Business Retention and Expansion (BRE)

Michael Darger is Extension Specialist in Community Economics and Director of Business Retention & Expansion at the University of Minnesota Extension, St. Paul, USA. He is a scholar-practitioner with previous experience in local economic development and business.Alan Barefield is Extension Professor in Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University, USA. His specialty areas include Economic Development, Public Infrastructure Economics, Health Economics, and Economic Impact/Contribution.Brent D. Hales is Senior Associate Dean of Extension at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA. His primary area of research is the adoption of innovation-based community development, economic development, and entrepreneurship.

• 1. Introduction: Business retention and expansion (BRE) today – research, application, and evaluation Michael Darger, Alan Barefield, and Brent D. Hales 2. Business retention and expansion and business clusters – A comprehensive approach to community development Xue Zhang and Mildred E. Warner 3. Coordination of entrepreneurial growth methods and business retention and expansion outreach Will Warren 4. Lessons learned from a generation of community-driven business retention and expansion programming Michael Darger, Brigid Tuck, and John Bennett 5. Grow Minnesota!: Using grassroots data to support business growth and retention in the state of Minnesota Sean O’Neil, Kathi Schaff, and Angela Riffe 6. Obtaining manufacturers’ perspectives in making regional transportation decisions Lee Munnich and Frank Douma 7. Increasing capacity of rural clients to access economic development programs: The Ontario BRE case study Catherine Oosterbaan and Stephen Morris 8. Energize job retention: Energy management strategies as a component of business retention and expansion programs Nancy Bowen-Ellzey and Eric Romich 9. The silver tsunami and rural small business retention: What can communities do? Elizabeth Templin, Scott Chazdon, Glenn Muske, Felipe Dyna Barroso, Lillian Osborne, and William Craig 10. Defining success in business retention and expansion: What do economic development organizations measure and why? Jonathan Q. Morgan and Crystal Morphis