Bringing European business to North America; The partnership's North American Navigation System launched at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

The European program of the Detroit Regional Economic partnership recently launched its newest business development service, the North American Navigation System (NAVS), at the Frankfurt Auto Show. NAVS is a holistic and integrated business development service that helps European businesses make a well-informed decision for the North American market.

"Because of NAVS, we are now well positioned to provide a comprehensive portfolio of services that provide value to our client throughout their North American business cycle," explained Dean Johnson, senior director of global business development, Detroit Regional Economic Partnership, who led the development of NAVS with representatives of his European Committee. "We help these businesses develop and implement their North American plans. This added value also presents more business opportunities for our partners. It's a win-win situation for our clients and our investors."

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Johnson noted that two particular development motivated him to think of NAVS: economic development space has become increasingly crowded, both in our region and around the country, and technology, especially the Internet, has put a lot of information at the fingertips of clients.

NAVS links the economic development process directly with the business growth process, thereby redefining the role of the partnership. "Most economic development organizations look at economic development as something that exists on its own; consequently, they focus their resources and services on traditional economic development activities. However, economic development results from business development. This understanding opened our thinking to the business growth process and to areas in that process where we, especially through our partners, can deliver value," Johnson said, "We divided the business growth process into its various stage and identified where along this process we can provide value. The next thing was to figure out how to position ourselves to most effectively deliver that values."

NAVS not only helps companies locate or grow here, it also helps address other needs so that they can operate effectively and profitably.

Alan Whitman, international services practice leader, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, an investor in the partnership, traveled to Germany with Johnson. "We met with many companies which continue to view Detroit as a key componetn to a successful North American by NAVS. The European companies we met appreciate the highly talented Michigan workforce and the im portance of our market."

Five other partners visited the Frankfurt Auto Show and presented NAVS to over 100 auto suppliers. These partners were Bruce Birgbauer of Miller Canfield. Dan Doescher of plante & Moran, Michele Eaton and Irene Spanos of Oakland Country and Nick a Stasevich of Butzel Long. Their experience there showed that NAVS serves as a valuable tool, especially for companies that are deciding how to enter the North American market. They also felt that it serves to differentiate the partnership from other similar organizations. The partnership also visited companies in Augsburg, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart.

The North American Navigation System links the economic development process directly with the business growth process, thereby redefining the role of the partnership.