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Business retention and expansion (BRE) can strengthen the economic and social fabrics of communities when led by a broad cross-section of community leaders and supported by professionals skilled in BRE process techniques. This article explains lessons learned from a generation of broad-based BRE visitation initiatives facilitated by the University of Minnesota Extension. Two program improvements, their genesis, and outcomes are featured. The first improvement stemmed from a comprehensive review of nine community BRE initiatives in which the results had not been reported as either successful or unsuccessful. The second improvement is the application of a consistent evaluation rubric: ripple effect mapping. The article demonstrates that 1. volunteer involvement in BRE can be effective in creating community-wide benefits and 2. there are benefits to striving for both community development and economic development through BRE. Thus BRE can be effective for community improvement overall, not just for jobs and economic impact.

Community-driven Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E) is a time-tested University of Minnesota Extension program that is benefitting from a new evaluation technique—Ripple Effect Mapping (REM). This BR&E model helps communities create priority economic development projects. REM efficiently captures a community's project outcomes and impacts via community-based focus group discussions. REM results from four Minnesota communities showed the greatest number of effects in human and social capital, out of seven community capitals. For communities, completed ripple effect maps illustrate cumulative accomplishments while motivating participants to keep pursuing their project goals. For Extension, REM enables analysis for program reporting and improvement.

Business retention and expansion (BRE) has existed as a formal activity for economic development since the 1980s. BRE is one of the most prevalent activities within the field of economic development. This special issue includes research, program evaluation, and case studies demonstrating the diverse ways that economic development organizations are reaching out and responding to existing businesses. The contributed articles examine several important BRE topics. Some authors took a more theoretical approach by investigating survey datasets from large professional associations, and others contributed practitioner stories of BRE innovations. Still others shared the results and evolution of state/provincial programs. A focused literature review was conducted by the guest editors on a set of relevant topics not covered in the contributed articles. This special issue is a collection of literature contributing to both BRE theory and practice, yet there are continuing gaps in our collective knowledge that merit future research and discussion.

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