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<br />1 <br /> <br />Matthew Bachler <br />Retaining and Expanding Businesses in Your Community <br />Course Paper <br />March 25, 2014 <br /> <br /> <br />Business Retention and Expansion Program Milestones in Arden Hills, Minnesota <br /> <br /> <br />Retaining and facilitating the expansion of existing businesses is an important component <br />of any city’s strategic plan for economic development. Some studies have shown that as much as <br />80% of new jobs are created by existing businesses rather than by businesses attracted to a <br />community.1 From a financial and staffing perspective, focusing on the growth of existing <br />businesses can be more efficient than enticing a new business to move into a community with <br />public financing commitments or other incentives. Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) <br />programs help address broad economic development policies as well as specific short -term goals <br />such as building improved relations between city government and the business community and <br />helping businesses solve immediate problems. <br />BRE programs are organized around a three-step process: research, prioritize, and <br />implement. First, interviews are conducted with businesses to gather feedback on the perceived <br />strengths and weaknesses of doing business within the city. Priority projects are then designed to <br />respond to the issues identified in the data compiled from these interviews. Finally, an <br />implementation plan is developed for each project and carried out. This paper will outline how a <br />BRE program might function specificall y in the City of Arden Hills, Minnesota and will review <br />the important milestones that need to be met in order to successfully carry out a program in this <br />community. It should be noted that due to limited staff resources, a consultant would need to be <br />hired to complete several of these milestones. <br />The first step will be to organize the Leadership Team and Task Force Team. Both of <br />these groups would need to be officially appointed by the Arden Hills Economic Development <br />Authority (EDA). The Leadership Team includes the core members of the BRE program who are <br />responsible for many of the day-to-day tasks of implementing the program. Selecting members <br />who have a prominent position within the community and who can impact policy decisions is <br /> <br />1 Kraybill, David. 1995. “Retention and Expansion First,” Ohio’s Challenge. Department of Agricultural <br />Economics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Vol. 8, Issue 2, pp. 4 -7.