Business retention and expansion and business clusters–A comprehensive approach to community development

This article explores trends in business retention and expansion (BRE) and business clusters over the last two decades (1994–2014). Using national surveys of local governments, this article finds that BRE has evolved from a focus on strengthening branch plants and their competitive links to parent firms to a broader emphasis on building local business cluster networks. BRE strategies have diffused across the nation, but business clusters are more common in metro core cities. Municipalities that have written economic development plans and use local funding are more likely to use BRE. This article finds cluster strategies are embedded in a broader set of community economic development strategies that strengthen quality of life and the foundation for community wellbeing. Unlike Michael Porter’s emphasis on business clusters and competitiveness alone, this article finds economic developers recognize the need to focus not only on business clusters and competitiveness, but also on local services.