MONROE - In the midst of an historic economic downturn, Green County Development Corporation is sharpening its focus on helping existing businesses recover and local communities retain employers - a shift that's reflected in its 2011 budget.
With as much as 75 percent of job growth and capital investment coming from companies already in a community, "business retention is not to be taken lightly," said Anna Schramke, GCDC's executive director. "Business retention surveys lead us to more action, so we don't lose that company or miss an opportunity for growth."
When it comes to budget line items, business retention and community preparedness activities - as well as smaller increases for start-up and new business development - add up to $32,000 for 2011, representing more than 18 percent of GCDC's total budget of $176,000.
The same activities used $2,700 in 2010, less than 2 percent of GCDC's total budget of $167,000.
At the same time, GCDC reduced its 2011 costs for the recruitment of - and marketing to - new companies to $10,000, a 44 percent drop from $18,000 in 2010. The change comes as GCDC is placing more emphasis on retaining and growing existing businesses, particularly small businesses with less than 100 employees, according Schramke.
Thus, GCDC budgeted $15,000 to help existing local businesses next year, a ten-fold increase from 2010.
Businesses are now looking at alternative markets and alternative products, all good signs for the local economy, said Schramke.
"They are looking at what they are good at and how to expand," Schramke said.
To support that business trend, GCDC is budgeting another $15,000 for community preparedness, 25 times more than the $600 budgeted last year.
Community preparedness helps communities evaluate what they have to offer companies and to develop ways to expand and market those assets, including developing a business-friendly mindset, said Schramke.
The two major budget increases are supported by funding from private investors.
GCDC funding is derived mostly from public contributions (64 percent) and from public investors (31 percent). About 3 percent comes from grants.
Public contributions, totaling about $112,000 from county, city and village governments in 2011, go to maintain staff and office expenses at GCDC. Private investor funding is used mainly for the corporation's projects and activities.
The move to focus on existing businesses is not unusual among community economic developers.
Communities across the nation are changing the way they compete for businesses and jobs - helping to grow existing businesses and encouraging the formation of new businesses, rather than trying to attract companies, according to J. Mac Holladay, the CEO of Market Street Services in Atlanta, Ga.
Holladay was the key note speaker at the Thrive's third annual "State of the Madison Region Summit," which Schramke attended Nov. 9 in Madison. Thrive is an economic development enterprise encompassing Dane County and the seven counties that surround it, including Green County.
" ... Compared to the 2001-2003 recession, when 8 percent of the jobs were lost by companies with fewer than 50 employees, 41 percent of the jobs have been lost by small businesses this time," said Holladay. "Combine that with very extreme credit issues, and small business growth becomes a big question mark."
Green County didn't lose as many jobs during the recent recession as did other counties in the state, Schramke said.
"(Green County) businesses prepared properly (for the recession), and it didn't catch them by surprise," Schramke said. "There weren't as many layoffs as there could have been."
In a GCDC survey of Green County businesses during the spring of 2010, about half of the 44 respondents indicated the recession had less impact on their businesses than projected, or was close to projections, while 11 percent (5) said they did better than other businesses in their industry and 36 percent (16) saw a great impact than expected.
Of the responding businesses, 55 percent (24) did not reduce their employment levels, and 14 percent actually increased employee numbers. More than a quarter of respondents (12) did lay off workers, and 10 of those do not expect to recall their workers any time soon.
According to the 2010 Thrive report on the economic state of the Madison region, 25,000 people lost jobs, a 4.8 percent drop in employment, between 2007 and 2009. About 800 people in Green County lost jobs during the same period, which represented a 4.1 percent drop in employment, but state and county unemployment numbers do not include farming operations.
Green County's connection to food industries helps stave off unemployment swings, according to Schramke.
Between 2008 and 2010, Green County's unemployment rate stayed one-tenth to one-half percentage point below the average rate in Thrive's eight-county region.
"We didn't have the really highs and lows, and that helps a lot," Schramke said.
During the 2008-10 recession, 76 percent of Green County's unemployment rate was tied to the automotive industry, said Schramke.
Many Green County residents worked at the Janesville General Motors plant, which shut down in December 2008, and the ripple effect hit smaller business that made parts for automobiles, such as Woodbridge in Brodhead, which produced vehicle seat cushions.
The county is starting to see a rebound, said Schramke.
Stoughton Trailers in Brodhead has hired back 100 people, and Kuhn North America, also in Brodhead, has hired back 70 percent of its laid off workforce so far. Kuhn had employed 500 people and laid off 200 during the recession.
With GCDC survey results and access to other business statistics, Schramke said she can identify which companies to watch and which might need help. Surveys and one-on-one calls to business also point her to the needs of local companies, or to the needs of other companies they work with, such as suppliers and buyers.
With as much as 75 percent of job growth and capital investment coming from companies already in a community, "business retention is not to be taken lightly," said Anna Schramke, GCDC's executive director. "Business retention surveys lead us to more action, so we don't lose that company or miss an opportunity for growth."
When it comes to budget line items, business retention and community preparedness activities - as well as smaller increases for start-up and new business development - add up to $32,000 for 2011, representing more than 18 percent of GCDC's total budget of $176,000.
The same activities used $2,700 in 2010, less than 2 percent of GCDC's total budget of $167,000.
At the same time, GCDC reduced its 2011 costs for the recruitment of - and marketing to - new companies to $10,000, a 44 percent drop from $18,000 in 2010. The change comes as GCDC is placing more emphasis on retaining and growing existing businesses, particularly small businesses with less than 100 employees, according Schramke.
Thus, GCDC budgeted $15,000 to help existing local businesses next year, a ten-fold increase from 2010.
Businesses are now looking at alternative markets and alternative products, all good signs for the local economy, said Schramke.
"They are looking at what they are good at and how to expand," Schramke said.
To support that business trend, GCDC is budgeting another $15,000 for community preparedness, 25 times more than the $600 budgeted last year.
Community preparedness helps communities evaluate what they have to offer companies and to develop ways to expand and market those assets, including developing a business-friendly mindset, said Schramke.
The two major budget increases are supported by funding from private investors.
GCDC funding is derived mostly from public contributions (64 percent) and from public investors (31 percent). About 3 percent comes from grants.
Public contributions, totaling about $112,000 from county, city and village governments in 2011, go to maintain staff and office expenses at GCDC. Private investor funding is used mainly for the corporation's projects and activities.
The move to focus on existing businesses is not unusual among community economic developers.
Communities across the nation are changing the way they compete for businesses and jobs - helping to grow existing businesses and encouraging the formation of new businesses, rather than trying to attract companies, according to J. Mac Holladay, the CEO of Market Street Services in Atlanta, Ga.
Holladay was the key note speaker at the Thrive's third annual "State of the Madison Region Summit," which Schramke attended Nov. 9 in Madison. Thrive is an economic development enterprise encompassing Dane County and the seven counties that surround it, including Green County.
" ... Compared to the 2001-2003 recession, when 8 percent of the jobs were lost by companies with fewer than 50 employees, 41 percent of the jobs have been lost by small businesses this time," said Holladay. "Combine that with very extreme credit issues, and small business growth becomes a big question mark."
Green County didn't lose as many jobs during the recent recession as did other counties in the state, Schramke said.
"(Green County) businesses prepared properly (for the recession), and it didn't catch them by surprise," Schramke said. "There weren't as many layoffs as there could have been."
In a GCDC survey of Green County businesses during the spring of 2010, about half of the 44 respondents indicated the recession had less impact on their businesses than projected, or was close to projections, while 11 percent (5) said they did better than other businesses in their industry and 36 percent (16) saw a great impact than expected.
Of the responding businesses, 55 percent (24) did not reduce their employment levels, and 14 percent actually increased employee numbers. More than a quarter of respondents (12) did lay off workers, and 10 of those do not expect to recall their workers any time soon.
According to the 2010 Thrive report on the economic state of the Madison region, 25,000 people lost jobs, a 4.8 percent drop in employment, between 2007 and 2009. About 800 people in Green County lost jobs during the same period, which represented a 4.1 percent drop in employment, but state and county unemployment numbers do not include farming operations.
Green County's connection to food industries helps stave off unemployment swings, according to Schramke.
Between 2008 and 2010, Green County's unemployment rate stayed one-tenth to one-half percentage point below the average rate in Thrive's eight-county region.
"We didn't have the really highs and lows, and that helps a lot," Schramke said.
During the 2008-10 recession, 76 percent of Green County's unemployment rate was tied to the automotive industry, said Schramke.
Many Green County residents worked at the Janesville General Motors plant, which shut down in December 2008, and the ripple effect hit smaller business that made parts for automobiles, such as Woodbridge in Brodhead, which produced vehicle seat cushions.
The county is starting to see a rebound, said Schramke.
Stoughton Trailers in Brodhead has hired back 100 people, and Kuhn North America, also in Brodhead, has hired back 70 percent of its laid off workforce so far. Kuhn had employed 500 people and laid off 200 during the recession.
With GCDC survey results and access to other business statistics, Schramke said she can identify which companies to watch and which might need help. Surveys and one-on-one calls to business also point her to the needs of local companies, or to the needs of other companies they work with, such as suppliers and buyers.