What Hickey & Associates does

Hickey & Associates, LLC is a Minneapolis-headquartered, privately held professional services firm founded in 1985 that provides global site selection, location strategy, public incentive advisory, labor analytics, and supply chain consulting to enterprise clients. The firm serves three primary customer segments — corporate end-users (manufacturing, technology, retail, healthcare, financial services), real estate developers and investors, and real estate brokers — and operates a Family Office & Private Equity advisory practice alongside a sister entity, Hickey Global, which sells economic development consulting to regions competing for investment. Named clients include Nike, IKEA/Ingka Centres, Prologis, General Mills, Fender Musical Instruments, and Cerealto Siro Foods, with additional confidential engagements spanning financial services, gaming, aerospace, and shared services operations across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

The firm's underlying technology stack centers on proprietary algorithms developed over more than 30 years for labor shed, demographic, socio-political, and location optimization analytics, paired with the Public Incentive Management System (PIMS), a clearinghouse for managing incentive programs from identification through compliance and aftercare. Hickey monetizes exclusively through professional services fees on a project basis, supplemented by recurring compliance and PIMS-related work, with no disclosed pricing tiers. Go-to-market is direct enterprise consulting supplemented by a referral and partnership network that includes economic development organizations and the Hickey Global subsidiary. The firm invests heavily in content marketing through its Hickey Institute research brand, publishing semi-annual incentives updates, vertical-specific reports (Life Sciences, ESG, Risk & Resilience), and country-level microsites across 19 European markets, serving both as a top-of-funnel demand generation tool and a brand-building asset.

Name

Hickey & Associates

Legal name

Hickey & Associates, LLC

Website

https://hickeyandassociates.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Hickey & Associates is a Minneapolis-based, privately held global consulting firm founded in 1985 that provides site selection, public incentive advisory, labor analytics, and supply chain consulting to enterprise corporate real estate teams, developers, investors, real estate brokers, and family offices across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Site Selection Consulting

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (53121), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Real Estate M&A / Joint Venture Advisory (Platform Deals, Partnerships) (BPAJANAF)

Keywords

• Site selection consulting
• Incentives advisory
• Location strategy
• Labor analytics
• Workforce consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Site Selection & Location Strategy Consulting: Professional consulting services for site selection and location strategy, including 'turn-key' consulting that incorporates political climate analysis, business friendliness assessment, and cost evaluation of communities.
2. Labor Analytics Consulting: High quality service in labor shed, demographic, socio-political, and on-the-ground research using industry standard data, innovative big data, ground truth result control, change detection analysis, and social media analysis.
3. Credits & Incentives Advisory: Full life-cycle management of incentives including identifying, negotiating, securing, legal construction, compliance, and aftercare services.
4. Logistics & Supply Chain Consulting: Strategic consulting for integrating logistics and supply chain into site selection decisions.
5. Incentive Compliance & Administration: Complete applications, contracts, and agreements management ensuring all reporting requirements are met.
6. Family Office & Private Equity Services: Strategic and operational assessments to help clients increase Enterprise Value and drive EBITDA through real estate and operational transformation.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Hickey & Associates is a global consulting firm that helps corporations, developers/investors, and real estate brokers identify optimal locations for facilities through site selection, labor analytics, logistics and supply chain consulting. The firm also provides full life-cycle credits and incentives advisory, from identification and negotiation through legal construction, compliance, and aftercare, supported by proprietary algorithms developed over 30 years.

Product overview

Hickey & Associates is a global consulting firm offering a unified portfolio of site selection and location strategy services. The core offering consists of consulting services including Site Selection & Location Strategy, Labor Analytics (powered by proprietary algorithms developed over 30 years), Credits & Incentives Consulting with full life-cycle management, Incentive Compliance & Administration, Logistics & Supply Chain Consulting, Site Due Diligence, and Family Office & Private Equity Advisory. The firm also offers proprietary software tools including the Public Incentive Management System (PIMS) as a central clearinghouse for managing incentive programs. Research products include Hickey Institute Reports covering global incentives and market trends, EMEA Investment Incentives Microsites for 19 European countries, the US Incentives Guide covering all 50 states, and the EU Incentive Friendliness Ranking. The company operates through a collaborative team model with consultants worldwide providing region-specific expertise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hickey Institute: Thought leadership division of Hickey & Associates that produces research reports on site selection, incentives, and economic development trends. Publishes reports including US Credits & Incentives Updates, ESG Scorecards, and regional market analysis.
• Hickey Global | Economic Development Consulting
• PIMS (Public Incentive Management System)

Products and services

• Site Selection & Location Strategy Consulting Core consulting service helping businesses determine optimal locations for office, retail, or manufacturing facilities, evaluating political climate, business friendliness, and long-term operating costs globally.
• Labor Analytics Consulting Proprietary algorithms and data analytics service that forecasts labor shed dynamics, workforce sustainability, attrition, migratory patterns, and wage growth across global markets.
• Credits & Incentives Consulting Full life-cycle management of business credits and tax incentives including identifying, negotiating, securing, legal construction, compliance, and aftercare.
• Public Incentive Management System (PIMS) Proprietary central clearinghouse software system enabling teams to manage incentive programs from start to finish, simplifying compliance across state, city, and regional governments.
• Logistics & Supply Chain Consulting Strategic consulting integrating logistics and supply chain considerations into site selection decisions, forecasting customer demand, supply trends, and transportation costs.
• Site Due Diligence Consulting Intensive boots-on-the-ground evaluation of sites verifying all aspects are identified and effectively understood to meet project demands.
• Family Office & Private Equity Advisory Specialized strategic and operational assessments using proprietary fact-based processes to increase Enterprise Value and drive EBITDA through real estate transformation.
• Hickey Institute Reports Comprehensive thought leadership research reports covering credits & incentives, ESG, life sciences site selection, workforce trends, and global location strategy.
• EMEA Investment Incentives Microsites Country-specific microsites providing information about European economies, industry trends, and investment incentives across 19 EU countries.
• US Incentives Guide Comprehensive guide to US state-by-state business incentives including tax credits, grants, training programs, and abatement programs.
• EU Incentive Friendliness Ranking Ranking tool analyzing incentive opportunities across 18 EU countries based on aid intensity, business-oriented authorities, cash vs tax balance, and flexibility.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 70% of incentive dollars negotiated are never fully realized by companies without professional support
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Hickey Global | Economic Development ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHickey Global is a partner company offering economic development consulting services. They leverage over 40 years of site selection experience to help communities and regions attract the right businesses. The partnership provides Hickey & Associates with a two-way referral relationship - directing companies to Hickey for site selection while Hickey Global supports communities seeking to attract investments.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Newmark Real Estate Strategy: Commercial real estate advisory and services firm with a corporate location strategy practice; competes with Hickey on enterprise site selection while providing broader capital markets and advisory capabilities.
• Deloitte Real Estate Advisory: Big 4 advisory with a real estate consulting practice covering location strategy and incentives; competes with Hickey on large multinational site selection projects while offering cross-service bundling.
• Colliers Project Leaders: Global real estate services and investment firm with corporate location strategy capabilities; overlaps with Hickey on enterprise site selection and incentive advisory mandates.
• JLL Corporate Solutions: Global real estate services firm with a corporate location strategy and incentives advisory practice; competes with Hickey on enterprise site selection mandates while bundling transactions and lease administration.
• Cushman & Wakefield Location Strategy: Global CRE services firm offering site selection and incentives advisory as part of its broader corporate real estate platform; competes with Hickey on multi-region enterprise location mandates.
• CBRE Location Advisory: Global commercial real estate services giant with a dedicated Location Advisory / Incentives practice; competes with Hickey on enterprise site selection while offering bundled brokerage, valuation, and project management.
• KPMG Real Estate Advisory: Big 4 advisory with a real estate location and incentives practice serving global enterprise clients; competes with Hickey on cross-border site selection mandates.

Direct peers

• Site Selection Group: Independent US-based site selection and incentives advisory firm directly competing with Hickey in corporate location strategy and economic incentive advisory for enterprise clients across multiple industries.
• The Bonbright Group: Incentives negotiation and site selection advisory serving corporate clients; directly comparable to Hickey on economic incentive capture and corporate location advisory.
• McCallum Sweeney Consulting: Specialized site selection and incentives negotiation firm serving manufacturing, corporate, and developer clients; competes head-to-head with Hickey on enterprise location mandates and incentive negotiations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hickey-and-associates
• Xx.com/SiteTrend

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hickey & Associates