There are a lot of interesting theories and methodologies about effective business management practices, but, in many cases, there’s not as much on-the-ground evidence that these so-called “best practices” make a firm more profitable. New research from Harvard Business School takes a hard look at the use of one such methodology: the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management. ISO 9001 prescribes a method for improving management and production processes, and it is very popular, having been adopted by more than 900,000 organizations worldwide. The researchers compared nearly 1,000 California-based firms who had adopted ISO 9001 to a matched control group of firms who did not deploy the system. The ISO 9001 adopters had much lower organizational death rates, and outperformed the control group on nearly every measure of company performance, such as sales growth, employment, and average annual earnings. The findings suggest that ISO certification is not just a management “fad,” but a powerful tool to improve company performance. 

Download the 2008 Harvard Business School Working Paper (#09-018), “Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Affects Employees and Employers,” by Daniel I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

The latest issue of The New York Times’ Education Life supplement contains an interesting look at the growth of entrepreneurship education on college campuses. As part of this article, Education Life also lists “23 Bright Ideas,” i.e., interesting inventions and innovations developed by current college students. Some these bright ideas include: gluten-free Play-Doh (known as Soy-Doh); an iPhone application that streams movie times, reviews, and maps to theaters; a new kind of electric motorcycle (the Uno); a fruit bowl that retards food spoilage; and an edible film that can be used to deliver oral vaccines to children. As these examples attest, the spirit of innovation is alive and well on America’s college campuses. 

The article, “Students of Invention: 23 Bright Ideas,” appeared in the January 4, 2009 issue of The New York Times’ Education Life supplement.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and its Technology Innovation Program (TIP) are looking for some good ideas. They have recently announced a call for White Papers from all interested parties who have thoughts and suggestions for “critical national needs” that could be addressed via the TIP initiative. TIP is designed to make research investments in businesses, research institutions, and other entities for projects designed to address pressing national needs. For example, in 2008, TIP invested in projects related to inspecting, monitoring, and evaluating key infrastructure components such as bridges, sewer systems, and the like. The call for White Papers is designed to solicit new ideas for target areas such as manufacturing, personalized medicine, nanomaterials, and a host of other research areas. If you have ideas, there are a number of different deadlines to submit White Papers. 

Learn about the Technology Innovation Program’s Call for White Papers related to Critical National Needs.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Invest $30 billion in America’s information technology (IT) infrastructure, and you may create as many as 949,000 jobs. That’s the bottom line number for a new economic stimulus package proposed last week by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). ITIF researchers argue that the economic stimulus package should not be used only to build and upgrade traditional infrastructure. Investments in new IT infrastructure are also needed. They propose three primary categories of new investments:

• Broadband Infrastructure: Invest $10 billion to expand broadband networks and increase the speed of existing networks.
• Health IT: Invest $10 billion to expand use of health IT, especially in the use of electronic health records.
• Smart Grid: Invest $10 billion to improve transmission lines and to create tax incentives for smart grid investments by utilities, businesses, and consumers.

Download the January 2009 Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report, “The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity, and Revitalize America,” by Robert D. Atkinson, Daniel Castro, and Stephen J. Ezell.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

What regions of the world are the most business-friendly when it comes to corporate taxation policies? A new PricewaterhouseCoopers study benchmarks how 181 countries stack up on three key tax policy-related metrics: 1) The total tax rate, 2) The time taken to comply with tax rules, and 3) The number of required tax payments. The best performing countries have tax systems with relatively low tax rates and simple, transparent administrative procedures. The study does not include a traditional ranking table, but does measure country performance on many key variables. The US does not put in a stellar performance, ranking 46th in terms of the ease of paying taxes and 92nd on is total tax rate. By way of comparison, other business-friendly economies such as Singapore (ranked #5 on ease of payment and #25 on total tax rate), Hong Kong (ranked #3 on payment ease and #18 on total tax rate) and New Zealand (ranked #12 on payment ease and #60 on tax rates), perform much better on this metric. If we could identify one “star” in this analysis, it might be the tiny Maldives, which takes the top rank on nearly every measure.

Learn more about the PricewaterhouseCoopers Paying Taxes 2009 study.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur magazine’s 2009 Franchise 500 has just been released. Subway takes the top spot in 2009, topping 2008’s top franchise: 7-Eleven. Subway, which operates more than 30,000 restaurants in 87 countries, has long dominated the Franchise 500 list. It has held the top spot for eight of the past ten years. Other franchises in the top five include (in rank order): McDonald’s, Liberty Tax Service, Sonic Drive In, and Intercontinental Hotels Group. Another part of the Franchise 500 list, the top twenty-five fastest-growing franchises, gives an interesting look at “what’s hot” in the marketplace. This year, it must be commercial cleaning as Jan-Pro Franchising International tops the fastest growing franchise list. Others in the top five (in rank order) are: Subway, Instant Tax Service, Stratus Building Solutions (cleaning), and Snap Fitness. 

The 2009 Franchise 500 appears in Entrepreneur’s January 2009 issue.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

What factors differentiate fast-growing national economies from the rest of the world? A new article in the World Bank’s Finance & Development magazine examines 13 national economies that have succeeded in growing at an average annual rate exceeding seven percent for at least 25 straight years. That’s a pretty high standard that few countries can achieve. The list includes a diverse mix such as Botswana, Brazil, Oman, Singapore, and Thailand. According to the research, these countries all share five characteristics: macroeconomic stability, future-oriented economic policies, labor mobility, strong political and business leadership, and the use of the market as the primary resource allocation mechanism. Not all of the 13 countries have succeeded in moving from middle income nations to high income nations. In fact, only six—Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malta, Singapore, and Taiwan—have engineered this shift. They succeeded because their leaders anticipated leading economic shifts and changed policies accordingly. For instance, all of these economies shifted their manufacturing focus toward more knowledge intensive industries. At the same time, they were willing to jettison older policies, even if they were successful. For example, the successful economies did not seek to stop the out-migration of low cost manufacturing facilities. 

Access the December 2008 Finance & Development article, “The Ingredients of Sustained High Growth,” by Natalie Ramirez-Djumena and Jair Rodriguez.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

The Wall Street Journal’s entrepreneurship blog, The Independent Street, has made its predictions for what might happen in the world of entrepreneurship in 2009. As with all economic sectors, the world of entrepreneurs will be dominated by how they respond to the economic downturn. As such, blogger Kelly Spors predicts a major uptick in entrepreneurial activity as downsized workers seek to start their own companies. Some other trends to watch for include: a renewed focus on bootstrapping (as opposed to accessing outside finance), a rising wave of foreclosures buffeting entrepreneurs, and a growing small business interest in government contracting. 

“Predictions for Entrepreneurship in 2009,” was posted on December 30, 2008 at The Wall Street Journal’s entrepreneurship blog, The Independent Street.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Great Britain’s Department of Innovation, Universities, and Skills has taken a close look at Britain’s innovation performance in its newly released Annual Innovation Report 2008. This first annual report follows up on the British government’s Innovation Nation White Paper published in March 2008 and the Sainsbury review of science and innovation published in 2007. If you want to understand the state of innovation policy in Britain, this report is a good place to start. It benchmarks Britain’s innovation performance, and also tracks progress in meeting the goals set out in the initial Innovation Nation strategy. Most of the recommendations are still being implemented. Recently announced programs include £5 million Innovation Research Center that will conduct research on pressing innovation issues, as well as new strategies to generate new business opportunities that link innovative small businesses to pressing government agency challenges. Two recently announced competitions will focus on reducing military dependence on fossil fuels and combating infections in health care facilities.

Download the United Kingdom Department of Innovation, Universities, and Skills December 2008 study, Annual Innovation Report 2008.

Provided by: National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship