This booklet describes the Purdue Center for Regional Development's Economic Gardening (EG) program.

1. Economic Gardening
Promoting Small Business Growth and Prosperity

2. The basics
01
Table of contents
Second stage companies
02
How it works
03
Examples
04

3. What is Economic
Gardening?
Where did it originate?
the
basics

4. 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 $50 million in annual revenues and
with the interest in a capacity to grow.
The basics
section 01

5. 5
Where did the Economic Gardening
approach originate?
Purdue Center for Regional Development
(PCRD)’s team has been trained by Chris
Gibbons 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.

6. What are second stage
companies?
Why focus on second
stage companies?
second
stage
companies

7. 7
What are second stage companies?
Generating at least
$750,000 but not more
than $50 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. 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. mall businesses are the primary driver of
job growth in Indiana. In fact, existing second stage businesses
generated 36%* of all new jobs in Indiana between 2010 and 2015.
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

9. How does Economic
Gardening work?
how
it works

10. 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.

11. Analyzing geographic
expansion
Migrating marketing
efforts to the internet
How PCRD partners
examples

12. 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. 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. 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

15. For more information,
please contact Jennifer
Helfrich, PCRD
Program Manager, at
helfrich@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.