Benchmarks on the size of your small business economy for BR+E programs Saturday, January 25, 2003 Research in economic development is is a generally sorry state. Most reports are written by academics, for academics. It's often hard to squeeze these reports for practical insights that EDPros can use. One surprising source, though, is the Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration. They provide some useful state profiles of the small business economy. These enable you to get some benchmarks on the size of the small business economy in your state. You can use the state figures as rules of thumb for your region. While academics may wince at the practice, it's good enough to help you start defining the scope of your retention and expansion programs. Download your state report. Go posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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