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A Message from Sandy Baruah A Framework for Developing Rural Entrepreneurship Supporting Rural Entrepreneurship Jack Schultz: A Man with 7 1/2 Keys to Small Town Success The HomeTown Competitiveness Initiative Incorporating Entrepreneurship into NC's ED Infrastructure Entrepreneurship on Tribal Lands Innovation Commercialization in a Rural Region Kentucky Leadership Program Coaches Entrepreneurs Wyoming Business Camp Encourages Youth to Make Their Own Jobs  Subscribe
About Economic Development America
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Jack Schultz: A Man with 7 1/2 Keys to Small Town Success (cont.)
“In Tom Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat, he quotes Bill Gates of 20 years ago, asking whether you would rather be born average in the U.S. or a genius in some small town in China?” (The answer then was assumed to be the former.) “Well, that’s reversed today. The technologies of FedEx, of telecommunications, of air travel, really allow you to start a business anywhere and compete very effectively on an international basis,” says Schultz. For example, he cites John Larsen, a technology executive who has moved his latest startup, HomeMovie.com, from outside of Seattle to the community of Winthrop in rural eastern Washington. Larsen moved to Winthrop seeking a higher quality of life for his family, and now wants to help the town retain its young people. Schultz also mentions the importance of clustering and critical mass. He says the small town of Warsaw, Indiana, has become the orthopedic manufacturing capital of the country – one entrepreneur developed a device there, and now the area hosts a number of medical device manufacturers. Schultz is bullish on manufacturing, believing it’s gotten a bad rap. “A lot of the media would have us believe that our manufacturing sector is doomed,” he says. “My take is that we are on the cusp of greatness in the manufacturing sector. Just yesterday, in Wisconsin, I was in two small manufacturing businesses that are growing at 20 percent a year. “If you look at the U.S. economy, manufacturing as a percentage of the economy is at a very low level, but we are producing more goods today as far as dollar value goes than at any other times in our history.We’re doing it with fewer people because of increased productivity. “I see the potential for greatness in manufacturing in the small businesses that are inventing new things – the entrepreneurial spirit in manufacturing, as opposed to the branch plant mentality. On a recent trip, the hosts were bemoaning the fact that 83 percent of their manufacturers have sales of less than $100 million. I see that as a big plus. The growth potential is in these small, entrepreneurial manufacturing businesses, rather than the big Fortune 500 businesses. Those companies can’t compete because of their cost structure.” Many of Schultz’s insights about how to foster entrepreneurship are echoed in other articles in this edition. They include providing entrepreneurship education in schools; expanding the concept of who an entrepreneur is (to include more women, immigrants, minorities and retirees); thinking regionally about assets; facilitating the development of the entrepreneurial spirit into real businesses; and providing access to capital. He sees a bright future in the current Millennial generation, those who are approximately 25 and younger. “The Millennial generation is going to be the most entrepreneurial generation in history of U.S.,” he says. “In a recent national survey, half the kids that are graduating from high school today dream of starting their own business. I’ve already seen comparisons of them to the generation of the 1880s that transformed the U.S. These kids have got it in their DNA to start new businesses and to be involved in startup operations.”
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