BEAR - Business Expansion & Retention
History of BEAR - How BEAR got Started
Eighty percent all businesses in Montana are homegrown with ten employees or less. Retaining them – providing assistance where needed – is the best guarantee of a sustainable economy. Designing a process that was effective was critical. In 2002, that effort took shape.
The first step was to meet with the business development task force of the Billings Chamber of Commerce. Next, a steering group was recruited comprised of organizations directly involved in employment, business development, training and education. MSU-Bozeman Extension Center staff provided ideas and advice, as well as a survey form as a possible tool for the program.
After conducting the pilot project that used the survey to interview 16 companies, it became clear that the survey results needed to be available electronically. This was both for the sake of efficiency and the process of gathering aggregate data – not only to demonstrate the value of the program, but to aid in shaping legislative policy and expanding business services.
Big Sky EDA staff attended a training course presented by ExecutivePulse, a provider of business retention software. It was learned at this training that BEAR programs require paid employees and in the case of the Billings BEAR program, this was not possible. One of the conference presenters spoke of his experiences using volunteers and thus there was a ray of hope that that we too could use volunteers and be successful. The Celebrate Billings Task Force agreed to purchase access to the ExecutivePulse software program. BEAR was born and training of the volunteers began!
BEAR evolved into a three tiered structure consisting of the Interviewers, the Assessment Team and the Resource Providers. The original steering group evolved to become the Assessment Team. These professional team members have been the key to the success of the BEAR program. This team now includes individuals or organizational representatives from the Billings Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs, Montana Department of Commerce, Montana (Billings) Job Service, Billings Public Schools, an Organization Development Consultant, NorthWestern Energy, Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, MSU-Billings College of Technology, a state senator and consultant for the College of Professional Studies and Lifelong Learning at MSU-Billings, Eide Bailly, Beartooth Resource Conservation and Development, a business development professional, a communications professional and several staff members of Yellowstone Development.
As a result of the success of the BEAR program in Billings, it is now a statewide program including Kalispell, Butte, Missoula, Great Falls and Lewistown. Several other cities are also getting involved with BEAR. The Montana Economic Developers Association was appointed to coordinate the statewide program, forming a working group to guide its implementation.
Business retention in a sparsely populated state like Montana can mean the survival of a whole community. Eighty percent of the businesses in Montana have fewer than 20 employees and a number of our most productive employers started with one or two employees. The return on investment for an effective Business Expansion And Retention - BEAR program is enormous, and thanks to dedicated BEAR volunteers, that investment is paying off.
