Author Archives: Erik Pages

It’s been sitting on my nightstand for awhile, but I’ve finally had a chance to dig into Saul Kaplan’s new book, The Business Model Innovation Factory.  I’ve known Saul for some time now.  He’s had an interesting career with stints … Continue reading →

The latest issue of our quarterly newsletter, EntreWorks Insights, is now available here.  (You can subscribe here.) This issue examines how the confluence of major new procurements in the passenger rail industry (current projects now out for bid are worth more … Continue reading →

An interesting new ranking of state small business friendliness was released last week by Thumbtack, a new web service that helps users find local services like roofers or plumbers.   The rankings were developed with support from the Kauffman Foundation, and … Continue reading →

The Pew Center on the States has been releasing a lot of interesting data and reports in recent months.  The latest comes from their Economic Mobility Project which studies the important questions of whether and how Americans move up (or … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I participated in an very interesting panel discussion at the Association for Enteprise Opportunity’s (AEO) annual conference.   The panel included some the US’ leading organizations focused on helping underserved entrepreneurs and microbusiness owners.    It was a very impressive group … Continue reading →

Since many of EntreWorks Consulting’s customers and partners are interested in providing more effective support to local entrepreneurs, I spend a lot of time reading the latest on effective business support and assistance programs.   I learn a great deal from … Continue reading →

I’m regularly surprised—and dismayed—by the lack of interaction and information sharing between American economic developers and their colleagues working in international development and poverty alleviation.  Every region has its own unique quirks and histories, but the underlying structural causes of … Continue reading →

A couple of new studies that rank regional start-up ecosystems have been released in past week.   Startup Compass, a blog that tracks global startup activity, has released its rankings of the world’s 25 most  effective startup ecosystems.  Silicon Valley, New York, … Continue reading →

The latest May 2012 issue of Local Economy, a leading British economic development journal is now available here.  US-based readers may be particularly interested in articles that compare British and US small business advisory services, a review of research on … Continue reading →

A number of interesting and high quality regional benchmarking reports have been released in recent weeks.  These include: The 2011-2012 Michigan Entrepreneurship Scorecard:  This very comprehensive report tracks Michigan’s performance on dozens of measures ranging from things like new business … Continue reading →