Municipal strategic planning establishes a vision for territorial development. It can also help to better understand certain issues such as population ageing, improving mobility, strengthening citizens’ sense of belonging, industrial and commercial revitalisation, climate change and providing more consensus-based solutions.

Espace Stratégies uses a five-step process for municipal strategic planning: project initiation and planning, stakeholder consultation (citizens, organisations, businesses, etc.), strategic reflection, drafting the strategic plan and developing the action plan.

Typically, municipalities opt for a three-year strategy but may extend it to a five-year strategy. In rare cases, especially for large cities that need to look further into the future, municipal strategic planning can cover a longer horizon, up to 10 years for some.

Developing a municipal strategic plan typically takes four to six months. Its duration largely depends on the size of the municipality or regional county municipality (RCM), regional context (such as experience with strategic consultation) and varies based on the type and number of consultations conducted.

A strategic review refers to any form of workshop or activity that enables us to reflect, collectively or otherwise, on the organization’s future.

A strategic review can take various forms, ranging from informal gatherings to an elaborate process spanning several weeks, including annual meetings or brainstorming sessions that may or may not lead to strategic planning.

Commercial development encompasses a set of actions designed to enliven a municipality and encourage a sector to flourish commercially. It serves to meet residents’ consumption needs and helps to ensure a territory’s vitality.

Commercial development can be used to revitalize commercial offerings in struggling neighbourhoods where, for instance, numerous commercial spaces remain vacant. It can also serve to enhance the offerings of a very commercially vital neighbourhood or support businesses in managing multiple storefronts or in developing large-scale projects, such as shopping centres.

Economic development refers to positive changes resulting in the structural transformation of a geographic area or population: demographic, technical, industrial, health, cultural and social. Such changes lead to population enrichment and improved living conditions. This is why economic development is associated with progress.

Economic development focuses on creating new businesses; maintaining, sustaining and optimizing existing businesses; developing innovative sectors and attracting investments.

Over the past 50 years, the role of the economic developer has evolved into four major overlapping roles. First, as an industrial commissioner, who optimizes the use of available land for development; second, as a business mentor in all phases of growth; third, as a network agent who brings together project stakeholders; and finally, as an opportunity creator, who identifies and connects businesses on concrete projects.

Digital transformation is when digital technologies are integrated into an organization’s practices, both in terms of production and management.

These technologies include information systems (CRM, ERP, data management systems), robotics and automation technologies, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, as well as tools enabling communication between different systems. It involves converting all organization processes at all levels.

Digital transformation serves to automate specialized tasks and achieve new levels of complexity, ensuring that all processes are better integrated and are facilitating real-time communication with clients, partners and suppliers.

Organisations that put off adopting digital technologies risk falling behind competitors, losing market share and incurring costly delays to catch up. From an institutional perspective, digital transformation ensures better service delivery and significant efficiency gains.

Digital transformation can significantly alter how an organization operates, which may result in resistance. Therefore, ensuring effective change management at all levels is crucial.

Strategic vision defines guiding principles and looks ahead to an organization’s future. Without a clear vision, organisations risk navigating blindly, taking detours, possibly without ever reaching the desired goal. Among other things, the vision sets the tone for strategic review.

Having a clear vision mobilizes all organization stakeholders around a common direction and fuels subsequent strategies and projects.

A vision makes it easier to set targets and strategic priorities for the years ahead. It ensures consistent decision-making and centres actions on medium- and long-term objectives that help the organization structure itself, develop and endure.

Strategic vision is defined by the working committee and stakeholders (management team, board of directors or organisation representatives), based on the organization’s positioning and development ambitions. Subsequently, it extends to the rest of the team and influences all operations.

Sound governance is based on these essential factors: clear rules and policies, a well-defined ethical framework, good communication of expectations among stakeholders and consistent expectations from the board of directors and senior management.

A SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is the classic approach used in most strategic planning processes. It documents an organization’s or company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats present in its environment.

After several years of experimentation, and with a view to simplifying the strategic thinking process, it became clear to us that it would be more effective to focus first on the strategic assets owned by the organization or company. A strategic asset is an element, tangible or intangible, that contributes to value creation or revenue generation. An asset may or may not be performing well, and from a strategic point of view, identifying a strategic asset that is underperforming quickly becomes the first opportunity to explore.

Starting with the identification of strategic assets allows us to work quickly on the strategic positioning of the organization, which is given by customers or users. The concept of strategic positioning is translated into a concept of identity when the notion of customers is less present, for example, for municipalities or institutions.

Yes, this is an essential consideration. Accordingly, we identify current trends, as they may impact the organization’s development and achievement of its mission, as well as the dynamics present in that environment.

Strategic COACHING encompasses all activities related to an organisation’s or a company’s strategy but in a broader sense. Thus, strategic advisory will cover overall issues and challenges and identify major solution paths or priority strategic choices.

Strategic coaching is ideal in the following situations: assisting management in managing operations; updating a strategic plan or action plan; implementing the strategic plan; one-time support for a value-added project; a specific problem; preparing for meetings with the board of directors, city council or elected officials, executive committee, management team or shareholders; or reviewing the business model.

An innovative project refers to a transformative initiative capable of reshaping an organization or an ecosystem. This could involve developing a new growth platform, a research centre, an acceleration space or any other type of value-creating project in a living environment or for an organization.

Organizations can leverage innovative projects to help them advance and open new doors. In an economic ecosystem, innovative projects are transformative initiatives that will have a long-term impact on their environment or sector of intervention. An innovative project thus has the power to develop an organization or community.

Support for innovative projects includes project development, environment and competitive landscape analysis, existing concept search, networking with domain experts or key actors in the ecosystem, writing a funding application or submission in response to a request for proposals.

The essential development steps include a feasibility or pre-feasibility study to validate whether the project is a go or no-go, the business plan, as well as the project implementation components (partnership strategy, governance, staffing structure).

Organizational diagnosis is for organizations grappling with issues related to smooth operation, their resources (human or financial), operations or strategic alignment.

The process allows for an in-depth analysis of the organization’s internal mechanisms. It highlights issues and challenges that may affect organizational health in terms of operational structure, financing structures, governance, internal management policies, human resources practices, strategic planning and much more. Recommendations can then be made, enabling the organization to target the identified issues and implement effective and sustainable solutions.

Espace Stratégies can use an external diagnosis to help organizations understand how they position themselves within their ecosystem. Some of the questions to ask include, which trends and dynamics are at play in the external environment? How is the organization perceived in its environment or by its partners? What are the external factors and pressures that may influence the organization?

An organizational diagnosis typically takes one to three months, depending on the organization’s needs.

An organizational diagnosis includes observations, recommendations and an implementation proposal based on the information gathered and the analyses conducted. The process may also include a user survey, employee, administrator, partner, or key stakeholder groupings, as well as discussion workshops to coordinate the various parts of an organization.

You might need organizational diagnosis if you feel that your organization is facing obstacles preventing it from looking ahead and fulfilling its mission; are experiencing high turnover or lengthy board meetings and difficult decision-making; are sensing tensions within internal teams; are noticing duplicate or unfulfilled services or are experiencing dissatisfaction with operations management.

Feasibility studies are intended to provide a picture of a specific situation, related either to the activities of a territory, a population, the employment sector or the competitive market, in order to better understand the current situation or facilitate decision-making; clarify project feasibility before preparing a business plan; obtain a critical mass of information to gauge market sentiment as part of a commercial study; unearth strategic information or gather expertise to better define a particular project currently under consideration.

The duration varies according to needs and takes approximately two to six months, depending on the depth and scope of the project to be defined.

Workshops should be tailored to the specific needs of the organization. Using an external facilitator is generally recommended. They provide an independent view of the situation without personal bias, enabling all stakeholders to focus on the discussion at hand.

An external firm will be able to co-design workshops with the client, considering factors such as the type of facilitation, presentation, content and themes to be addressed. They may use traditional or innovative approaches as needed and are constantly on the lookout for inspiring new methodologies.

Espace Stratégies has developed extensive expertise in facilitating various types of workshops, particularly in applying a strategic review process.

It is important to combine plenary sessions with subgroup or even individual activities to strike a balance between idea generation and the desired consensus for this activity.

Any type of organization can benefit from workshop facilitation services, including the municipal sector, businesses, non-profits or economic development organizations. Each workshop is unique, as each is designed based on the desired information, the size of the group and the type of people present.

Espace Stratégies can help mobilize stakeholders and facilitate custom workshops tailored to different situations, such as a board of directors meeting, a strategic retreat or team mobilization.

Depending on organizational needs, workshops can take various forms, including strategic review workshops with stakeholders; one- or two-day brainstorming sessions; public consultations; economic forums, economic summits or regional conferences or one or more consultation workshops to build strategies or conduct a study.

An action plan is an operational tool used to establish project priority after a strategic process is complete. Its purposes include establishing a schedule and designating budgetary resources for each action and identifying the individuals responsible for its implementation. Concrete objectives and performance indicators should also be included.

An action plan should be reviewed annually to effectively track projects and refine the initial strategy if necessary. Espace Stratégies can provide an external independent perspective to help prioritize action and maximize the chances of strategy success.

An action plan typically takes the form of a dashboard. This reference tool can be used throughout the year and revised in subsequent years.

Short-term opportunities (one year) must be prioritised and first steps for medium or long-term opportunities (2 to 5 years) must be identified.

The process of designing an action plan may include prioritization workshops to clarify the courses of action and opportunities that emerged during previous deliberations. This involves internal consultation activities, usually at the management team level.

This comprises a number of considerations, including:

• What are our decision-making criteria?
• What human and budgetary resources are required to successfully implement each action?
• What are our goals?
• What are our outcome or impact indicators?

Espace Stratégies can help organizations with the annual review of their action plan. This often requires review workshops to determine whether the different courses of action and opportunities are relevant:

• What actions have been completed to date?
• Which actions have not yet been completed? Why?
• Was there a lack of time or resources?
• Is a new approach required due to a change in context?
• Did the organization experience anything transformative over the past year?

Action plans apply to any type of organization and can be developed following any strategic review process—a strategic plan, research strategy, communication or marketing strategy, financing strategy and much more.

A strategic plan is the result of a process that aligns the organization’s development over the next few years through informed choices without getting off track.

An in-depth examination of the mission, vision, strategic positioning, values and various available opportunities is performed in the reflection exercise preceding the strategic plan to identify priority directions for the organization.

The strategic plan provides a clear direction and should be followed by implementing an action plan. The strategic plan is an organization’s most important document and serves as its compass for the years to come.

The review process involved in developing a strategic plan varies, but it generally takes between three and six months, depending on organisation complexity and the consultations held.

Typically, a strategic plan includes the following:

• Mission and values
• Strategic positioning or identity
• Development vision
• Priority issues for the organization
• Strategic directions and objectives
• Objectives and measurement indicators
• Action plans distributed over the short, medium or long term

This approach applies both to organizational strategic planning (business, non-profit, institution, for example) and to territorial planning for an economic development organization, a city or a regional county municipality.

A strategic plan is ideal for organizations looking to:

• Engage stakeholders
• Align their resources
• Mobilize teams
• Clarify their directions and define their development strategies
• Communicate their development intentions to stakeholders

A number of analyses and forms of consultations can be conducted as part of a strategic plan. They depend on the type of organization, specific needs and issues related to each context and on the organization’s budget.

The following can be added to the process:

• A survey of partners, members, merchants, users, the population and any other stakeholders
• One-on-one interviews (partners, clients, etc.)
• Focus groups
• An economic forum or regional conference
• Specific analyses on supply and demand
• A 5-function organizational diagnosis
• An action plan (in addition to the strategic plan)
• Ad hoc strategic coaching session for other customized needs
• And other activities specific to the organization’s context

A strategic review process involves uniting the perspectives of different stakeholders within an organization to arrive at a common vision and prioritise opportunities.

A strategic review requires less involvement from management than a strategic plan. It is a streamlined process that makes it possible to focus on the essentials.

Typically, a strategic review process will cover some elements of strategic planning, concentrated in segments that require immediate attention. At a minimum, it should review the vision, issues and major orientations.

This approach is applicable to businesses, non-profits or economic development organizations. The major difference between strategic review and a strategic plan is how long it takes to complete and the level of participation it requires.

A strategic review is ideal for organizations that:

• Want to focus on what is essential
• Have limited resources preventing them from completing a full strategic plan
• Need to make informed decisions quickly

The business context is constantly evolving. Companies generally fall into one of three situations:

• Growth plateau: The company is maintains the same situation but is struggling to find its next growth phase.
• Rapid growth: The company is experiencing rapid growth and a rush of activity. This requires quick decision-making with long-term impacts on its organization, requiring careful consideration.
• Struggling: The company is experiencing difficulties that are negatively affecting it and seeks to restore stability or resume growth.

Additionally, companies may grapple with specific issues, such as in human resources or in entrepreneurial succession.

Entrepreneurs often struggle to prioritize their many business opportunities. By developing a growth strategy, they can evaluate the estimated revenue potential of each opportunity over several years, in the short or medium term. A growth strategy serves to assess if the volume of opportunities is sufficient to achieve set goals and to explore new avenues or revise objectives if necessary.

When companies are in a precarious situation or facing a crisis, they can use their growth strategy to intervene quickly and react in the short-term to find development levers. A growth strategy can also drive meetings with potential investors or better alignment between daily operations and research and development.

A growth strategy can serve to address various issues based on the organization’s needs: revising the business model and business plan; analysing growth opportunities; reviewing assets and the organization’s strategic positioning; identifying market trend changes; selecting innovation management practice approaches, products, and services; and providing a deeper understanding of customer needs to identify unique and distinctive aspects of the offer.

A growth strategy can also guide the company’s trajectory and plan its growth over the medium and long term. It can help navigate entrepreneurial succession issues, devise a merger and acquisition strategy, discern the best opportunities and measure risks.

The impact of rapid growth on all of an organization’s internal systems is often underestimated, as is the pressure this rapid growth puts on the company’s financial capacity and liquidity.

Systems that were effective with the organization’s previous size no longer work. Hiring (including onboarding and learning periods) does not meet current needs. The bank relies on outdated data and credit lines are no longer sufficient. Necessary investments in expansion or equipment upgrades will require significant capital input. And so on…

Espace Stratégies can assist any type of company with a growth strategy, regardless of the industry.

Combining participatory methodologies, an understanding of market evolution and recognized expertise in strategy, Espace Stratégies adapts to the company’s context, identifies promising development opportunities and establishes relevant connections with key stakeholders. Furthermore, Espace Stratégies uses its extensive knowledge of the business ecosystem to engage experts in specific areas to complement its expertise.

Innovative businesses often underestimate the impact of rapid growth on important strategic decisions for the company and their implications. An outside perspective helps ensure the long-term vision remains on track and provides the right tools to make these decisions.

Tech companies often experience rapid growth, which brings numerous challenges and requires agile management of cash flows, human resources, innovation and research and development investments. Espace Stratégies can guide tech companies to reach their full potential.

Espace Stratégies can help devise the best strategies for the company’s growth potential and identify the right business model based on the competitive environment and business practices in the targeted sectors.

While each non-profit organisation operates within its unique environment and faces its own challenges, Espace Stratégies has identified several recurring issues impacting these organizations, including diversifying funding sources, governance structuring, documenting organizational processes, adapting service offerings to emerging trends and workload overload amidst labour scarcity.

Espace Stratégies has been able to support these organizations by cultivating their strategic reflexes through strategic review and planning processes, developing business plans for implementing strategic projects, conducting organizational diagnoses, as well as implementing change management plans.

Espace Stratégies can:

• Help your organization to redefine its service offerings based on the current transformation of your ecosystems.
• Support your business growth, including assistance in producing business plans and more complex financial arrangements.
• Support your entrepreneurs in integrating digital, industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence considerations into their business models.
• Help your teams to structure significant projects such as technopoles, innovation zones, incubators and accelerators.
• Conduct analyses, studies and sectoral research for which you may lack internal expertise.
• Enhance your organization’s client approach towards entrepreneurs and start-up companies in the territory.
• Plan the economic, industrial and commercial development of your territory.
• Support the development of your commercial structures.
• Engage your community and businesses in consultation activities, whether traditional or focused on co-creation.
• Provide internal support for your recruitment and human resources challenges.

CDCs are non-profit organizations with their own boards of directors and governance rules.

When setting up a commercial development corporation, businesses in the area commit to contribute financially to support its activities.

CDCs are also supported by the city in which they are located and, in some cases, by the borough. Although they are private, CDCs are legally regulated organizations constituted as independent bodies.

Similar to a city or a regional county municipality (RCM), CDCs act within their territory to address issues affecting their members and development.

Externally, CDCs must address problems affecting the viability of their street or commercial area, including activities and image.

Internally, CDCs may face numerous organizational challenges regarding governance, recruitment or mobilisation.

The challenges are manifold:

• The street or area is struggling, evidenced by a high vacancy rate or declining foot traffic.
• The area is vibrant but has not reached its full development potential.
• The area is undergoing major construction work affecting commercial activity, leading to decreased traffic to businesses.
• The area wants to establish a strong and distinctive commercial positioning to stand out from other commercial hubs.
• The CDC strives to develop a mobilizing vision for its members to prioritize actions and make the best choices for its territory.
• The CDC faces governance and board mobilization issues.

Espace Stratégies can:

• Develop a comprehensive and inclusive strategic plan considering all stakeholders in the territory.
• Provide expert guidance in implementing strategies, tools, action plans and project prioritisation.
• Identify a relevant and distinctive economic positioning for the organization.
• Facilitate collaboration among socioeconomic actors, such as coordinating their needs or establishing an economic forum.
• Assist the organization in project proposal submissions for an incubator, accelerator or other significant projects.
• Support the development of complex business plans.
• Perform organizational diagnoses, provide human resource management support or recruitment.
• Update the socioeconomic profile of the territory.
• Plan the structure of commercial streets and devise a commercial development strategy.
• Plan the development of industrial parks.
• Consider sustainable development in territorial planning or development, as well as in significant projects.

Espace Stratégies can assist cities and municipalities when:

• They require support in territorial or strategic planning due to lack of time, internal resources or to benefit from independent expertise.
• They have a new economic development mandate, but lack internal knowledge to plan effectively.
• They are facing a new governance structure in the territory.
• They want to establish a long-term vision for the territory in consultation with elected officials.
• They are striving to promote collaboration among all ecosystem actors and avoid working in silos.

Similar to for-profit enterprises, social economy enterprises must:

• Establish sustainable strategies, especially in the context of scaling up projects.
• Conduct feasibility studies and market research for their projects.
• Market their products and services.
• Develop a marketing plan, communication plan or sales strategy.
• Consider organisational development for their structure.

Social economy refers to the ecosystem of organizations or enterprises with the primary mission of serving members and the community rather than making profits.

These organizations strive to address community needs and prioritize human capital. While still seeking economic viability, social economy enterprises measure success based on positive impacts within their communities.

They often have democratic operational methods and distribute revenues or reinvest profits within the organization. These organizations more commonly take the form of non-profits or cooperatives.

Espace Stratégies can help CDCs with various needs to invigorate a territory’s commercial offerings. Our assistance includes:

• (Re)defining the street’s commercial positioning to identify what makes your territory unique.
• Developing the CDC’s strategic plan, involving all stakeholders (CDC staff, directors, members, institutional partners, citizens, etc.).
• Implementing a commercial recruitment strategy to attract new businesses to occupy vacant premises or influence the commercial mix composition.
• Establishing a profile of commercial offerings, including establishment inventory by type, composition of the commercial mix, vacancy rates.
• Establishing a profile of commercial demand, for example, by studying foot traffic, consumer origins and all socio-demographic data. Some streets may have a local focus, while others attract customers from other neighbourhoods or cities.
• Conduct a walking diagnosis, surveying the street on foot to identify its assets and create a dynamic portrait of its situation and challenges.