{"id":29791,"date":"2018-05-22T13:10:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T20:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&p=29791"},"modified":"2024-02-02T14:19:21","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T22:19:21","slug":"business-growth-and-market-planning","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/business-growth-and-market-planning","title":{"rendered":"The Growth Insights Series: Planning the Best Markets\u2014Intuition Meets Data"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1001,381312,791,971],"tags":[6801,55412,6811],"department":[476812,476792],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-29791","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commercial","category-cxo-priorities","category-digital-transformation","category-location-strategy","tag-digital-intelligence","tag-growth-insights","tag-market-planning","department-business-growth","department-cxo-priorities"],"acf":{"short_description":"Successful executives are fusing digital knowledge and intuition to drive business expansion, as a growing midsize business demonstrates.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Editor\u2019s note: <\/em>WhereNext\u2019s Growth Insights series examines several dimensions of business growth. We begin with an article that explores market planning among midsize companies, and the fine balance of science and data that helps businesses\u2014whether they\u2019re midsize or large caps\u2014expand intelligently. We\u2019ll follow with articles on the direct-to-consumer phenomenon, how to spot consumer trends years in advance, the supply chain implications of growth, and more. <\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nData and intuition are a business leader\u2019s boon companions, guiding decisions that can fuel company growth in the best possible markets. Ask some CXOs in confidence and they\u2019ll say they favor their intuition. But their faith in data\u2014especially smarter data\u2014is rising.\r\n\r\nDale Sanford pursues growth for a living. As vice president of development and integration at Mortenson Dental Partners, he works with other company executives to expand a business that began in Kentucky and has expanded to nine states, providing general and specialty dental services for more than 100 communities."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"

Understanding Customers <\/strong><\/h2>\r\nAt a high level, Mortenson Dental\u2019s potential pool of patients isn\u2019t especially nuanced\u2014most people need dental services throughout their lives. Still, the company benefits from understanding the populations around its practices\u2014another form of location intelligence. In fact, for each geographic area where Mortenson might seek to build, acquire, or grow a practice, Dale Sanford and his team run a thorough GIS-based study.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe look at things like population density, population growth rates, average annual incomes, education levels,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe\u2019ve even at times used things like purchases of dental consumer products in the market.\u201d","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"For the past decade, the company has maintained a blistering growth rate, acquiring, starting up, and expanding practices across the country. Fueling that growth is a mix of executive intuition and analytical data. Lately, the role of data has grown, as Sanford, his team, and Mortenson\u2019s C-level executives now regularly consult a geographic information system (GIS) for insight about where and how the company should grow.\r\n\r\nDecision-Making in the Era of Digital Transformation<\/strong>\r\n\r\nDuring Jack Welch\u2019s time at General Electric, the much-ballyhooed CEO was often credited with an intuitive management style<\/a>. Employing the approach he outlined in the book Straight from the Gut<\/em>, Welch drove GE\u2019s growth from a $13 billion company in 1981 to a $400 billion company two decades later.\r\n\r\nYet, as he has explained, data and intuition mingle more than we might think<\/a>. \u201cGut is only pattern recognition,\u201d he explained at a recent conference. \u201cIt\u2019s data you\u2019ve accumulated over a number of years that allows you to make a call. . . . I still think you like [to have] as much data as you can get.\u201d\r\n\r\nSince Welch retired from GE in 2001, digital transformation<\/a> has drastically increased the amount of data available to executives. IoT-based sensors reveal the real-time health of critical assets. Data from mobile devices shows patterns of foot traffic in locations around the globe. And modern GIS technology allows business executives to map what-if scenarios for business growth.\r\n\r\nBut as most business leaders can attest, the perfect blend of science and intuition isn\u2019t always easy to discern. For those responsible for growing a business in the era of digital transformation, the Harvard Business Review<\/em> may have captured the ideal strategy in its 2017 article \u201cThe Best Approach to Decision Making Combines Data and Managers\u2019 Expertise<\/a>.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":29771,"text":"When we find a potential new site or a potential acquisition, one of the first things that we'll do in GIS is pull population counts and existing dentist counts, because that population-to-dentist ratio is very important to us in determining the competitive landscape.","author_name":"Dale Sanford, Mortenson Dental Partners","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In a 2016 survey, the Smith School of Business at Canada\u2019s Queens University<\/a> found that 61 percent of senior business leaders \u201csomewhat agree\u201d that important decisions are now based more on data and less on intuition. Still, only 20 percent strongly agreed.\r\n\r\nIntuition and Digital Intelligence\u2014Forces for Growth <\/strong>\r\n\r\nSanford falls into the \u201cstrongly agree\u201d camp. He is one of the Mortenson executives charged with maintaining year-over-year revenue growth that has topped 20 percent for the past decade. The doctor-owned company\u2014each dentist at a Mortenson Dental Partners location is a full-fledged company owner\u2014is blazing its own growth path while other practices are absorbed by corporations<\/a>, bolstered by private equity funding, or worse, not surviving the disruption."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"From its roots in Louisville in 1979, Mortenson Dental has grown into nine states, acquiring and building dental practices in markets with favorable profiles. Decisions about where to grow have always been a blend of intuition and data, Sanford says, but with the company\u2019s recent implementation of location intelligence technology, the emphasis is now on smarter data.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe don't make capital investment decisions for our growth without a full GIS analysis of whatever the opportunity is,\u201d Sanford says. \u201cIt's key to what we do.\u201d\r\n\r\nLocation intelligence is a form of business intelligence that helps organizations discover relationships, patterns, and insight hidden in their data. Location intelligence technology helps by combining multiple layers of data and business criteria\u2014like market trends, neighborhood demographics, and customer analytics\u2014onto interactive maps and visualizations. The subsequent analysis provides unique insight about opportunities that drive better decision-making for growth\u2014and help a company avoid costly mistakes related to poor location decisions.\r\n\r\nThe location intelligence gleaned from GIS often confirms the leanings of Mortenson\u2019s executive team, Sanford says. Still, \u201cif the data says one thing, [we] may disagree, but we typically make the final decision based off the data and not intuition.\u201d\r\n\r\nHow Location Technology Drives Business Growth\u00a0 <\/strong>\r\n\r\nMortenson\u2019s growth is almost equally split among three channels: acquiring practices, starting up new ones, and expanding the practices it already owns. The team uses location intelligence to assess each growth opportunity, and GIS is the main engine. Sanford explains the basic steps:\r\n