Week of January 10 - January 14, 2005

Welcome to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving the innovation economy. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. Links to the day's entrepreneurship stories from across the nation and around the world are posted each weekday on the NDE main page - bookmark it and stay informed about the latest entrepreneurship news. 

Best Practices for Women’s Entrepreneurship

A new series of studies from the National Women’s Business Council offers suggestions on best practices for supporting women entrepreneurs. The reports are based on a series of roundtables hosted by Project Tsunami, an international forum devoted to promoting women’s entrepreneurship. The roundtables brought together entrepreneurs, investors, and other experts on women-owned businesses. Three primary sets of recommendations emerged from these discussions:

• Centralized Information: Information on key business issues, such as accessing exports markets, is hard to find because resources are so dispersed. Efforts to centralize these sources are needed.

• “The Missing Middle:” Most support programs focus on the front and back ends of the entrepreneurial spectrum. Brand new start-ups can receive lots of support, and a whole host of private support efforts are available for high-growth “gazelle” businesses. But, what about those in the middle of this spectrum (i.e. successful firms enjoying moderate growth or operating in sectors not considered “hot” by equity investors)? New programs to support women-owned businesses in this “missing middle” are needed.

• Entrepreneurial Frameworks: Much of the thinking about entrepreneurship—which is embodied in support efforts—is very male-dominated. For example, men dominate the institutional venture capital field. This dominance may serve to discourage women entrepreneurs, and a major effort to educate both investors and entrepreneurs is needed. 

To learn more about the reports, visit the National Women’s Business Council at 
http://www.nwbc.gov/NewsCenter/documents/tsunami_nwbc_press_release_12-14-04.pdf
To learn more about Project Tsunami, visit http://www.projecttsunami.org/

Federal Procurement and Small Business: Challenges Continue

For some time, small business owners have complained that federal procurement opportunities are hard to come by. A new study from Eagle Eye Publishers, under contract to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy, provides hard data to back up the assertion. Researchers combed through the top 1,000 contractors receiving small business awards and found that a large proportion were actually large businesses. In fact, 44% of these miscoded “small businesses” did not meet the government’ s criteria. Overall, these firms received more than $2 billion in contracts in FY 2002. The researchers suggest that government contract officers must be more rigorous in their assessment of firms competing for small business set-asides. 

Meanwhile, SBA has been attempting to clarify its standards for defining small business. Last year, a similar effort stalled and was ultimately shelved. However, SBA officials plan to return to this issue and have announced an “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.” Those with views on this issue are encouraged to provide input to SBA by February 1, 2005. More information on this issue can be found at http://www.sba.gov/size/anprm.html

Analysis of Type of Business-Coding for the Top 1,000 Contractors Receiving Small Business Awards in FY 2002 by Eagle Eye Publishers, is available at http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs246.pdf

Northwestern professor awarded with entrepreneurship research medal

Scott Stern, a Northwestern University professor and researcher, was presented with the first Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship. The medal was presented to Professor Stern on Jan. 8, 2005 at the American Economic Association annual meeting in Philadelphia. An associate professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Stern received the Kauffman Prize Medal for his enterprising research into the idea marketplace, which will permit the development of new market approaches that enable entrepreneurs to better produce and sell their intellectual property.

In commemoration of the life and work of its founder, Ewing Kauffman, the Kauffman Foundation established the Kauffman Prize for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship to recognize and promote outstanding research in entrepreneurship. The Medal, which includes a $50,000 prize, is awarded every two years to one scholar under age 40 whose research has made a significant contribution to entrepreneurship. 

For more information, visit the Kauffman Foundation website at http://www.kauffman.org/items.cfm/608.

The Latest from Enterprise Nation

For some time, NDE-news has been covering Great Britain’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship through the Enterprise Nation effort and other initiatives, like Enterprise Week and Young Enterprise. A new report provides a good summary of progress in 2004. Enterprise Nation: The Yearbook 2004 is a glossy and impressive review of both accomplishments and challenges facing these projects. The good news? The number of start-ups and levels of self-employment in Britain have reached record highs while business failures reached record lows. However, not all the news is rosy. While 54% of Britons believe they have the skills to start a business, only 8% of them plan to do so in the next three years. Overall, the yearbook offers an excellent update on the state of enterprise development in the United Kingdom. 

To learn more about Enterprise Nation and order Enterprise Nation: The Yearbook 2004, visit www.enterprisenation.com

Future Trends in Offshoring

While the international outsourcing debate has cooled a bit, the issue still warrants public attention. A new series of reports from Knowledge at Wharton, an on-line newsletter from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, examines new trends in offshoring. Experts predict that closer collaboration between US and overseas partners is likely, and that new hybrid organizational forms will emerge. In some ways, it may become difficult to make clear distinctions between the parent company and the outsourcing partner. Others predict that India will face increased competition as the primary locale for IT offshoring. For example, Eastern Europe has become a growing center for this activity. 

The Knowledge at Wharton report, “Offshore Outsourcing: What’s Working, What’s Not,” is available at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=SpecialSection&specialId=
25&CFID=3547172&CFTOKEN=44960870

Dealing with Regulations: A How-To Guide

Entrepreneurs regularly complain that understanding government rules and complying with regulations are a major headache. They’re too busy building their companies to learn the intricacies of government rules and red tape, and they’re desperate for any guidance and support. A new series of guides from the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based public policy organization, offers some tips for Massachusetts-based business owners. Pioneer has published a series of guides entitled “Navigating Through Regulations and Licensing Requirements.” These guides have been produced for several Massachusetts cities, and a new version for Springfield has just been released. While these guides are very site-specific, they offer an excellent template for other communities seeking to produce similar guides. 

To access the guides and learn more about Pioneer Institute, visit 
http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/entre/guide/entre_guide.cfm

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