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Week of September 26 - 30, 2005Welcome 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. |
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New Kauffman Index Shows Entrepreneurship Strong, Stable
If you are thinking of
starting a new business, you have company – a lot of it. More than half
a million new businesses are started each month according to a new study
by the Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial
Activity, conducted by Robert Fairlie of the University of
California at Santa Cruz, is defined as the percent of the adult U.S.
population of non-business owners who start a business as their main job
each month. Somewhat surprisingly, the study shows a relatively stable rate of
entrepreneurship activity despite major changes in the national economy
in the last decade. Based on data from the Census and the Bureau
of Labor Statistics for 1996 – 2004, an average of 0.36 percent of the
adult population created new businesses each month with the low mark of
0.33 percent in 1997 and a high of 0.40 percent in 2004. The slight uptick is largely due to increases in the rate of immigrant
entrepreneurship. While the rate of entrepreneurship for U.S.-born
individuals fluctuated between 0.35 and 0.37 percent, the rate for
immigrants rose from 0.45 to 0.55 percent during the same period. Other
interesting findings include: entrepreneurship activity is substantially
higher among men than women (0.46 to 0.28 percent); the Latino rate
increased from 0.38 to 0.48 percent; and, entrepreneurship activity is
much lower for African-Americans than other groups, but has risen from
0.29 percent to 0.35 percent. |
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Costs of Doing Business at Home and Abroad
If you’re thinking of
starting a new business, you might think twice about doing it in Syria
or in Haiti. In Syria, capital requirements for a new business reach
more than $60,000—51 times the average annual income. Meanwhile, in
Haiti, it takes an average of 203 days to register a new business. These
figures, and others, can be found in the latest edition of the World
Bank’s Cost of Doing Business report. The reports offer
international comparisons of 155 countries on various measures of the
bureaucratic requirements and impediments required to start and operate
a business. Not surprisingly, nations with such bureaucratic obstacles
have fewer entrepreneurs, or at least fewer legal entrepreneurs. Not all
the news in this year’s report is bad. Several nations, led by Serbia
and Montenegro, have made great progress in reducing unnecessary
burdens. Meanwhile, in many developed economies, starting a business has
never been easier. Where is it easiest to start a new venture? Canada,
Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and Singapore make up the top
five for ease of business start-up. Overall, New Zealand took top honors
for having the most business-friendly regulations in the world. |
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New Resource on Rural Entrepreneurship
If you’re working to support
entrepreneurs in rural America, you should definitely check out a new
resource from the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship and the Heartland
Center. Energizing Entrepreneurs: Charting a Course for Rural
Communities is a handy how-to guide for how community leaders can
stimulate entrepreneurial thinking and activities in their regions. The
guide, and a companion website, offer a comprehensive package of
resources that will help community leaders develop strategies, build
local capacity, and make the case for why entrepreneurship matters. |
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Iowa Business Plan Competition
Residents of Iowa have a
great opportunity to get their new business ideas off the ground thanks
to the 2006 John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition. Entrepreneur
and investor John Pappajohn is best known for his work in financing the
state’s renowned network of Pappajohn Entrepreneurship Centers. His
latest venture will provide $50,000 to three entrepreneurs who develop
exciting business plans. The first place winner will receive $25,000,
with $15,000 for second place and $10,000 for third place. The
competition has just been announced, but plans need not be submitted
until next year (between April 1 and June 30, 2006). The competition is
open to all Iowa entrepreneurs who have been in business for three years
or less. |
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The End of the Phone Industry?
Two recent reports indicate
that there may be trouble ahead for many traditional players in the
telecommunications industry. As cell phone ownership booms, and new
technologies, such as internet telephony, emerge, the days of the
traditional telephone are numbered. A cover page story in the September
15, 2005 edition of The Economist describes the rise of voice over
internet protocol (VOIP) firms like Skype, Teleo and Vonage. Recent
research indicates that the US now hosts more than 1,100 VOIP firms, and
their numbers are growing. Worldwide, experts predict more than 197
million VOIP users by 2010. What does this mean? The cost of phone
service will continue to decline rapidly, and, in the process, lots of
opportunities for new entrepreneurs will emerge. Meanwhile, existing
telecom leaders, like Vodafone, SBC Communications, and Deutsche Telekom,
must identify new ways to compete and prosper. |
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Last week, the Wall
Street Journal released its annual ranking of the world’s best
business schools. Unlike other rankings, the Wall Street Journal’s tally
is developed via interviews with recruiters. Overall, Dartmouth’s Tuck
School of Business tops the rankings this year. The international leader
is Switzerland’s Institute for Management Development (IMD). In the
discipline of entrepreneurship, Stanford ranks number one, followed by
(in rank order): Babson College, Harvard University, University of
California-Berkeley, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. |
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