Business Retention and Expansion: Day 1

Thursday, January 26th, 2017-- Jacksonville, FL:

The class, taught by Erik Collins, Director of the Montgomery County, Ohio EDC and Laith Wardi, CEcD, CEO of Executive Pulse, Inc.  began with a case study called "Anytown... Anywhere" which challenged the class to think about the strengths and weaknesses of a given community who was losing jobs by the scores and identify the issues facing the town. The class was asked to think about the the first steps necessary to begin a business retention and expansion program, and then come up with objectives, identify audiences, determine the structure of the program and set a timeline, budget, and measurements of success.

This exercise fostered team work, and I quickly made a few friends at the table: I was joined by two professionals from Pascagoula, MS, one from Charleston, WV and another from Athens, OH. We determined the most important issue at hand for "Anytown, USA"  was to retain jobs and build relationships. This could apply, literally, to any town, any where. So, how do I connect the lessons learned in this case study to Texarkana? .

From the surface, in Texarkana it seems that we make a very concentrated effort to come together as a community when we know a business is in danger of losing funding, jobs, or leadership. The community as a whole, with civic and business leaders in our town, rallied together successfully to "Save Cooper", "Save TC",  and "Save RRAD". There have been several campaigns such as this that have indeed "saved" one institution or another over the past few years. Some are ongoing, some are in the rearview mirror, but my question is this: why aren't we doing more to "Save" the next business from being in danger in the first place? Let's think about "supporting" rather than "saving" so that we can avoid reactive behavior and stay out of crisis mode. This is why a solid, ongoing, and comprehensive BRE plan is needed.

After the case study, the class continued with a lesson on global factors and trends that impact business retention and expansion policies, programs, strategies and desired outcome. In this section, the presenters reinforced the idea that post recession global realities are very much affecting the current business climate and will continue to change the mode of operation for organizations in the private sector.

The class also covered workforce development as a driver for business retention and expansion. Issues such as the role of the federal government and educational institutions were discussed.

One major advantage Texarkana has over other communities its size is the involvement of three higher education institutions in the market. Not only are these three colleges all great partners for the development professionals in the region, but they are capable of meeting custom workforce needs quickly and helping to secure state funding to make these training opportunities a reality. This has been a strength in Texarkana for many years.

Late afternoon on Day 1, the class covered the "meat and potatoes" of BRE. We talked about the objective of a business retention and expansion program, desired outcomes and potential benefits of a program. We concluded the day by discussing typical elements of a BRE plan.

Day 1 was a good overview of Business Retention and Expansion, and while Texarkana certainly has opportunities to further develop a sustainable BRE strategy, the day was certainly full of insight and helped me think through the strengths and weaknesses Texarkana has as it relates to BRE.