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Week of March 6 - 12, 2006

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 Performing Cities 2005

The Milken Institute has just released its latest edition of its “Best Performing Cities” rankings. Like last year’s edition, the 2005 version is very “Florida-centric.” The list’s top three metro areas (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, and Naples-Marco Island) are all based in Florida, and Florida’s metro areas hold down twelve of the index’s top thirty slots. The Milken Institute index is heavily weighted toward regions with rapid job growth, and these regions enjoy a mix of industries, such as tourism, retirement development, and a host of other service sectors, that are currently booming. Other high-ranking metros, such as Las Vegas and Orlando, benefit from a similar industry mix. By contrast, midwestern communities with a different industry mix perform quite poorly on the index. The highest ranked Midwestern location is Madison, Wisconsin, which ranks 35th. Washington DC emerges as the best-performing large metro area. The best performing small metro again hails from Florida: Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin. Bend, OR and Prescott, AZ follow close behind in the rankings of small metropolitan areas.

To view the 2006 Milken Institute report, Best Performing Cities: 2005, by Ross DeVol, Lorna Wallace, and Armen Bedroussian, visit http://www.milkeninstitute.org/pdf/best_perf_cities2005.pdf

Business Support in London

The British government and many of Britain’s regional development agencies are in the midst of several interesting and innovative experiments in how to effectively support local entrepreneurs. The latest edition comes from the London Development Agency (LDA), which has recently published a series of consultation documents regarding reform of London’s business support services. The reports contain interesting ideas for making the process more efficient and effective. According to the LDA, their vision is to create a business support system that is “easy to use, accessible, useful, removes disadvantage, and, most importantly, results in an improvement to business performance.” The LDA is seeking public comments on this report between now and March 31, 2006. In an accompanying study — Enterprise Support in Seven World Cities — LDA staff developed a comparative assessment of business support services in seven world cities. In addition to London, the list includes Berlin, Milan, New York, Singapore, Sydney, and Toronto. While each of these cities has a unique approach, they are all actively seeking ways to bring private sector services and support to aspiring entrepreneurs and new business owners.

To offer your feedback or to review the reports accompanying the London Development Agency’s Business Support Review, please visit http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1365. The public comment period ends on March 31, 2006.

Hiring Strategies for Entrepreneurs Seeking Top Talent

Identifying and hiring the top team to help take a company to the next level is one the toughest challenges faced by entrepreneurs. A new collection of articles on the Kauffman eVenturing website addresses that challenge, looking to help business owners become more successful in their quest to hire more “A-list” winners. Filled with practical, actionable advice written by experienced entrepreneurs and hiring experts, the articles emphasize the longer-term value of using a more structured, disciplined approach to add an element of ‘science’ to the art of hiring the best people for an entrepreneurial company.

To read the full collection on “Methods for Evaluating Top Team Candidates” please visit Kauffman eVenturing at www.eVenturing.org.

Career Patterns for European Women

An interesting new article in Newsweek’s international edition examines career patterns among women in European Union members. “Myth and Reality” finds that women in European nations face significant challenges in combining a career and family life. This finding runs contrary to the popular view that Europe’s more robust social welfare system makes it easier for women to combine work and family concerns. Fifty-seven percent of women work in EU nations---compared to 65% in the US. But, fewer European women reach high-level managerial or leadership positions. According to the International Labor Organization, women account for 45% of top leadership positions in the US. Women hold a much lower level of “power jobs” in European economies: Great Britain (33%), Sweden (29%), Germany (27%), and Italy (18%). The article contends that these differences can be attributed to Europe’s rigid workplace culture. The report notes that women thrive in more open and less formal entrepreneurial environments which are common in the American workplace. While European women enjoy long maternity leaves and other benefits, they do not regularly enjoy access to family-friendly flexible work hours, tele-commuting, and other arrangements that contribute to work-life balance. As a result, European countries may be missing out on tapping the high-potential talent and innovation that women can bring to the workplace.

“Myth and Reality,” by Rana Foroohar, appears in the February 26, 2006 international edition of Newsweek. It is available on-line at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11435567/site/newsweek/from/ET/

The Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network

Wisconsin is developing an innovative statewide program via its Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network (WEN), a collaborative of dozens of organizations devoted to supporting local entrepreneurs. A new WEN report entitled A Medium for Growth: The State of Entrepreneurship in Wisconsin reports on a survey of a random sample of more than a thousand Wisconsin residents who were asked their views on entrepreneurship. Many interesting findings resulted. First, roughly half of the state’s residents are or have been involved in the entrepreneurial process. In other words, they are thinking about starting a business or have already done so. The survey also found that few respondents knew about various state programs to support entrepreneurs. The report thus concludes that state officials and others needs to do a better job of creating a hospitable environment for Wisconsin’s aspiring and existing entrepreneurs.

To learn more about the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network, visit www.wenportal.org. The 2006 report, A Medium for Growth: The State of Entrepreneurship in Wisconsin, is available at: http://www.wenportal.org/uploads/WEN_Report_front_web.pdf. 

Rural Small Business Growth

A new study released by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy examines the factors influencing the growth of small businesses in rural America. The study, An Empirical Approach to Characterize Rural Small Business Growth and Profitability, was prepared by Innovation & Information Consultants, Inc. It finds that, not surprisingly, rural regions that enjoyed population growth also enjoyed a rising number of small business starts. The report notes that small business and entrepreneurship support centers are critical to the growth of rural businesses, and it advocates for an expansion of these initiatives. The report also contains interesting case studies of rural business development in Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and Utah.

The February 2006 Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy report, An Empirical Approach to Characterize Rural Small Business Growth and Profitability, prepared by Innovation & Information Consultants, Inc. is available at: http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs271tot.pdf.

Kauffman Foundation    The Public Forum Institute

National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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Mark Marich, Editor

All stories © 2006 The Public Forum Institute
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