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Week of September 25 - October 1, 2006

How to Build Rural Business Networks

Entrepreneurs regularly report that they truly value opportunities to network, interact with, and learn from fellow entrepreneurs. In most big cities, entrepreneurs can find frequent opportunities to meet with other business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs. Networking can be a little tougher in rural communities where it requires more travel and where a smaller population base may mean fewer fellow entrepreneurs. While networking may be slightly more difficult in a rural setting, it can and does happen on a regular basis. For those regions that are hoping to build their own networks, a new guide from North Carolina should help. “Hello, My Business Name Is:” A Guide to Building Entrepreneurial Networks in North Carolina is designed to help entrepreneurs, business leaders, and community leaders who are seeking to create strong locally-based entrepreneur networks. It profiles several successful networks, and offers a how-to guide on building such networks.

“Hello, My Business Name Is:” A Guide to Building Entrepreneurial Networks in North Carolina, was published by North Carolina’s Council for Entrepreneurial Development as a part of North Carolina’s Entrepreneurial Development Systems Project, a statewide effort led by the North Carolina Rural Development Center and numerous other partners. It is available on-line at: http://www.cednc.org/resources/reports_and_surveys/networks_guide.pdf

European Union Entrepreneurship Policy: An Update

In 2004, the European Union (EU) launched its first entrepreneurship action plan. Two years later, EU leaders are taking stock. The initial plan included a host of activities designed to encourage young people to be entrepreneurs, to promote cultural awareness of entrepreneurship, and to improve the quality and availability of services, including finance, for new business owners. Overall, the Final Report on Implementation of the Entrepreneurship Action Plan finds that EU and national officials have completed more than 90% of the actions suggested in the original Action Plan. While there is much more work to be done, this effort has helped lay a strong foundation. Those with an interest in European best practices will be particularly interested in this report which includes listings of particularly effective or innovative programs from across the EU.

To access the 2005 European Union study, Final Report on Implementation of the Entrepreneurship Action Plan, visit http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/action_plan/index.htm

America’s Top Business Schools

Last week, The Wall Street Journal released its annual listing of America’s top business schools. These rankings are a little bit different from other such lists as they are based on interviews with corporate recruiters. The University of Michigan tops this year’s list, followed by (in rank order): Dartmouth, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, and the University of California-Berkeley. In the area of entrepreneurship, Stanford, Babson College, and University of California-Berkeley, were ranked as the top performers. The top international business schools were Spain’s ESADE, Switzerland’s IMD, and Mexico’s IPADE. The report’s editors also asked recruiters to list personal attributes that they deemed very important in business school graduates. These rankings offer useful insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s business world. The top five attributes cited as “very important” were:

  • Communication and Interpersonal skills (cited by 89% of respondents)

  •  Ability to work well within a team (86.9%)

  • Personal ethics and integrity (86.2%)

  • Analytical and problem-solving skills (84.3%)

  • Work ethic (82.9%)

The Wall Street Journal Special Report, “The Top Business Schools,” appeared in the September 20, 2006 issue of The Wall Street Journal. It is available on-line at: http://online.wsj.com/home/us.

The Power of Self-Employment

A new study from Massachusetts makes an important point about the 21st century American economy: the self-employed are a major but underappreciated economic force. While most people recognize that self-employment is growing, they don’t know that many measures of state or local employment don’t count sole proprietors. Instead, they simply track those workers who are paid as employees. The report, by Salem State College’s Laurence Goss, details the numbers for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Within the state, there were more than 472,000 sole proprietors in 2004. This total accounts for 17% of Massachusetts’ total employment. The report concludes that policymakers need to better understand the importance of this sector of the economy. They should also take steps to provide better support and encouragement to sole proprietors and other micro-business owners.

Data and analysis on sole proprietors in Massachusetts are available from the Enterprise Center at Salem State College. The Sole Proprietor Research Information Pack can be accessed at: http://www.enterprisectr.org/soleproprietorresearchreport57.html.

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.

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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