Among the mechanisms for encouraging retention, expansion, and attraction of businesses are incubators, industrial parks, business improvement districts, and business visitation programs. ICMA has worked with cities worldwide to put these mechanisms in place.

• Working with economic development specialists from Kenai, Alaska, the city of Bolshoy Kamen in the Russian Far East established a business incubator to help increase the number of small businesses in the city, create markets for their products, and expand the tax base; the incubator helped the city become self-sustaining to prepare for the day when it ceases to have the federal subsidies that come with its "closed city" status.
• Also in the Russian Far East, the city of Dolinsk formalized a concept for a business park, identified a potential site, took steps to identify potential tenants, and initiated a public relations campaign.
• As the city of Pazardjik, Bulgaria, prepared for the transition to a market-driven economy, ICMA and the city of West Bend, Wisconsin, helped Pazardjik develop a practical LED strategy and develop a 40-acre industrial park using innovative lease techniques; the program continued advising on the marketing strategy, and the park attracted more than $5 million in private investment, created 400 new jobs, and helped reduce the city's unemployment rate from 24 percent to 12 percent in four years.
• A traditional center for precision machining, Panagyurishte, Bulgaria, worked with ICMA and the city of West Carrollton, Ohio, to assess its economic opportunities and arrived at the conclusion that the best way to capitalize on its traditional strength was to create a high-tech industrial park and market the city as a center for high-tech industry. The project built on existing relationships with local businesses to create a proactive growth strategy that serves both public- and private-sector interests.
• ICMA is working with the city of Adama, Ethiopia, to develop an industrial district that will emphasize agro-processing, providing an opportunity for local producers to process their products and market them to other regions of the country.
• In Bolivia, ICMA trained small businesses with the potential to perform municipal projects and then provided an opportunity for the businesses to participate in "reverse procurement fairs" where the municipality showcases its demand for goods, services, and small infrastructure projects, and local businesses bid on them.