Stephen Morris Team Lead

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

August 2017

Ontario’s Business Retention +

Expansion Program

@stevepmorris

https://onregionalecdev.com/

http://www.omaf.gov.on.ca/english/rural/edr/bre/index.html

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Our Programs, Services & Resources

Support clients in the planning and implementation of their economic development activities

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Programs & Resources Lower Capacity Higher Capacity

Business Retention & Expansion 1998

Rural Economic Development Program 2001

Regional Advisor Services 2001

Economic Development Analysis

Resources

2004

Downtown Revitalization 2006

First Impressions Community

Exchange

2007

Community Immigration Retention in

Rural Ontario

2010

Community Economic Development 101 2011

Performance Measurement 2014

Strategic Planning 2015

Ontario’s BR+E Model

A community-based approach to business

retention and expansion

Trained volunteers to conduct confidential

interviews

Community’s are responsible for determining

priorities and developing their action plan.

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2013 Review Findings

Successes to Build on:

• Acting on Results

• Monitoring outcomes

of their action plans

• Training

• Provincial Staff

support

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Challenges to Address:

• Survey

• Database system

• Data Analysis &

Reporting

Updated Four Stage Process

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STAGE I

PREPARATION

STAGE II

COLLECT DATA

& ANALYZE

STAGE IV

IMPLEMENT &

MONITOR

STAGE III

DEVELOP GOALS

& ACTION PLANS

Stage I - Preparation

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STEP 2. Form the Leadership Team

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Stage II - Collect and Analyze

Stage III - Develop Goals and Action

Plans

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Stage IV - Implement and Monitor

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Is right

for your

Community?

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Community Readiness Assessment

• Leadership

• Volunteers

• Organizations working

together

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• Community-based

planning

• Municipal support

• Financials

Community Readiness Assessment

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Leadership Team

Comprised of key community leaders and

partners (6 to 12 people)

Manages the overall BR+E in the community

Sets clear, attainable and manageable objectives for the project

“Champions” the project, and motivate others

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Elements of Project Design

Project objectives and scope;

Performance measures;

Work and communications plans;

Survey methods;

Select and sample businesses to interview;

Update the list of community businesses;

Establish the resource network;

Review the BR+E survey questions; and

Consider additional community questions.

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Project Objective and Scope

Are there other strategies that this project

should align with?

What is the scope of the project?

Large employers

A specific sector

A specific geography

What is realistic given our resources?

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What Will Success Look Like?

• Why measure?

• To understand the differences the project made

• Document actual outcomes of the project (jobs,

investment, business expansion and retention etc.)

• Secure ongoing support from business, local

government and partners

• Understand scale of BR+E effort

• How and what will you track to assess the

overall results of the project?

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Performance Measures

The leadership team should determine which performance

measures to track and monitor during the project

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Sample Brands

Burlington – businessFirst

Halifax – SmartBusiness

Guelph – growGuelph

Robertson County- S.E.E.

(Supporting Existing

Employers)

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BR+E Survey Review

Question review principles:

• Assist with strategic planning

• Identify specific business

growth or retention

opportunities

• Provide general business

information

110

65 66

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

2008 2011 2015

Number of questions

in the retention survey

Important Considerations

There is no perfect survey

The survey depends on the goals of the project

Each community may have a different focus

Focus on need to know vs. nice to know questions.

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Sector Surveys

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Tourism

Manufacturing

Agriculture

Downtown Revitalization

/ Retail

Local Food

Natural Resources

Provincial BR+E Survey Results -

Business Climate

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N=3,121 N=3,072

Indications that Firms may be At-Risk (source IEDC)

• Declining sales/employment

• Larger, non local corporate

ownership

• Recent ownership change

• Lease expiring

• Other facilities producing the same

product

• Negative attitudes about the

community

• High regulatory burden

• Union contract expiration

• Expanding employment/sales

• Facility and site expansion

• Obsolete or land-locked facility

• Location in a problem neighbourhood

• Older product lines or production

technology

• Contentious labour-management issues

• Lack of export/ international focus

• Family owned firms with aging owners

and no succession plan

• Gradual corporate downsizing over time

• Relocation of top managers and

corporate officers

• Loss of longstanding supplier

contracts/relationships

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Success Story: Northumberland

Regional Local Food BR+E

project undertaken in 2012

Identified a need for value

added food processing

2014-15 creation of a 15,000

sq. ft. facility. $1.1M

investment

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Success Story: Wellington

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In 2012 Wellington County undertook its first

economic development strategy. One of the

objectives of that strategy was a BR+E program

focused on the County’s key sectors

Interviewed 270 businesses across the 7

townships in 4 key sectors:

Agriculture

Manufacturing

Creative Economy

Health Care

Final report and action plan released April 2014

$175,000 Budget commitment to implement

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Questions

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Twitter @stevepmorris

Blog https://onregionalecdev.com/

http://www.omaf.gov.on.ca/english/rural/edr/bre/index.ht

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