Study Outlines Top Five Issues for Small Firms
The top five most pressing issues facing small business owners and entrepreneurs this year are strengthening the economy, taxes and regulation, health insurance, a quality workforce and global competition, according to a government economist. Chad Moutray, the chief economist at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, also suggests in his new 19-page paper (pdf) “Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Challenges for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Owners,” five opportunities that small businesses should consider pursuing in the next decade. He says small firms would be wise to look toward investing in technology and innovation by grooming local entrepreneurs, a concept he refers to as “economic gardening.” Proponents of economic gardening, who essentially encourage communities to plow the dollars that would have been spent on luring big businesses to their town to promote local small businesses instead, argue that grooming existing firms will lead to greater payoffs and more local job creation.
Read more at Small Business at washingtonpost.com
I worked for several years in the Economic Gardening program at the City of Littleton in Colorado, and am convinced that this is the approach that will grow us out of the current economic crisis. It is entrepreneurs who see the opportunities even in difficult times, and who create and grow organizations to pursue these opportunities. a community’s money is better spent supporting local entrepreneurs than providing incentives or recruiting businesses from outside.