Business Retention and Expansion

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No matter the size of the community or municipality, community leaders are all interested in building strong vibrant local communities.  Businesses and the jobs they create are critical components of strong economies.  Strong local economies cannot exist without a growing business/job creation sector.  Supporting the development and growth of local businesses is fundamental to achieving this objective. 

Strategies such as business recruitment, strategic alliances and partnerships, entrepreneurship, workforce development, downtown revitalization, tourism development etc. are often implemented as part of an overall economic development strategy.  During the past number of years an increasing number of municipalities have begun to focus on providing greater support to their existing business sector.  A variety of business visitation models have been implemented in an attempt to understand the needs of local businesses and thereby develop and implement actions to support the retention and growth of existing businesses.

Examples of local, provincial and state business retention programs can be found across the U.S. and Canada.  The following are examples of jurisdictions with focused business retention and expansion programs:  Halifax, St. John, Fredericton, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Burlington, Chicago, Phoenix, Memphis, Tennessee, Maine, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Minnesota, Washington, Newfoundland, and Ontario.  Business Retention Expansion International (BREI) is a resource with links to a variety of business retention and expansion programs (www.brei.org).

The Ontario Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) Program was recognized with an Award of Excellence at the Annual Business Retention and Expansion International Conference in Wichita, Kansas on June 5, 2008; and the Ontario BR+E Program is the winner for 2008 in the State or Province-wide Program Award category.