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Week of April 3 - 9, 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.

The Power of Immigrant Entrepreneurs

As Congress considers a wide range of immigration reform proposals, it is important to note the close linkages between immigration, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Many of America’s most innovative entrepreneurs were born elsewhere, and all Americans have benefited from this influx of talent and new ideas. The latest edition of Forbes reminds us of this fact. In a new article, “Tech’s Labor Lost,” Forbes’ Nicole Ridgway profiles nine leading entrepreneurs and CEOs who immigrated to the US to start their businesses. The list includes Intel’s Andy Grove, Google’s Sergei Brin, ebay’s Pierre Omidyar, and a host of other leading technology executives.

The article, “Tech’s Labor Lost,” by Nicole Ridway appears in the March 28, 2006 edition of Forbes and is available on-line.

What’s on the Minds of Global CEOs?

The Chief Executive Officers of global corporations are increasingly concerned about market competition and plan major overhauls of their companies in the next two years. That’s one major finding of IBM’s Global CEO Study 2006. IBM staff interviewed more than 750 of the world’s top business leaders to assess their views on the world of global business. Innovation clearly appears to be ‘job 1’ for CEOs. Sixty five percent of CEOs planned to radically change their firm’s business models in the face of new and more intense market competition. Simply introducing new products and services is not enough—a firm must also innovate in terms of its business model and its management practices. When asked to identify top sources of new ideas, 76% of CEOs pointed to business partners and customers. Surprisingly, internal R&D ranked low and was cited by only 14% of CEOs as a major source of new ideas and innovations. Another interesting result concerns collaborations with outside partners. Firms that regularly collaborate with external partners outperform those involved with few outside collaborators. Finally, a majority of CEOs agreed that internal barriers (as opposed to external constraints) were the primary inhibitors in terms of limited their company’s innovation capacity and performance.

To learn more about the IBM Global CEO Study 2006, visit
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19289.wss.

Guide to International Business Costs

If you’re looking for a low-cost location for a new business, you might want to think about Singapore. That nation ranks number one in terms of low business costs in the latest edition of KPMG’s Competitive Alternatives survey of the cost of doing business in various global locations. Singapore far outstrips the competition, with costs that are on average 22.3% cheaper than in the US. The KPMG research analyzes business costs in a wide range of key industries, including aerospace, biotechnology, telecommunications, electronics and precision manufacturing. Among G7 countries, Canada fares best (with 5.5% cost advantage over the US) and its cities rank as top North American cities in terms of low business costs. Within the US, the top three low-cost sites are Dothan, AL, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC, and Lexington, KY. Most major European economies also have a cost advantage compared to the US, with France and the Netherlands enjoying slightly lower costs than their European compatriots. Not surprisingly, Japan and Germany rank as the highest cost locations.

To learn more about KPMGs’ 2006 Competitive Alternatives survey, visit www.competitivealternatives.com

NetWork Kansas Unveiled

For the past few years, Kansas has been involved in promoting a number of interesting entrepreneurship initiatives. The latest comes from the Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship, which has recently unveiled its new web portal, NetWork Kansas. NetWork Kansas is designed to link Kansas’ entrepreneurs to a wide array of support services. At present, more than 240 service providers can be accessed via the website. The site is also staffed by counselors who can provide advice and referrals via an 800 number or via an email contact. NetWork Kansas is a great resource for the state’s existing and aspiring business owners.

To learn more about NetWork Kansas, visit http://www.networkkansas.com
 

Recent Reports on Improving Math and Science Education: A Primer

We’ve been covering many new reports and legislative proposals that are recommending improvements in US science, technology and engineering education. If you’re like us, you may also be having trouble remembering who said what or who’s recommending what solution. Fortunately, the Education Commission of the States is here to help. They have just published a handy guide to the six major recently-released reports that focus on strengthening America’s innovation capacity. If you need a “cheat sheet” to track these various proposals, this is a handy and helpful guide.

To access the March 2006 White Paper by the Education Commission of the States, A Synthesis of Recommendations for Improving U.S. Science and Mathematics Education, by Kyle Zinth, visit http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/67/64/6764.pdf.

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All stories © 2006 The Public Forum Institute
Content from this newsletter may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship and a link to www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde. 

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