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Week of June 30 - July 6, 2008 |
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With former Small Business Administration
(SBA) Steve Preston moving over to head the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, the White House has been searching for a successor.
Last week, President Bush announced that he will nominate Santanu
“Sandy” K. Baruah as SBA’s next Administrator. Baruah currently serves
as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, and has
worked for the Economic Development Administration for many years.
Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship, has noted that he will hold hearings on
the nominee, but his official statement was fairly neutral on the
nomination. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the Committee’s Ranking
Member, was similarly non-committal in her public response to the
nomination. |
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New SBA Office of Advocacy-sponsored
research offers compelling evidence in support of findings that should
come as no surprise: high-growth gazelle firms matter. The research uses
a new data set developed by the Corporate Research Board to get a sense
of what high-impact firms look like and how they affect the economy. The
study reviews the period between 1994 and 2006, and, in the last time
frame of 2002-2006, it identifies more than 376,000 high impact firms.
These companies, which represent only two to three percent of all
businesses, are defined as firms who have enjoyed major spikes in sales
(e.g. doubling of sales) or jobs over a four-year period. There’s a
reason why these companies are called “high impact.” They account for
nearly all private sector job and revenue growth. The firms are
surprisingly old—25 years old on average. They are not concentrated in
any industry sectors or clusters, and they exist in all regions. Most of
the high-impacts firms are smaller. Firms with less than twenty
employees represent 93.8% of high impact firms; they account for 33.5%
of job growth among high-impact companies. |
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Competition from China: Managers’ Perspectives
Two new surveys sponsored by
McKinsey show that corporate managers based in both the US and China do
not expect the weak dollar to have a big impact on US-Chinese global
market competition. Four of five surveyed executives expect more intense
competition over the next three years, and a similar proportion believe
that China’s low cost will continue to serve as its primary competitive
advantage. While China’s companies are still considered the prime
competition, these Chinese firms are not without problems of their own.
A large portion of surveyed executives (41%) believes Chinese firms are
weaker competitors than those from other countries. Many Chinese firms
recognize these problem areas. Surveyed managers of Chinese firms note
that their primary weaknesses are a dearth of managerial talent (cited
by 44%), inadequate capital (25%), and poor knowledge of the
legal/regulatory climate in overseas markets (24%). Remedying these
weaknesses will require a major push from Chinese executives as 3/5 of
surveyed managers are pushing their firms to move to from domestic sales
to a focus on success in global markets. |
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Hispanic Business magazine has recently
released its latest annual list of the Hispanic Business 500, the US’
500 largest Hispanic-owned enterprises. This year’s Number 1 is a repeat
from last year. Miami’s Brightstar Corporation, a mobile phone
distributor, ranks at the top thanks to annual 2007 revenues of more
than $3.6 billion. While Brightstar may appreciate the honor, it didn’t
really post a strong performance in 2007 as it grew only 1.85 percent
last year. Molina Healthcare, Number 2 on this year’s list, had a
stronger year—boasting annual revenue growth of twenty five percent.
Overall, the HB 500 members had a challenging year in 2007. Total
revenues of listed firms dropped 0.6%, down to a total of $36 billion.
Tough times also helped push many past HB 500 firms off this year’s
list. In fact, 58 firms (about 12% of the total) were new to the HB 500
list this year. |
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Hispanic-Americans and the Education System
While Hispanic-Americans are embracing
entrepreneurship, not enough of them are considering careers in science
and technology, according to a new survey from Public Agenda. The study
reports findings from a survey of Hispanic parents, students and young
adults who were asked for their opinions on the American education
system who were asked their views on high school and college prospects
and their effects on subsequent careers. In many ways, the concerns of
Hispanic parents and students are not really distinctive. They both see
college completion as the key to a successful career. However, a few
distinctive patterns emerge. Hispanics tend to value higher education
and respect educators at very high levels. Yet, at the same time, they
believe that their schools receive insufficient resources, and they also
express higher levels of concern about their ability to pay for higher
education. As advocates work to increase interest in STEM careers, these
distinctive attitudes and perceptions will need to be considered. |
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What should leaders in the southern US be
doing to build a foundation for future prosperity? A new report from the
Southern Growth Policies Board suggests that the region’s leaders need
to do a better job of reaching out and engaging young people. The report
summarizes the results of 153 community forums held across the South.
Community leaders and residents gave poor marks to the region’s leaders
for their current efforts to run the government, address pressing social
challenges, and understand the problems facing the region’s youth. The
report recommends a series of steps to engage youth and to provide more
support to them in a variety of areas. These include expanded support
for youth entrepreneurship programs such as those operated by North
Carolina’s REAL (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning)
Enterprises. |
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Looking for America's Top Entrepreneur -- 25 and Under It seems that an increasing amount of attention is being paid to young entrepreneurs and their potential to drive economic growth -- locally, nationally and in some instances, globally. While the Kauffman Foundation and Make Your Mark are spearheading Global Entrepreneurship Week to shape the next generation of entrepreneurs, other efforts continue to inspire through success stories of those who have made it. One of those efforts is BusinessWeek's annual look at the Top 25 US entrepreneurs who are 25 or younger. If you know someone that age who is running their own venture and shows a clear potential for growth, you can help share their story by nominating them at the BusinessWeek site. Nominations are being accepted until July 21. |
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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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National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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All
stories © 2008 The Public Forum Institute
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