Small Business Trends

Is the jury still out in your mind as to whether social media matters in business? If so, a recent survey might make you change your mind. In fact, it may cause you to re-think your entire marketing outreach, especially if you market to women.

The study found that 42 million women in the United States (roughly 53% of the 79 million adult women in the United States who use the Internet) participate in social media at least weekly. As they spend more time with social media, women are spending correspondingly less time with traditional media: 39% less on newspapers, 36% less time reading magazines, and 30% less time watching TV.

That’s according to a recent social media survey by BlogHer, the women’s blog network, along with…

FY 01 Small Business Report to the Secretary (PDF), Department of Energy, 2001.

The Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, submits its Report to the Secretary on Small Business Programs for FY 2001 in accordance with memorandum dated December 5, 2000. The report addresses DOE’s activities and accomplishments which are in support of small (SB), small disadvantaged (SDB), 8(a), women-owned (WOB), HUBZone and disabled veteran-owned small (VOSB) business concerns.

Small Business Innovative Research — Venture Capital funding in SBIR: (PDF), Washington Internship Research Paper, July 2005.

In 2005, about 82.5 percent of all small businesses received funding through some sort of credit, including private savings, loans from family and friends, and business loans from venture capital firms. Considering this staggering statistic, it is important to acknowledge what makes SBIR funding so desirable.

Navy SBIR/STTR Programs: (PDF), Office of Naval Research, September 2006.

How the US Navy leverages small businesses through its SBIR programs to develop innovative technology. Gives links to success stories and specifics on proposals that move from Phase 1 to Phase 2.

Entrepreneurs and Software Patents: (PPT), Software Patent Conference, November 2006.

Dysfunctions and reforms in the software patent process and the ramifications of it on software entrepreneurs.

Small Business Development in Native American Communities: (PDF), U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, April 2002.

Useful statistics on The Native American Small Business Development Act. Comments on the effort to enhance the availability of technical assistance to support entrepreneurship in Native American communities. The communities served by this initiative represent some of the most traditionally isolated, disadvantaged, and underserved populations in our country.

Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs: (PDF), OECD, October 2006.

Study of financing for small and medium enterprises (SME). It evaluates the SME “financing gap”, and what governments can do to make it easier for them to obtain the funding they need to start, grow and prosper, and thus contribute to creating jobs and economic growth. OECD = ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT