Establishing A Business Retention and Expansion Program

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Establishing A Business Retention and Expansion
Program

• Some Questions to Guide the Process

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TWO BRE MODELS
TRADITIONAL/VOLUNTEER
CONTINUOUS/PAID
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Traditional

• Developed by New Jersey Bell (Late 70s)
• Refined, expanded and popularized by Extension in
  WV, Ohio, Minnesota
• Widely used by Extension (30 states)

• Booklets describing process published by NERCRD
  (1998)
• Many other How to manuals published (USDA, TX,
  WV, ND, UT, MN, etc.)
• Often thought of as a rural only program

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Traditional

• Important benefit is building community capacity
  (social capital)
• Generally has a 3-year lifespan

• Relies primarily on volunteers to manage program
  and collect data
• Relies primarily on Extension entities for
  training and technical assistance

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Continuous

• Operated by ED or Chamber offices
• Involves one or more paid staff
• Does not involve volunteers to assist paid staff

• May involve partnerships with other ED
  organizations
• Focuses on a limited number of businesses annually

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Continuous

• Targets major employers
• Primary goal is to address immediate problems
• Rarely results in long range BRE ED plan

• Does not attempt to build local capacity
• Usually does not involve non-ED folks in the
  business of economic development

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So which approach is right?
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Questions to Guide the Process

• What is the actual or proposed service area?
• What is the communitys socio-economic profile?
• Does the community have an economic development
  plan?
• Who are the key actors in the community?
• Does the community have the capacity to implement
  the program?

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Questions to Guide the Process

• Are there potential partners for economic
  development?
• What programs and services will be offered?
• Where will the program be housed?
• How will the program be staffed?
• How will the program be funded?

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Establishing A Business Retention and Expansion
Program

• Three Phases (for discussion purposes)
• Community Background
• Initiating the Process
• Implementing the Program

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Community Background

• What is the actual or proposed service Area
• Political boundary
• Geographic boundary
• Other (e.g. labor shed)

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Community Background

• What is the communitys socio-economic profile?
• Where do you find this information?
• What is relevant for your community?
• How do you compile and present it?

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Community Background

• Does the community have an economic development
  plan?
• If yes, does it work?
• Yes How can we improve it?
• No why not?
• If no, who is responsible for developing one?
• Does it include a BRE component?

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Community Background

• Who are the key actors in the community?
• In the research literature, these people are
  called influentials. In 1965 Dr. Ronald Powers
  developed a working guideline that suggested the
  number that should be consulted varied with the
  size of the community. His recommendations
  ranged from as few as five people for communities
  of less than 1,000 to 15 people for communities
  over 10,000.

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Ways to Identify Community Influentials?

• Position
• Reputation
• Decision-Making
• Social Participation

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Ways to Identify Community Influentials

• Position - Power rests in the important positions
  of formal organizations in the community
• Local elected officials
• Appointed civil servants
• Elected leaders in voluntary associations
• Key business financial leaders

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Ways to Identify Community Influentials

• Reputation - Power is present and involved in all
  social relationships
• Power is intangible and thus can be measured by
  the assumed amount of influence a person
  possesses.
• Some power is concealed and operates behind the
  scenes.

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Ways to Identify Community Influentials

• Decision-making - Power to affect decisions is
  made through participation in the decision-making
  process
• Investigate the history of how major decisions
  have been made and identify those who actively
  participated (the citizen activists)

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Ways to Identify Community Influentials

• Social Participation - Power is acquired through
  participation and holding office in the
  communitys voluntary associations.
• Identify the civic and religious organizations in
  the community
• Identify past and present leaders

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Community Background

• Does the community have the human and
  institutional capacity to implement the program?
• Yes move forward
• No what must be done to build capacity?

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Initiating the Process

• Are there potential partners for economic
  development?
• Who must be involved?
• Who may be involved?

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Selecting Partners

• What is the expected role of the partner?
• Does the partner share the community vision?
• Will the partner work collaboratively?
• What does the partner bring to the table?
• People
• Money
• Access

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Initiating the Process

• What programs and services will be offered?
• What kind of assistance does the community want
  to offer businesses?
• Technical
• Educational
• Financial
• What types of assistance can your community
  offer (i.e., the means exist within the
  community)?
• What types of assistance is available from
  outside the community (i.e., the means only exist
  outside the community)?

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Assembling and Educate the Team

• The way a team plays as a whole determines its
  success. You may have the greatest bunch of
  individual stars in the world, but if they dont
  play together, the club wont be worth a dime.
• - Babe Ruth

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Implementing the program

• Where will the program be housed?
• How will the program be staffed?
• How will the program be funded?
• There are only three options
• Public
• Private
• Partnership

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Whats the Bottom Line?
The form that works best is a function of many
factors, including community size, economic
circumstances, local development objectives, and
the level of commitment of public and private
sectors to economic improvement. Alan Gregerman
(Research Director, CUED)
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Questions?
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Contact Information

• Hank Cothran
• Commdev_at_ufl.edu
• 352-392-1845 x 409