Tool: Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E)

Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) is an instrument that has been used in the US, Canada and Australia for more than 20 years. The BR&E programme starts with identifying and training local volunteers to conduct a limited number of highly structured interviews with enterprises in an attempt to better understand the obstacles and opportunities that they face. The results from the interviews are analysed by the local stakeholders and activities are launched to address challenges and exploit opportunities. There are even small activities called "red flags" that trigger a series of supportive actions to be taken by local stakeholders in the event of an interviewed business indicating that it was facing a crisis or a reduction in staff or revenue. It provides a means of pin pointing and responding to the concerns and ideas of local businesses