Innovation and Creation

The importance of entrepreneurs for job creation in the United States is nicely summarized in two articles in the current BusinessWeek, March 22&29, 2010. "Give me Your Smart and Motivated..." by Douglas MacMillan, p. 27, discusses the need to make visas available to those wanting to come to the U.S. to start businesses. The unfortunate data noted in the article is Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's findings that U.S. startup activity has declined from 12.4% in 2005 to 8% in 2009. Internationally, the startup activity increased over the same period. More notable is that the real problem of regulations, taxation and other burdens on starting and owning a company in the U.S. that constrain startup activity are not addressed. Instead, the recommended solution is letting foreigners into the U.S. to do the job.

"Revenge of the Cable Guys" by Ronald Grover, et.al. has a nice discussion of using entrepreneurship or intrepreneurship (where a larger company engages in startup activity) to address shifting market conditions.

The U.S. is a great place to engage in business, but success has never been easy or assured. The freedom to innovate in customer service and products remains one of our great blessings. So innovate away and create some jobs!

We look forward to reading your comments.