Faith & Prosperity Nexus Blog
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Haitians Don’t Deserve our Sympathy…
Check out this article written by my business partner Michael Fairbanks and published on the Huffington Post Website. It is a call to action for U.S. engagement, policy, and legislation for Haiti’s private sector. It explores the players and first-hand perspectives from recent key events in the Reconstruction process, including Congressional hearings, the United Nations Haiti Donor Conference in New York, and the Sustainable Haiti segment of the global Social Enterprise Conference in Miami.
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8 Questions That Help You Set Your Company’s Strategy
Entrepreneurs have plenty of ideas. What’s tricky (and often intimidating) is the process of coming up with a ‘go to market’ strategy. Here are some useful questions you may want to consider. The answers will form the basis of your business strategy. Who should I target as customers? What products/services should I offer them, how can I best deliver these Who do i NOT target? What products/services will i NOT offer What issue should I address in thinking about a new strategy How should I think about them What exactly IS a strategic position and how can we create a unique one for us How can we discover a new strategic position while our existing operations are profitable How can we know if a newly crafted strategy will turn out to be a profitable one Can we manage both the new position and the old one at the same time? Is this possible or should we focus on one of the two? Some of these questions come from Constantinos Markides’ Fast Second, a great book on business strategy for starupts and companies that came to a market after the first movers have already landed.
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Why are Small and Medium Sized Companies so Important for Development?
SMEs not only make substantial contributions to the economic well being of their local economies, but they are also involved on a daily basis in activities and decisions that have social and environmental repercussions. SMEs make up more than 90 percent of business globally and account for about 50 percent to 60 percent of employment. In Latin America, 95 percent of firms are SMEs, and account for between 40 percent and 60 percent of jobs, depending on the country, and contribute 30 to 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). In the European Union, it is estimated that more than 20 million SMEs (with up to 250 employees) accounted for over 80 million jobs. In the United States (where small firms are defined as those having fewer than 500 employees), 99.7 percent of all firms fall into the “small business” category, and they account for half the nation’s jobs and contribute more than 50 percent of nonfarm GDP. And speaking of GDP: there is a positive correlation between the number of SMEs in a country and the size of that country’s GDP. A recent study found that every dollar invested in emerging market SME companies generated an additional 12 dollars… Read more
