EDC Taking A SWOT At Attracting New Businesses

By John Voket

The average person may hear the word “swat” and think it involves shooing something away. But when it comes to the local Economic Development Commission, its upcoming “SWOT” session is designed to do just the opposite — attract many more new and appropriate businesses into Newtown.

According to Newtown Economic Development Commission member Robert Rau, one of the objectives of the EDC is to serve as and advocate for businesses in Newtown. In addition, the EDC is responsible for supporting orderly economic development while always keeping in mind the character of the town.

In order to assist with the facilitation of these objectives, the EDC is seeking the insights of local business people about doing business in Newtown in the form of a scheduled SWOT analysis session.

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective.

The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

Information gathered from the EDC’s upcoming strategic planning session will be used to develop recommendations to improve Newtown’s business climate for existing businesses and work toward making Newtown more attractive to start-ups and relocating businesses.

The EDC encourages anyone who owns and/or runs a business in Newtown, including home occupations, agriculture businesses, personal services, restaurants, retailers, manufacturers and all others, to participate in this strategic planning session Thursday, October 23, from 7 to 9 pm, at the Booth Library.

The activity is being supported and organized by EDC member Catherine Adsitt.

According to Ms Adsitt, the business representatives will be divided into small working groups and will be asked to answer a set of questions that the commission determined to be important to strategic planning.

The responses of each group will be recorded, discussed, and summarized to reach a consensus.

The commission will take the information from the session and set out to address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that have been identified during the session. 

The SWOT is aiming to provide opportunities for participating local business stakeholders to share insights about doing business in Newtown.

Armed with the SWOT outcomes, the EDC can then better pursue its action plan of attracting new businesses to Newtown by identifying the types of businesses most desirable for Newtown, whose tax revenue is greater than the cost of town services.

The commissioners can achieve this goal using the SWOT analysis, then matching those businesses identified as most desirable for Newtown, and businesses that would target a community like Newtown as desirable for its enterprise.

Ms Adsitt believes that the EDC can use SWOT analyses to determine ways to make Newtown more desirable for businesses that may be entertaining Newtown as a operating location, but are currently not a match.

The EDC can then identify the key factors important to these businesses in site selection, again using information provided through SWOT analyses.

The commissioners would then develop a plan to maximize the appeal of Newtown, and finally, prepare and implement a market plan targeted at those selected businesses.

Persons interested in attending should RSVP by sending an email to EDC@newtown.org, or by calling the Economic Development Commissions at 270-9415.