Clarity from Confusion: When businesses have questions, private research firms have answers.

• Author: O'Hanley, Tara

Some exacting economists shy away from using the word "unique" to describe Alaska's particularities, but local knowledge clearly helps to answer the types of questions that specialized consultants tackle every day. Behind the scenes, they provide answers--or, at least, very educated guesses--to big questions: How are key industries like mining, fishing, and oil and gas development expected to grow, shift, or decline? How can rural communities arrive at consensus on heated topics, and then turn those agreements into action? What would be the economic impact on the state if, say, the Alaska LNG pipeline project moved forward?

Through a combination of field work, data collection, and number crunching, local firms such as Northern Economics, Mckinley Research Group, and Agnew::Beck Consulting have been transforming corfusion into clarity for decades. "Maybe it's not that Alaska's necessarily unique by an economic definition, but we believe that we have a context here that has to be understood to help the kind of clients we really want to help," says Katie Berry, McKinley's Director of Economics and Research. "Our work is largely focused on helping Alaskan industries, communities, and people drive themselves forward and make the next set of decisions for their businesses and organizations."

Emphasis on Ethics

"Our mission statement is that we help society make better decisions, and we really believe that and want to do that," Marcus L. Hartley, president of Northern Economics, explains. "We really believe that we want to do things in a non-biased and objective way, that we want to maintain our integrity and strive for excellence, that we want to do meaningful work. That kind of ethical and moral principle is a big part of our firm."

Hartley bristles at the reputation his field has among some detractors. "It's like, 'Oh, just hire a consultant. They'll give you the answer that you want.' And that really sticks in our craw," he says. "No, you're not going to get the answer that you want. We're going to give you the answer that we believe is accurate and is reflected by the information that's available."

A consultant's main asset, above all else, is credibility. "We really do value our integrity and our reputation and we want to provide excellence and objectivity. And if we start to fail in that way, then we think that we start to fail as a business," Hartley says.

Thea Agnew Bemben, co-founder and one of the five principals of Agnew::Beck...