation

(920) 452-2350

The Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation is a countywide private/public partnership, leading economic development efforts to improve the economic well-being and long-term prosperity of the businesses, residents, and communities of Sheboygan County, through collaborative retention, expansion, and attraction efforts for business and employment development.