Entrepreneurship

Growing Your Own Jobs
October 7, 2009
Presentation presented at the Tennessee County Services Association meeting on October 7th in Chattanooga.

Extending the Market for Local Talent Beyond Local Borders
The purpose of this program is to provide educational information to rural entrepreneurs on the benefits and methods of utilizing e-commerce to expand their potential market. This training is unique in that is uses a combination of traditional classroom teaching and the opportunity for participants from agriculture, the arts, crafts and other traditionally rural sectors to exchange ideas and learn the basic ‘in’s’ and ‘out’s’ of e-commerce. Participants will actively engage with local business owners and will ultimately strengthen their businesses.

**Schedule for Extending the Market for Local Talent Beyond Local Borders**
Date	Destination	Topic	Location	Site Visits
8/28/09	Stewart	Artisans, e-commerce and the Local Economy	Dover Public Library	Farmers Market, Bakery, Artists
9/25/09	Dickson	Using Technology in the Artisan Business	Dickson Extension Office	Catering Business, Railroad Museum, Web Designer, Agritourism
10/30/09	Robertson	Developing your e-Marketing plan	Adams Community Club	Shade Tree Farm, Bell School, Main Street Adams
11/13/09	Humphreys	Filling your e-Commerce toolbox	Waverly Ag Center	Artist Guild
12/11/09	Houston	Designing and maintaining your website	Erin Youth Center	Commercial Kitchen
2/19/109	Cheatham	Promoting and sustaining your e-commerce venture	Ashland City Library or TSU Farm

Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in Tennessee
TN. March 6, 2009
Presented at First Friday Forum sponsored by the Jackson Chamber of Commerce in Jackson
Michael Wilcox and Dayton Lambert
News article in Jacksonsun.com

Entrepreneurship in Tennessee: Striving for Success
November 2008
Dr. Michael D. Wilcox, Jr and Dr. Dayton M. Lambert
Department of Agricultural Economics
Entrepreneurship has received an increasing amount of attention among researchers, economic development professionals, policymakers and local government officials, as the singular emphasis on industrial recruitment broadens to a more comprehensive strategy that encompasses business creation, retention and expansion. Entrepreneurs continue to play an ever more important role in Tennessee’s economy, generating more than $23 billion (in the form of total nonfarm proprietor income or $31,693 per nonfarm proprietor) or 12 percent of total personal income. This constituted 84 percent of all Tennessee employer firms (in the form of firms with fewer than 20 employees) and made up nearly 20 percent of Tennessee’s 3,724,901 total jobs in 2006.
Watch the video promotion on YouTube
Listen to the presentation of findings audio file
PowerPoint Presentation
Executive Summary
Knox News Article
Accent on Agriculture audio file

Tennessee Losing Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas
September 22, 2008
WPLN News Transcript

Entrepreneurship in Tennessee: Striving for Success
September 15, 2008
Invited Presentation at the 2008 Economic and Community Development Governor's Conference, Nashville, TN
Michael D. Wilcox, Jr. and Dayton M. Lambert

What Does 'Entrepreneurship' Data Really Show
August 2008
This paper compares two datasets designed to measure entrepreneurship. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor dataset captures early-stage entrepreneurial activity; the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey dataset captures formal business registration. There are a number of important differences when the data are compared. This discrepancy can be interpreted as the spread between individuals who could potentially operate businesses in the formal sector - and those that actually do so: In other words, GEM data may represent the potential supply of entrepreneurs, whereas the World Bank data may represent the actual rate of entrepreneurship.
Zoltan J. Acs, Sameeksha Desai and Leora F. Klapper
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4667

Self-Employment in Rural America: The New Reality
Rural Realities, Vol. 2, No. 3 (2008)
This latest installment of the Rural Sociological Society’s policy brief series offers a snapshot of how self-employment is playing out in different locales across the country, with a particular focus on rural areas.The brief also provides key directions for policymakers in supporting and advancing local self-employment. SRDC
Stephen J. Goetz

The Voices of the People: Strategies for Expanding Entrepreneurship in the Rural South
April 2007
The Southern Rural Development Center, in partnership with its fellow Regional Rural Development Centers and the National Coalition for Rural Entrepreneurship, conducted nine listening sessions around the South to gain insight into the state of entrepreneurship in rural communities and to better understand which policies and programs can help foster entrepreneurship in these areas. The findings represent a core set of activities that must be launched if rural communities in the South are to be successful in creating an environment where entrepreneurship is promoted, nurtured and sustained over the long term.

"Does Place Contribute to Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Innovation?"
December 7-8, 2007
Paper Presented at "Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations of the Future," a Harvard Business School Centennial Colloquium
Timothy R. Wojan, Economic Research Service, USDA; Dayton Lambert, University of Tennessee and David A. McGranahan, Economic Research Service, USDA

Aligning the Stars - An Introduction to Developing Entrepreneurial Communities in Tennessee
Michael D. Wilcox

Entrepreneurship - Building Community Wealth: A Small Business Development Workshop

So You Want to Start Your Own Business? PowerPoint
Attributes of Successful Entrepreneurs
Are You Ready to Start a Business?
Beyond the Telephone Pole Ad PowerPoint
Starting a Real Home Business
Introduction to E-commerce for Small and Home-based Business PowerPoint
Tennis Ball Game
What does it Take to Breakeven? How Many Jars Must Be sold to Cover Costs?

Strategies for Sustainable Entrepreneurship
2005
You will find five key strategies for supporting rural entrepreneurs elaborated in this book. An entrepreneur’s story illustrates the success of each strategy. The concluding section offers research on the importance and effectiveness of the strategy and the essential role of public policy.

Braving the Waters: A Guide for Tennessee's Aspiring Entrepreneurs
2003
Jolyn Pope