LANSING – Despite the tough economy, Michigan has made discernable progress over the past several years in some key measures of entrepreneurship, according to the fifth annual Entrepreneurship Score Card, released for 2008-2009.

The score card is published by the Small Business Foundation of Michigan, operated in connection with the Small Business Association of Michigan.

Although Michigan has improved its performance in entrepreneurship, it has only marginally changed its rankings compared to other states.

“This tells us that we are chasing a moving target ? our competing states in the Midwest and across the nation are pursuing the same entrepreneurship goals that we are,” said SBAM President and CEO Rob Fowler. “It’s not good enough to tread water. We need to accelerate our public policy efforts to nurture the growth of job-creating entrepreneurial small businesses.”

Based on the latest data, Michigan improved its rating from one star to two stars (where one star is worst and five stars is best) in entrepreneurial change (the amount of recent entrepreneurial growth or decline in an economy) and entrepreneurial vitality (the level of entrepreneurial activity) compared to 2005. In both cases, while national ranking has not improved, the more sensitive measure of ratings shows a jump from one star to two.

However, the rating for entrepreneurial climate (the capability of an economy to foster entrepreneurship) declined from two stars to one star.

Nationally, Michigan ranks 44th nationally in Entrepreneurial Change, 33rd in Entrepreneurial Vitality and 41st in Entrepreneurial Climate.

The score card also shows that Michigan is now ranked fifth in the nation for the rate of net firm entrants (annual starts minus failures), and Michigan has shown improvement over the past four years in growth in proprietor income, awards of initial public offerings, self-employment and grassroots business start-ups. In a new metric this year, obtained from the Edward Lowe Foundation’s new website, Michigan is the best Midwest state for net job gains from existing businesses, the most important generator of new jobs.

This year’s report provides insight into how well Michigan has prepared itself to effectively use innovative entrepreneurship as a viable response to the white heat of the current economic crisis. Within this context, the score card clearly shows that the state has a number of noteworthy entrepreneurship assets. It also shows that Michigan entered into the current economic crisis with entrepreneurial assets that could have been better nurtured in the past, making them more robust and thus more effectively deployed at this time of economic crisis. Despite economic challenges, however, trend lines from this report show that individual businesses, educational institutions, finance and economic development organizations are becoming more entrepreneurial and innovative. Findings from the report support the view that despite the flagging old-line industrial economy, Michigan?s entrepreneurs are not only holding their own in Michigan but also making significant headway.

The score card can be downloaded at SBAM.Org

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