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Week of September 3 - 9, 2007

Comparing National Business Start-up Rates

A new World Bank research report examines trends in business start-up and entrepreneurship across 84 different countries. The study seeks to measure the number of registered businesses and new businesses by country, and then assess factors that might contribute to more positive entrepreneurial outcomes. The rates of new business entry (new firms as a percentage of total firms) are fairly consistent, averaging anywhere from 7 - 9% across developing countries and around 10% in industrialized economies. When looking at business starts by sector, an interesting asymmetry emerges. In industrialized economies, business and service sector firms dominate. In developing economies, these sectors remain relatively small and retail/trade and finance, insurance, and real estate firms dominate the mix of new companies. The study concludes by noting that entrepreneurship is positively correlated with national economic growth. It also finds that efforts to ease business registration rules and procedures have the logical effect of increasing the number of newly registered start-ups.

Access the 2007 World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (#4313), Entrepreneurship and Firm Formation Across Countries, by Leora Klapper, Raphael Amit, Mauro F. Guillen, and Juan Manuel Quesada.  

Technology Review 35

MIT’s Technology Review has just published its seventh annual list of the TR 35, the 35 most important new innovators under the age of 35. As usual, the list will likely make you feel like a slacker when compared to these truly creative and impressive men and women. Flagship Ventures’ David Berry is this year’s Innovator of the Year. Berry is a researcher and venture capitalist who is pioneering new tools to genetically engineer microbes into biofuels. A new firm, LS9, is now seeking to commercialize this technology. This year’s Humanitarian of the Year award goes to the University of Washington’s Tapan Parikh, founder of a firm called Ekgaon Technologies. Through Ekgaon, Parikh develops information technology systems that can be used by entrepreneurs in less-developed economies. His IT programs operate on mobile phones and other platforms that are more easily deployed in poorer nations.

View the 2007 TR 35 list. The list also appears in the September/October 2007 issue of Technology Review.

Cost of Doing Business

If you’re looking for a cheap place to start a new business, you might consider locations other than Hawaii, New York, or Alaska. These three states ranked as the most expensive in the 2007 edition of the Milken Institute’s Cost of Doing Business Index. The index assesses states across five categories: wage costs, tax burden, electricity costs, industrial rent costs, and office rent costs. Based on these metrics, America’s Heartland is the place to be. The lowest cost states are (in rank order): South Dakota, Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Idaho.

Access the 2007 Milken Institute Cost of Doing Business Index. Registration is required.

Top 100 Small Business Podcasts

Small Business Trends Radio—an excellent small business podcast in its own right---has published a great list of the 100 best small business-related podcasts. Podcasts are a great means to catch up on the latest happenings in any field, and, given the time pressures facing most entrepreneurs, podcasts offer a flexible and effective way to keep up on new thinking in management, leadership, technology trends and the like. This listing is a great place to get started.

Access Small Business Trends Radio’s listing of its 100 favorite podcasts.

Hispanic Business 100

Ft. Lauderdale’s Liberty Power Corporation is America’s fastest growing Latino-owned firm for 2007, according to the latest edition of Hispanic Business’ 100 Fastest Growing Companies. Liberty Power was founded in 2001 and grew by more than 14,000% between 2002 and 2006. Today, the firm, an independent supplier of retail electricity, employs 60 people and enjoys annual sales of nearly $120 million. Hispanic Business has also ranked its 50 top exporters. Miami’s Brightstar Corporation, a cell phone distributor throughout Latin America, tops that list. Brightstar has had a hot run lately. They topped last year’s list of 100 Fastest Growing Companies and also enjoyed the biggest revenue growth on this year’s HB 100.

Learn more about the Hispanic Business 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. The list also appears in the July/August 2007 issue of Hispanic Business.

Correction: In last week's issue, the last story carried an incorrect headline. The headline should have read 'Small Business and Sustainable Development'. This correction has been made to the archive version available on the NDE website.
 

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is 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 entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online.

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