Regina Executive Leadership Outlook Q2 2017

Regina Executive Leadership Outlook Quarterly Report June 2017

Table of Contents Executive Summary

3

Economic Outlook

4

Executive Confidence Index

4

Current Conditions

4

Survey Highlights

5

Innovation and Research & Development

6

Conclusion

14

About the Report

15

Survey

15

Executive Interviews

15

Executive Summary The second quarter 2017 edition of the Regina Executive Leadership Outlook (RELO) features an impressive Executive Confidence Index along with the feature report on Innovation, and Research & Development.

According to the study, executives in the GRA believe that a commitment to innovation must be clearly defined and supported within the province.

Innovation is flourishing in communities and businesses in the province.

Respondents signaled government to align targeted funding with existing community projects focused on innovation. Such an approach would foster scalability. Executives stressed new policies to support innovation and a reduction of government red-tape would be a welcome support.

This edition illustrates the forward thinking business community in the Greater Regina Area (GRA), which contributes to our sustained economic growth.

Executives surveyed believe that innovation and R&D are a key component to their organization’s competitive advantage in everything from customer interaction to new product development. These new developments and strategic decisions continue to ensure organizational sustainability.

This quarter’s Executive Confidence Index is at an all-time high of 2.31, an increase of 10 points from the previous quarter. This rating demonstrates renewed and enhanced optimism from GRA executives, signaling perception that the economy is heading toward recovery.

Over half of respondents rate the current economy as likely to perform better next year. Business uncertainty from the previous quarter is subsiding. Over half (58%) respondents expect sales revenue to increase and 36.6% expect profitability to increase over the coming year.

With a strong outlook for the next 12 months and the uncertainty removed, executives are looking for the GRA economy to recover and flourish in the coming year.

The GRA’s competitive edge is enhanced by our business leaders’ continual focus on innovation and research & development (R&D).

Executives believe that to be innovation is everyone’s job within their organization. Executives stressed that focusing on innovation often means a tolerance for taking risks, making mistakes and most importantly, learning quickly.

3

This rating demonstrates renewed and enhanced optimism from GRA executives.

Economic Outlook Executive Confidence Index

Current Conditions

The Executive Confidence Index is a single statistic calculated to gauge leadership confidence in the future economy. It is an average taken from a series of questions asking executives to look ahead 12 months.

These questions ask executives about the future of the GRA’s economy, their business’ future investments, future number of employees, future sales revenue, and future profitability. In each question, a numeric value is assigned to a verbal response. A value of ‘1’ indicates an expected decrease. A value of ‘2’ indicates an expectation of the status quo, while a value of ‘3’ indicates an expected increase.

A calculation similar to the Executive Confidence Index reports executives’ perception of today’s economic conditions as compared to one year ago. In the second quarter of 2017, executives rate the current economic condition of their business as compared to one year ago, at 1.88. This is under the neutral mark of 2, and 3 points lower than in the previous quarter.

Compared to Q1 2017, there is a 22.2% increase in respondents that expect the economy to perform better. 40.5% believe that the economy will remain the same.

This statistic has equal weight across all five economic questions.

The result is an average of all responses. In this calculation, the lowest possible result is 1.0 and the highest possible result is 3.0. A result above 2.0 means that executives are optimistic about the economic outlook for their business, while a result under 2.0 means that executives are pessimistic about the economic outlook for their business.

The “current conditions index” of 1.88, which is only 3 points above the lowest point recorded.

2.5

2.23

In the second quarter of 2017, the Executive Confidence Index is 2.31, the highest confidence index to-date over the past six quarters.

This number represents an increase of 10 points (2.21) from the last survey conducted in the first quarter of 2017.

2.23 2.08

2.11

1.87

1.85

2016 Q2

2016 Q3

2.0

2.01

1.98

2.21

2.31

1.91

1.88

2017 Q1

2017 Q2

1.5 2.5

2.23

2.23 2.08

2.11

2.21

2.31 1.0

2016 Q1

2.0 Outlook next 12 months Current Conditions Index – Today as compared to 12 months ago 1.5

1.0

www.praxis-consulting.ca

2016 Q1

2016 Q2

2016 Q3

2016 Q4

2017 Q1

2017 Q2

4

2016 Q4

Survey Highlights

In the next 12 months, will your firm’s total FIXED INVESTMENTS…

Executive Confidence Index is 2.31, up 10 points from the previous quarter results. This is the highest confidence index since inception of RELO (past six quarters) and indicates optimism in the future economy.

More than half (54.8%) of the respondents believe the current economy is performing worse than one year ago. 42.9% feel the economy is doing about the same.

Q1 2017

Q2 2017

% Change

Decrease

15.9

10.0

-37.1

Stay the same

45.5

50.0

9.9

Increase

38.6

40.0

3.6

In the next 12 months, will the number of people your firm EMPLOYS…

Most (90.0%) respondents expect their business’ fixed investments to increase or stay the same over the next 12 months.

40.0% of participants expect their investments to increase over the next 12 months.

41.5% of respondents expect to employ more people over the next year, which has increased (from 32.6%) since last quarter.

The largest majority (43.9%) anticipate having the same number of employees over the next 12 months.

Q1 2017

Q2 2017

% Change

Decrease

16.3

14.6

-10.4

Stay the same

51.2

43.9

-14.2

Increase

32.6

41.5

27.3

In the next 12 months, will your firm’s sales REVENUE…

Over half (58.5%) expect sales revenue to increase in the next 12 months. This is 14.5% higher when compared to last quarter (51.1%).

More than half (51.2%) expect their business profitability to remain the same over the next year, while 36.6% expect their profitability to increase. 12.2% expect a decrease, which is lower than last quarter, when 20.5% expected a decrease.

The following tables demonstrate the percentage change in responses from last quarter. There is a substantial increase in the level of optimism from Q1 2017 to Q2 2017, when looking ahead 12 months.

Q1 2017

Q2 2017

% Change

Decrease

17.8

12.2

-31.4

Stay the same

31.1

29.3

-5.8

Increase

51.1

58.5

14.5

In the next 12 months, will your firm’s PROFITABILITY…

5

Q1 2017

Q2 2017

% Change

Decrease

20.5

12.2

-40.4

Stay the same

45.5

51.2

12.8

Increase

34.0

36.6

7.6

Innovation and Research & Development SURVEY QUESTION:

To what degree do you believe innovation is linked to your competitive advantage? Please rate on a scale between 1 and 5; where 1 = innovation is not part of our competitive advantage and 5 = innovation is a critical part of our competitive advantage.

“ Innovation

doesn’t have to be in technology it can be about anything.

The positive mean response of 3.95/5.00 suggests that innovation is generally a key component to the competitive advantage to organizations surveyed. A large majority (69.1%) of organizations operating in the GRA believe innovation is important to their competitive advantage. Commentary from the leadership interviews suggests that innovation is pivotal to both organizational strategy as well as sustainability.

26.2%

˙

It’s our top burning priority

˙

In our industry it’s reinvent, disintermediate yourself or die

47.6%

50 40

10

35.7%

4.8% 30

0.0% 1

2

3

4

5

20

INTERVIEW COMMENTARY: ˙

Technology is a constantly changing landscape that you need to stay on top of. Innovation and R&D helps us stay ahead of the curve

˙

It is the most important part to be competitive as there are lots of options in our industry

www.economicdevelopmentregina.com

Our customers only care about the performance and the cost, R&D helps you get there

Organizations surveyed report they are slightly more innovative than their competition, as indicated by the mean response of 3.74.

Over half (61.9%) of organizations believe they are more innovative compared to other organizations in their same industry. Only 2.4% believe they are not as innovative. Just over one third (35.7%) believe that they are just as innovative as other organizations.

20

0

˙

How innovative is your organization relative to others in your industry? Please rate on a scale between 1 and 5; where 1 = not as innovative and 5 = much more innovative.

31.0% 30

How do you do more with less

SURVEY QUESTION:

38.1%

40

˙

14.3%

10

0.0% 0

6

1

2.4% 2

3

4

5

SURVEY QUESTION:

SURVEY QUESTION:

Who is accountable for innovation in your organization?

To what extent do economic conditions influence your spending on innovation and research & development?

Please select only one.

Almost three quarters (71.4%) of the organizations surveyed believe that innovation is everyone’s job within the organization.

While 40.5% of respondents indicate that economic conditions do not influence spending on innovation and R&D, a combined 50.0% report that they are influenced by the economy. No one invests less when the economy is strong.

71.4%

Innovation is everyone’s job in our organization

11.9%

We have a designated unit responsible for innovation and R&D

7.1%

We designate one lead person to be accountable We outsource innovation and R&D

2.4%

We have established a separate organization Other (please specify)

40.5%

Economic conditions don’t influence our spending in this area

0.0%

26.2%

We invest more when the economy is strong

7.1%

We invest less when the economy is weak 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

23.8%

8 We invest more when the economy is weak

Approximately what percentage of gross revenue does your organizational allocate to innovation?

0

In your opinion, what is the ideal percentage of gross revenue that should be allocated to innovation?

Currently just over half (55%) of organizations dedicate 0 - 10% of their budget to innovation. The data suggests that organizations surveyed desire to spend more on innovation.

55

Current per cent allocated Ideal per cent allocated

50 40

38

36

31

30

21

20

5

10

0 0

0-10%

0.0%

We invest less when the economy is strong

SURVEY QUESTIONS:

60

9.5%

10-20%

20-30%

2

30-40%

0

2

40-50%

5 5 50+%

7

1

2

3

4

5

“ Innovation

is expensive but wildly beneficial when it works.

It’s a flame that needs to be protected.

INTERVIEW COMMENTARY THEMES:

SURVEY QUESTION:

In your opinion what are the priority areas of your organization’s innovation and research & development efforts? Please rate on a scale between 1 and 5, 1 = very high priority and 5 = not at all a priority.

“ It’s about

leadership and culture around how the companies are run. We had a colossal failure and had a party.

www.praxis-consulting.ca

Customer Service ˙ The innovation comes through customer innovation. We are a high touch business where customers get a customized solution, so when the customers evolve we evolve too, it’s a balance between reactive and proactive.

When aggregating the data, customer service/engagement emerged as the highest priority area for innovation and R&D, followed by product improvement, new product development and sales & marketing. Almost half of respondents (47.6%) believe that customer service is of very high priority. At times innovation is not necessarily a focused effort, but an embraced opportunity.

PRIORITY AREA

˙

Product Improvement ˙ The concept is can we take what we learn somewhere and apply it elsewhere, its more product refinement than product development.

AVG. PRIORITY

Customer service/engagement

1.81

Product improvement

2.10

New product development

2.26

Sales and marketing

2.26

New market development

2.31

Production process improvement

2.33

Internal administrative process improvement

2.57

Supply chain improvement

3.05

We innovate in order to better serve our clients. New technologies, new regulations, and changing buyer preferences require innovation.

˙

We constantly look at ways to improve our products and the way customers use our products.

Focus on Innovation in General ˙ In Regina, we can see what has worked well somewhere else, what’s tried and true in progressive areas, and duplicate it.

Its innovative to the market, not necessarily a new idea.

8

˙

Innovation is in everything. Our product is so customized that production and testing process need to be innovative.

˙

When you are breaking trail on a new product, you also need to break trail on how to produce it.

SURVEY QUESTION:

˙

Generally speaking, to what degree is innovation embedded in your organizational culture? Please rate on a scale between 1 and 5; 1 = Innovation is not core to our organizational culture, 5 = Innovation is a critical part of our organizational culture.

A large portion (42.3%) of respondents believe that innovation is embedded in organizational culture. Only 24.3% believe innovation is not critical to their culture. It was noted that this culture of innovation doesn’t always need to be organization wide. Since the attitudes, goals, and motivations often differ between an organization’s traditional culture and a culture of innovation, it is possible to have to have a sub culture of innovation held within those separate innovation groups and teams.

35.7%

35

˙

R&D can be the spark plug that everyone looks to. With these guys, it’s not ‘why?’, but ‘why not?’. You must have people that thrive on that.

˙

Willing to take the failures to get the windfalls and successes.

˙

˙

47.6%

30 25

˙

14.3%

20

2.4%

15 10 5 0

0.0% 1

2

3

4

5

INTERVIEW COMMENTARY: ˙

˙

We needed to instill culturally in the DNA that innovation and change is critical to our business. We all had to cross the threshold of why do we need to innovate?

Programs may have a short-term effect if you don’t instill it in the culture if it’s not instilled in day to day, the programs will run out of gas.

9

The culture within the innovators is different than within the rest of the organization. The organization talks of its self as though it likes innovation, but it’s expensive, and risky.

Those coming out of the R&D section are wildly successful because they like to play and we have the willingness to play. When they move into management there is not that risk adversity.

We try to have a culture that encourages opinions. This includes opinions that may not be used or implemented, but anything and everything. Some of the best ideas spawn from thoughts that would never have been implemented. We follow more of a “strong opinions respectfully considered” mantra.

It is ingrained in our culture. One of our sayings is that “we will do things differently tomorrow.” We have no interest in doing things the way they have always been done. That’s boring.

SURVEY QUESTION:

INTERVIEW THEMES:

What tools do you use to encourage innovation within your organization? Please select all that apply.

Support for Continuous Learning ˙ Showing the people in our company why it’s important to always reinvent yourself. No one can afford to stand still. If you don’t keep learning you jeopardize your sustainability. It’s a value for us. This is a good attitude to nurture, if it’s a happier employee or if it’s new innovations.

According to the survey, encouraging exploration of innovative ideas (76.2%) and support for continuous learning and development (66.7%) are the two most common tools utilized to encourage innovation. The leadership interviews demonstrated that there are a number of tools and process that can be used to aide innovation, the most prevalent being co-location space and separate innovation groups and teams.

Encourage exploration of innovative ideas during working hours

Co-Location ˙ I believe in critical mass, if you put a bunch of creative people in one area, interesting things start to happen. We used to have a few people all over the place. I wanted them all in one place. It’s wildly more successful.

Team Composition ˙ We put people into innovation groups when they start with us first out of university. When they have the burning desire to bring new ideas.

They bring a lot of enthusiasm with it. If we wait too long, to put them into the innovation group they are sometimes too structured in their thinking.

76.2% 66.7%

Support is provided for continuous learning and development

42.9%

Recognition programs acknowledge innovation Innovators have access designated resources to advance their ideas

31.0% 28.6%

Financial incentives are provided innovative thinking Innovation project teams are provided with co-location space

˙

21.4%

A suggestion/innovation box approach ensures ideas come forward

19.0% ˙

4.8%

None Other (please specify)

7.1%

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

The best people to create the future are the ones living with the given pain.

We looked at people characteristics. We will rotate people in and out of the innovation group. We will make sure we have a skill set.

Willing to speak up in conflict, courage, influencers. Sometimes the social science backgrounds are the most effective as they can hold several varying opinions at the same time.

Financial Re-allocation ˙ Sometimes I create a burning platform by reallocating resources that forces people to think differently. What if I cut $100,000 out of the budget, what could we do? ˙

www.economicdevelopmentregina.com

10

Financially, you can start to starve the current business model and taking the profits and driving them into the innovation agenda.

Funding Various Risk Levels ˙ We will segment our funding into low, medium, and high risk idea development. The low risk are low input and low return, whereas the high risk may be a failure 4 times out of 5 but when we hit, it’s a home run.

SURVEY QUESTION:

What do you believe are barriers to innovation within your organization? Please select all that apply.

When asked to describe the barriers to innovation, a majority of respondents (50.0%) reported lack of financial resources.

Just over one third (35.7%) believe that their organization lacks the skills to advance innovative ideas. 21.4% believe there are no barriers to innovation within their organization.

The leadership interviews strongly emphasized that an acceptance of failure must exist within organizations if they are going to be successful with innovation.

INTERVIEW PROCESS THEMES:

Encourage staff to contribute new ideas ˙ We use the mantra, “Strong opinions respectfully considered” if you have a strong opinion or a good idea,I love to hear it and consider it and view it from all angles. ˙

˙

˙

I have my vision and doing a formal strategy, innovation and R&D would be in that. As we are working everyone else can start to incorporate their own ideas.

Lack of financial resources to allocate to innovation

50.0%

Lack of skills to advance innovative ideas

It’s informal tone from the top. I’m always asking for suggestions and ideas.

If I’m going to target new demographic and new customers are going to be younger, I can’t always relate to the young demographic but my young staff can.

35.7%

Lack of access to external resources and thought leaders to inspire innovation

28.6% 26.2%

Governmental red tape frustrates innovation

21.4%

Regina’s business culture is less innovative than other national centres

I tell my staff that we are going to do things differently tomorrow be prepared. It is a culture that we need to be better - creative, innovative, and better.

21.4%

None

14.3%

We have difficulty recruiting innovative people Innovation is not a priority for my organization

Internal Team ˙ There are three groups within the organization: 1. The Excel group, those on the front lines who are empowered to find smaller innovations within their own processes to be better.

They send any of their big pain points or ideas to the Explore group.

2. The Explore group is the innovation group that builds bigger more audacious innovative ideas and solutions to a pilot stage 3. The Experience group is comprised of HR and communications professionals that translate the pilot for a full run within the organization.

11.9%

0

1

2

3

4

5

INTERVIEW RESPONSE THEMES:

Finances ˙ The small size of the business, we have no formal marketing area, for a business of our size we are doing quite well, there is always more ideas than there is time or money.

11

Having a critical mass of innovative thinkers all in one place has assisted organizations achieve success in innovation.

Appetite for Failure ˙ I’ve seen one of the cultural challenges and barriers is the notion around failing. And part of the cultural shift in organizations that are innovative is that failure has to happen. If you are an organization that cannot support failure, you are an organization that cannot be innovative. You need an environment that says we tried, we got behind it, it didn’t work, and that is excellent. Celebrate fast failure.

But not long drawn out poor thinking. It’s important and you have to that environment. Learn to fail quickly so you can learn from it quickly and move on.

An acceptance of failure must exist within organizations if they are going to be successful with innovation.

˙

INTERVIEW QUESTION:

What can be done to enhance innovation within the province and the Greater Regina Area?

Throughout the leadership interviews many ideas for enhancing innovation within both the province and GRA were brought forward.

The strongest theme was support from the Government; however, this was characterized very differently than might be expected.

As opposed to selecting industries or sectors in which to develop incentives, leaders felt that Government should first take a step back to understand the direction of innovation within the community then develop policy to aide and support that direction. It was noted that assisting small businesses and start-ups in creating scalable business ventures would assist in the long-term success of the province and diversify the economy. Another significant theme was an increased tolerance of failure. Understanding that failure is part of the process of innovation. Finally, the interviews shed light on the need of communication on many levels to: create the understanding of what organizations are undertaking for new innovative projects; to promote the success of startups and innovative projects; and, celebrate the learnings from the stories of failure.

You cannot have innovation without failure, this could be a losing proposition it’s the way it is.

Senior Executives ˙ There is a lot of lobbying that has to go into justifying the spend. ˙

To get innovation to be heard it’s akin to having a grant approved by government, you need to inch your way into their thinking.

Lack of Definition of Innovation within the Province ˙ I think potentially there is a disconnect as to what innovation.

It’s a great thing to say and tag it to something you are involved in.

What is the quantifiable measurement on whether the province is innovative or not who holds that responsibility? ˙

INTERVIEW RESPONSE THEMES:

Provincial Supporting the Needs of the Community as they pertain to Innovation ˙ Ask “How can we support and encourage this innovative business.”

In order for the province to be innovative it has to resonate with everyone and I think it’s there; it just needs to be nailed down.

˙

Other ˙ The idea of starting your own business is so foreign, maybe Saskatoon is different and it’s tough when you are traditionally a government town.

www.praxis-consulting.ca

˙

Your mundane day to day stuff can tie you up.

˙

Risk averse as an industry

˙

86 years of doing it the same way.

˙

12

Entrepreneurs running their own businesses inject new dollars.

It is a good way to diversify the economy. Not saying we need handouts, but providing the supports and encouraging those people.

They should have an idea who are doing things and who is not.

And get a sense of who might be on the right path. And what might you do to make things better for those companies, and get over the hump.

˙

The government needs to understand where the community at large is going with innovation and think about how to structure the policy to enhance. That is where they should be playing.

Empower STEP ˙ STEP is good. You should support organizations like that to do bigger and better things and go move forward from there. Domestic guys that are doing business in the province that need the nudge to start exporting to go to the next level.

Experienced Resource for Guidance ˙ Part of innovation is knowing how to go from ideation to production.

Having the ideas and knowing what to do, Regina itself allocates a person or division a go to for that. ˙

˙

Communication ˙ Need to communicate who is doing what more broadly.

People are coming out with fantastic products and I don’t see that it’s scalable and sustainable in the long run. Entrepreneurial skills are huge. We don’t need to teach bakers how to bake bread we need to teach them how to scale and market and be sustainable.

Connect experienced entrepreneurs with inexperienced entrepreneurs. Playing the supporting role is spectacular; we aren’t looking for handouts and dollars.

˙

˙

Highlighting and promoting successful entrepreneurs.

˙

As companies thrive and evolve and realize that innovation is a key part of that they will have to tell the stories of failure.

Focus University Funding ˙ Instead of spreading funding across similar programs at two universities. Have one top notch program in one of the Saskatchewan Universities and fund it well.

Learn to Fail ˙ We created a new partnership and our members knew we were going to pilot this. They were more accepting of the fact it was a pilot.

We have high loyalty scores I think they are reasonably motivated to try and help us further ourselves. ˙

˙

˙

Active sponsorship in post-graduate studies and participation in learned societies.

Build a fund ˙ Could Saskatchewan be a hub for social finance structures?

If you know you are testing it. It’s about leadership and culture around how the companies are run. We had a colossal failure and had a party.

˙

You have to find the safe failure places before they do damage to your brand. Innovation is cool but it also means failure. You fail quickly but not fail, blow up in the face and damage the brand.

It’s exemplified in Regina for Regina business, we do not tolerate mistakes within our government. If they try something different and it fails. It burns up in their faces.

Test. Fail. Learn.

13

Could we build Saskatchewan Fund that is a higher risk fund that takes positions other than just debt financing that invests in SK innovation?

Conclusion The Executive Confidence Index is currently at an all-time high of 2.31, a rating that depicts the optimism of the GRA economy for the next 12 months. The uncertainty businesses were feeling from the provincial budget is receding and an overall feeling that the economy is now in recovery mode is apparent. Of the executives surveyed, 58% expect to see their sales revenues increase over the year.

This edition of RELO spoke to the importance of innovation, and research & development (R&D) within organizations.

Executives in the GRA believe that innovation and R&D is what gives their organizations a competitive advantage in the market.

While the innovation process often contains failures and mistakes, that is an expected part of the growth process. Quickly learning, adapting and trying again leads to success in the future.

Saskatchewan and the Greater Regina Area continue to be a land of opportunity in Canada, with even more possibilities for stability and growth in the future

While there is the belief that innovation should be defined and supported more with the province, executives surveyed believe that the job of innovation belongs to everyone within the organization.

Allowing employees to ask the ‘why not?’ questions assists to create an ingrained culture of innovation.

www.economicdevelopmentregina.com

14

About the Report The survey is distributed to a list of approximately 90 senior business leaders. The survey has an additional component entitled “The Economic Outlook”. This is a set of static questions asked each quarter that inform a unique Executive Confidence Index. This index is used to measure how confident executives are in Regina’s overall economy across each quarter.

Economic Development Regina (EDR), in partnership with Praxis Consulting (Praxis), began a quarterly publication entitled, “Regina Executive Leadership Outlook” in September 2014 that captures the thought leadership of senior business leaders in the Greater Regina Area (GRA) on key issues facing Regina and surrounding areas.

Each quarter, Praxis and EDR pick a specific topic as the focus of the publication. Praxis then develops a survey questionnaire to gather quantitative data and an interview questionnaire to gather qualitative data using the chosen topic.

Survey

Executive Interviews

Fieldwork for this project included 42 surveys completed by CEOs and senior executives in Regina’s business community. Survey responses were received via an online survey, delivered to each participant by email. Responses were collected May 15 – May 29, 2017.

Praxis and EDR also request in-person interviews with Regina area-based executives to supplement the survey responses.

Individuals are selected for an interview when their perspective, industry, or background aligning closely with the survey topic.

A total of 90 survey invitations were sent; the response rate is 45.6%.

Margins of error cannot be applied to this type of non-probability sample.

All interviewee data remains confidential unless otherwise agreed upon by the interviewee for media use.

In many cases data is captured on symmetrical, verbally-anchored five-point response scales.

Thirteen (13) executives were invited to participate in this quarter’s interview process. Six (6) were able to participate.

˙

˙

On this scale, responses of 1 or 2 are negative; a response of 3 is neutral, and responses of 4 or 5 are positive.

This report shows frequency of response at every option in the response set, along with a mean, to indicate the overall level of response.

15

About EDR

About Praxis

Economic Development Regina Inc. (EDR) is the economic development agency for the Greater Regina Area.

Praxis Consulting is Saskatchewan’s largest locally-based management consulting firm.

EDR is a not for profit economic development corporation, governed by a volunteer board of directors. EDR provides leadership to the community to support industry growth and diversification through retention and expansion of existing business and encouraging investment, development of industry and tourism.

Praxis works collaboratively with clients in the facilitation of growth and excellence. Leveraging an unmatched wealth of experience across multiple sectors, Praxis adds value to their clients through:

In collaboration with key stakeholders, we work to identify, develop and promote opportunities that advance economic prosperity and ensure the Greater Regina Area offers a vibrant and diversified economy for investors, is a positive destination experience for visitors and offers a high quality of life for residents.

˙ Strategy:

David Froh, VP Sector Development E: dfroh@economicdevelopmentregina.com P: 306-789-5099 ext 230

˙ Research:

Information gathering and data analytics.

Thought-leadership, rigorous planning, and pragmatic strategies.

˙ Results:

Cascading strategy and culture within the organization.

Val Sluth, Managing Principal E: info@praxis-research-strategy.ca P: 306-545-3755