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Week of November 7 - 11, 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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The President’s Advisory
Panel on Federal Tax Reform has released its long-anticipated report,
Simple, Fair and Pro-Growth: Proposals to Fix America’s Tax System.
The report, following a public input process of live forums and online
feedback, calls for the simplification of an overly complex tax system
that has seen nearly 15,000 changes to the tax code in the last twenty
years. The bipartisan Panel, led by former US Senators Connie Mack and
John Breaux, claims that the complexity is an impediment to economic
growth, costing the US economy $140 billion per year. While the overall
concept enjoys widespread support, the Panel’s specific proposals are
likely to spur lively tax policy debates in the coming year. The Panels
proposals include eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and
reducing the current number of tax brackets (from 6 to either 3 or 4)
while cutting the highest tax rates. It also proposes limits or
elimination for two popular tax breaks – the home mortgage deduction and
the deduction of state and local income taxes. The Panel has also
proposed to limit the amount of health insurance that employers can
provide tax-free to employees, aimed at discouraging tax subsidies for
expensive, high-end health plans. |
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A newly released survey from
the Council on Competitiveness and New Economy Strategies asked leading
corporate executives to share their views on the changing nature of
innovation. The survey’s main finding---that innovation is going
global---should come as no surprise. However, the survey did uncover
some fascinating results. For example, when asked to rank the most
important factors in their firm’s ability to innovate, corporate leaders
cited access to a science and engineering talent pool, close supplier
and customer relations, entrepreneurial managers, and a good
communications infrastructure. When asked to identify factors that would
disqualify a region for new corporate investments, the list sounds
pretty similar. A talent shortfall, poor communications infrastructure,
poor K-12 education, and low quality of life were cited as impediments
to outside investment. Executives were also asked to identify the
biggest barriers to corporate innovation. A majority (61%) cited
competing internal priorities due to finite resources. Other top cited
issues included scarce investment capital and a short-term mentality
among managers. |
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2005’s Top Business Innovations Succeeding in today’s economy requires that businesses regularly innovate—not just by developing new products and services, but also by developing new ways to manage and organize themselves. In an effort to publicize and support such innovations, Booz Allen Hamilton sponsored a competition to identify the top business innovations developed by its consultants or its clients. More than 10,000 people voted in the contest, and the winners are in. This year’s top business and management innovations are:
To learn more about Booz Allen Hamilton’s Leading Innovations Awards and this year’s award winners, visit http://www.leading-innovations.com/ |
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California’s Business Climate: Not So Bad After All?
Despite countless complaints
about state business regulation and other issues, California-based
businesses don’t seem to be picking up and moving away. There are lots
of anecdotes about businesses fleeing the Golden State, but a new study
from the Public Policy Institute of California finds that these
anecdotes don’t add up to a persistent trend. The report, Are
Businesses Fleeing the State? Interstate Business Relocation and
Employment Change in California, notes that California has been
losing businesses for some time. However, the employment impacts of this
exodus are negligible, accounting for less than one-tenth of one percent
of California’s total employment. Most job loss (71.4%) in California
occurs from business closures. Only 1.6% of job loss occurs due to
business relocation out of state. Meanwhile, California boasts a strong
base of new and growing entrepreneurial businesses that continue to
create new jobs and new innovations. On average, new establishments
create 62.3% of California’s new jobs. Expanding establishments for
another 36.7% of new jobs, and firms moving to California create an
additional 0.9% of new employment. The authors conclude that these
cycles of business churning deserve far more attention from policy
makers than do the widely voiced concerns about the exodus of businesses
out of the state. |
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Teaching Entrepreneurship to America’s Veterans
Each year, thousands of
budding entrepreneurs in the US learn how to start and grow their own
business through FastTrac, a hands-on entrepreneurship training program. And now -- through a partnership between The
Veterans Corporation, the Kauffman Foundation, the Small Business
Administration, and the Department of Veteran Affairs – FastTrac is now
being offered in an e-learning setting to Veterans in VA hospitals,
returning Guard and Reserve units, currently transitioning servicemen
and women as well as large rural and minority Veteran populations. |
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