Archive for the ‘Total Entrepreneurial Activity’ Category
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Creativity and Ideation, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
Tags: french entrepreneurship, mansard roof, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
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What does a French Mansard Roof have to do with Entrepreneurship? France, with a total 2008 entrepreneurial activity percentage of 8.2% is quite lower than the USA’s 18.7% and Norway’s 15.8%. So can a Mansard roof tell us anything about French Entrepreneurship? What is a Mansard roof anyway?
The Mansard style roof is named after the French architect Francois Mansart (1598 – 1666). During his lifetime, the French could build apartments up to a certain height and then anything over that roofline would be taxed additionally. That proved to be a disappointing limit for those wanting to expand their apartment. Mansart used some entrepreneurial skills to develop the roofing style you see in the photo to your right. These additional floors were exempt from tax and were usually where the servants would live.
If you travel to Paris these days, nearly every apartment building has the Mansard style roof. It started as a way to avoid tax and turned into a beautiful way to finish the roof on a building. The Mansard style roof is now seen all over the world.
So, what is a problem you see in your industry today? Is there a problem similar to a demand for something (more space) and a limit that keeps most people from satiating their demand (taxes)? Can you develop a solution (distinct roofs) that offers a solution to the demand while bypassing the thing limiting people from satiating their demand?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
Tags: entrepreneurship in the usa, necessity vs opportunity entrepreneurship |
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The NY Times had a great article over the weekend about recent entrepreneurial activity in the USA. Some of the most interesting data from this article had to do with the difference between opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship. According to the Kauffman Foundation, necessity entrepreneurship actually rose in the USA during 2008. Most developed countries tend to have higher rates of opportunity entrepreneurship while developing nation entrepreneurs act more out of necessity.
This news it not groundbreaking, especially considering that necessity entrepreneurship will almost certainly rise during recessionary time periods. But there were some very interesting findings in the report. Here are a few:
- during 2008, 320 out of 100,000 adults started a new business each month
- entrepreneurial activity decreased among the college educated from ’07 to ’08.
- entrepreneurial activity increased among less educated individuals from ’07 to ’08
- entrepreneurial activity among immigrants to the USA increased from 0.46% to 0.51% from ’07 to ’08.
- entrepreneurial activity for men increased less than that of women from ’07 – ’08 (men – 0.41 to 0.42% and women 0.20% to 0.24%)
- and if you are an entrepreneur, you were in good company if you lived in Atlanta during 2008 – Atlanta had the highest entrepreneurial activity rate out of any other city in the USA (0.74%)
Click here to view the entire Kauffman Foundation Index of Entrepreneurial Activity from 1996-2008.
Friday, July 31, 2009 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
Tags: State by State Entrepreneurship |
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This month the Kauffman Institute released its yearly study on entrepreneurship levels around the United States. The results of the study are posted here in a three year comparison format. When we study entrepreneurship or try to pick a location for a new business, entrepreneurship level rank is very important. Is a location conducive for starting a new business or not?
Of course, when we start a business, we start the business where we already are. We don’t ask, “Hey, I want to start a business, where should I move to start it?” So, the real value of the research is to study what about a particular place makes it attractive for entrepreneurs. The results show that Georgia and the southwest are the most entrepreneurial, while the northeast is the least entrepreneurial area. Is it because of government activity? The entrepreneurial support network of education and support are critical too. What needs to be studied is whether certain sets of activity, especially state government and tax policy, make a difference on levels of entrepreneurship.
Tags: State by State Entrepreneurship | Posted under Total Entrepreneurial Activity | No Comments
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