Embracing Entrepreneurship

Abstract

On two occasions in the past six months, the author has presented research findings on which public policies are most effective at enhancing economic performance to members of the Indiana General Assembly. Scholars, public officials, successful entrepreneurs and financiers must come together to rapidly devise and implement effective strategies to take Indiana from its agrarian and industrial past to its entrepreneurial and globally competitive future. According to US Department of Commerce data, firms with greater than 500 employees have been contracting, resulting in net job losses year to year over the last decade, while firms with fewer than 500 employees have been consistent in creating net new jobs over the same time period. Research confirms that through finding new market opportunities and commercializing innovation, entrepreneurs play a central, critical role in job creation, productivity growth and economic prosperity. Policy-makers can stimulate economic growth and job creation by making improvements to the three things entrepreneurs need to commercialize an opportunity: skills, resources and networks.