Week
of March 15 - 19, 2004
Welcome
to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship and e-News, an electronic
newsletter sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City for
followers of the entrepreneurial economy. Through e-News, we bring you
short summaries and analyses of various trends driving the innovation
economy. Please feel free to share this with friends and colleagues. To
subscribe, visit www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde/join/
Did you know that links to the day's entrepreneurship stories from across the nation and around the world are posted each weekday at
www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde?
Bookmark it and stay informed about the latest entrepreneurship news.
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Small Towns and Business Recruitment
If you read the press today, the economic news from small towns seems unrelentingly bad. Plants are closing, people are leaving, and jobs are being lost. But, some small towns seem to be succeeding in attracting new businesses, according to a new listing in the March 2004 edition of Site Selection magazine. The journal’s editors have ranked the top small towns for new and expanded corporate facilities, and Traverse City, Michigan tops the list for the second year in row. Communities like Traverse City have prospered, according to the editors, because they embrace change. Instead of struggling to hold onto older industries, the city’s leaders nurture entrepreneurship and seek to leverage home-grown strengths and resources. Following Traverse City on this year’s listing are (in order): Plattsburgh, NY; Bowling Green, KY; Mooresville, NC; Danville, IL; Effingham, IL; and Morristown, TX.
The listing is found in the article, “The Road to Boomtown,” by Rod Starner, which appears in the March 2004 edition of Site Selection magazine. To learn more, visit
www.siteselection.com.
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Entrepreneurs in Africa
While we regularly cover entrepreneurship-related news from around the world, we rarely see much written on the state of entrepreneurship in Africa. A rare exception comes to us from Harvard Business School, which recently held its sixth annual Africa Business Conference. The event addressed a variety of issues about doing business in Africa, but a panel of entrepreneurs was one of the event’s more interesting discussions. Not surprisingly, African entrepreneurs offered a mix of good and bad news. Starting a business in Africa is quite challenging. Beyond the basic issues of building a successful firm, new entrepreneurs may also have to deal with government corruption, poor infrastructure and the like. The upside is that Africa is rich with opportunities. If entrepreneurs are disciplined and open to risk-taking, the possibilities for profit are quite high.
To learn more about the Africa Business Conference, visit http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=3971&t=special_reports_africa2004&noseek=one
Global Execs on Offshoring and Other Challenges
Offshoring is becoming a sensitive political issue here in the US, but it’s not just a topic of concern for politicians or displaced workers. Business executives from around the globe are taking a hard look at the issue as well. A new survey from the consulting firm McKinsey and Co. offers an interesting assessment of where leading large and small firm executives see the overall global economy and the process of offshoring moving in the coming years. McKinsey researchers surveyed 7,300 executives from around the world. Overall, 73% of executives expect the global economy to continue improving over the coming six months. Not surprisingly, business leaders from China and India were among the most optimistic. When asked about their top worries, executives at larger firms cited fears about the sustainability of consumer spending. Their small firm counterparts were more concerned about attracting and retaining a top quality workforce. Another expected result is that most global executives (especially those in China and India) remain bullish about outsourcing, arguing that these moves save money and increase efficiency. However, in North America, an interesting trend is emerging. North American executives appear to becoming less supportive of offshoring as 59% now believe that the practice is good for their companies. This support level is much lower than found in executives from other regions.
The McKinsey Survey of Global Business Executives appears in the March 2004 edition of the McKinsey Quarterly. More information is available at
www.mckinseyquarterly.com.
Registration is required.
State Strategies for Entrepreneurial Development
The National Governor’s Association (NGA) has released a new report that suggests how governors can effectively integrate entrepreneurship into statewide economic development strategies. A Governor’s Guide to Strengthening State Entrepreneurship Policy offers loads of hands-on tips for what governors and their policy teams can do to stimulate new business starts and business growth in their states. It also reviews best practices in numerous states across the US. The information in this guide stems from a two-year NGA Center for Best Practices State Policy Academy on Entrepreneurship, supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The NGA report, A Governor’s Guide to Strengthening State Entrepreneurship Policy, is available at
http://www.nga.org/cda/files/0402GOVGUIDEENTREPRENEUR.pdf
European Action Plan for Entrepreneurship
For some time, we’ve been tracking the European Union’s plans for fostering entrepreneurship around the continent. Lots of draft proposals have been presented, and now the final Action Plan has been published. The plan calls for a focus on five key issue areas:
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Fueling entrepreneurial mindsets
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Encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs
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Gearing entrepreneurs for growth and competitiveness
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Improving the flow of finance
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Creating a more friendly regulatory
environment
The current action plan sets policy guidelines through 2006, but it also suggests ideas for consideration after this period. Other potential action items include promoting social entrepreneurship, improving small business access to government contracts, and making it easier for small enterprises to recruit, hire, and retain employees.
The Commission of the European Communities Action Plan, The European Agenda for Entrepreneurship, as well as other information about European small business and entrepreneurship activities are available at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/whatsnew.htm
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