Books
Mike Danson, SMALL FIRM FORMATION AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (1996).
Abstract : This work examines the role of new firm formation in regional economic development. While the focus is on Scotland, the strong policy orientation and comparative treatment mean that the issues covered have a much wider application and interest.
Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policies in Central and Eastern Europe (Friederike Welter & David Smallbone eds., 2011).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): This Handbook explores the role of government in the development of entrepreneurship in countries where twenty years ago private enterprise was illegal or barely tolerated. The expert contributors reveal that government policy is one of the key influences on the external environment in which businesses develop, particularly in countries where it has been necessary to redefine the role of the state in relation to business development. They outline how government policy can also act as an enabling and/or a constraining force with respect to entrepreneurship development, particularly in relation to institutional change and the development of a market-based economy. This Handbook includes up-to-date information and analysis as to how entrepreneurship policies have evolved in the wider Europe, focusing on the challenges that arise in designing and implementing entrepreneurship policy.
Articles
Alicia Alvarez, Community Development Clinics: What Does Poverty Have to Do with Them, 34 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1269 (2007).
Abstract: This Essay advocates for a more explicit link between the work of community economic development clinics and efforts to eliminate poverty. Community development clinics need to do more than teach students to be good transactional lawyers--rather they must also acknowledge and focus their efforts on the elimination and reduction of poverty. I begin by briefly discussing poverty lawyering and then situate community development in the context of poverty lawyering. I then highlight critiques of the traditional poverty and community development lawyering. I conclude with some thoughts on how better to connect anti-poverty strategies and community development clinics and lawyering, while addressing some of the critiques of community development lawyering.
Claudia Alvarez & David Urbano, Environmental Factors and Entrepreneurial Activity in Latin America, 48 Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración 126 (2011), also available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1974138.
Abstract (from authors): The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of environmental factors on entrepreneurial activity, focusing on Latin America, and using the institutional approach as theoretical framework. Through a panel data model with information from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and Doing Business, the authors demonstrate that informal institutions, such as political stability, control of corruption and role models are related to the entrepreneurial activity. Likewise, contrary to the expected results, formal institutions, such as procedures and time for starting a new business, and business and entrepreneurial skills, do not have a significant influence on entrepreneurship in Latin American countries.
J.J. Baloyi, Demystifying the Role of Copyright as a Tool for Economic Development in Africa: Tackling the Harsh Effects of the Transferability Principle in Copyright Law, 17 Potchefstroom Electronic L.J. 87 (2014).
Abstract (from publisher): This article focuses on the role of intellectual property laws including copyright and related rights, in entrepreneurial process and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on why the intellectual property law system in Sub-Saharan Africa which has rich cultural resources, is not able to support entrepreneurship which in return, will encourage economic development in the region.
Peter Blanck, Leonard A. Sandler, James L. Schmeling, & Helen A. Schartz, The Emerging Workforce of Entrepreneurs with Disabilities: Preliminary Study of Entrepreneurship in Iowa, 85 Iowa L. Rev. 1583 (2000).
Abstract: This article explores one point in the continuum of employment activities of persons with disabilities--selfemployment and entrepreneurial activity. The investigation examines how selfemployment expands employment opportunities and improves quality of life for people with disabilities in Iowa. Part of a series of articles.
Braving the Waters: a Guide for Tennessee's Aspiring Entrepreneurs, 9 Transactions: Tenn. J. Bus. L. 367 (2008).
Abstract: This article provides a broad overview of the various topics relevant to a new entrepreneur doing business in Tennessee.
Dieter Boegenhold & Uwe Fachinger, Female Solo-Self-Employment between Need and Innovation Challenge: Observations on Gender and Entrepreneurship in Germany (2012), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2118141.
Abstract (by author): This paper combines conceptual thoughts on the development of self-employment within stratified modern societies with empirical reflections based on public census data for Germany. Talk about the rise and future of self-employment must be linked to the discussion about changes in the structure of occupations, labour markets and regulations. A fundamental question is how gender matters when investigating these trends. Do we find specific “gender patterns” within recent developments of an increasing expansion of self-employment e.g. in Germany, or will the new chances and risks lead to a greater equality of opportunities? Is the increase of solo-self-employment of females driven by the need to earn a living, or is it the result of females taking the risk e.g. to become more economically independent? Prima facie, we learn to acknowledge that the rise of self-employment is mostly supported by the rise of micro-firms and solo-self-employment, of which especially solo-self-employment is a female domain. The independent liberal professions also indicate a significant revival of female labour. The research tries to delve deeper into the different segments of the employment system and to connect empirical findings with the theoretical discussion on professional groups in modern capitalist societies. One basic question is whether female solo-self-employment is primarily driven by necessity in order to take part in the labour market or if those emerging activities reflect new innovative modes of labour market integration and reveal new opportunities and markets which are, in wide parts, especially due to the development of the service and health care sector.
Deanna Chea, Note, Microlending: State Regulatory Reforms to Promote Economic and Employment Growth in California, 10 Hastings Bus. L.J. 451 (2014).
Abstract (adapted from author): Microlending has earned a great deal of acclaim for alleviating poverty and facilitating self-sufficiency among entrepreneur recipients of microloans, particularly in developing countries. The microlending structure has been repeatedly replicated and tailored to successfully meet each community’s unique needs. As one of the most socio-economically, geographically, and culturally diverse states in the United States, California can reap the benefits of microlending with careful development of proper infrastructure. This note examines the history of microlending, provides an overview of the current economic state of California, and proposes a number of state legislative and regulatory reforms to create a sustainable and robust microlending framework. In arguing that microlending is an effective potential tool to facilitate optimal economic recovery and growth, post-housing bubble recession, this paper seeks to promote further research and exploration of microlending in the California context.
Elin Cohen, Doing Business Under The Hot Sun: How Small Firms Do Business and Process Conflicts in Kenya, 11 Chi.-Kent J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1 (2011).
Abstract (from author): Considerable amounts of money have been spent on reform projects aiming to strengthen institutions supporting business transactions in developing countries. To be able to evaluate the type and extent of reforms needed, this article presents a thick description of business practices among smaller businesses in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Entrepreneurs in developing countries form long-term relational contracts with a very limited number of suppliers, with whom disputes are rare and generally resolved without third party involvement. However, when entrepreneurs are unable to rely upon relational contracts with their customers, disputes are common and often remain unresolved. Due to the limited availability of suitable fora, firms are cautious to expose themselves to riskier transactions. Private mediation options have emerged in certain locations, but have, at present, limited reach. This article expands our understanding of business practices among smaller businesses in Africa and highlights institutional gaps, which if addressed, could prevent disagreements and facilitate dispute processing.
Okolocha Chimezie Comfort & Okolocha Chizoba Bonaventure, Students’ Entrepreneurial Skill Acquisition through SIWES in Nigeria: An Analytical Approach, 3 Int’l J. Indep. Res. Stud. 97 (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2159212.
Abstract (by authors): This study presents an analytical approach to students’ entrepreneurial skill acquisition through Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze data collected through a validated four point structured questionnaire. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using ANOVA. Students rated SIWES as having positive impact on their academic achievements (entrepreneurship skill acquisition). However, students identified difficulty in securing placement for industrial training as the most pressing problem encountered prior to SIWES exercise. It was recommended among others that the SIWES coordinators at state and institutional levels should devise effective strategies for sourcing out places of placement on behalf of the students and post them to relevant industries that will match their fields of study which will help them to acquire practical skills.
Alexander E. Csordas, Note, Funding Entrepreneurial Ventures in China: Proposals to More Effectively Regulate Chinese Foreign Private Issuers, 38 Brook. J. Int'l L. 373 (2012).
Abstract (adapted from author): Over the past thirty years, the People's Republic of China has emerged into an economic juggernaut. China has leveraged its population of 1.3 billion people to industrialize at an incredible rate. Three decades of 9 percent average annual growth in gross domestic product (“GDP”) resulted in China supplanting Japan as the world's second largest economy in 2010. Moreover, by focusing on infrastructure spending and the export of consumer goods to drive economic growth, China has managed to largely avoid the financial turmoil that has roiled developed economies, particularly the United States and the European Union, since late 2007. The vibrancy of China's economy has led to the emergence of a middle class and a generation of “budding entrepreneurs” who seek to build new businesses and raise capital. Western investors have been eager to seek investment opportunities in these fast-growing Chinese businesses and to enter a market that, a generation ago, was off-limits to outsiders. Foreign investment in Chinese firms, however, has been plagued with problems. Regulators have discovered numerous instances of corruption and fraud, often perpetrated through deceptive accounting practices, within Chinese companies publicly listed in the United States. These revelations have resulted in international finger pointing between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. This Note explores the issues raised by such tainted firms and suggests policy changes that may result in more effective regulation of Chinese public companies. Specifically, this Note argues that by implementing legislation that mirrors provisions of the United States' Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, China may be able to develop and, more importantly, enforce a stricter regulatory regime that will reduce corporate fraud.
Scott L. Cummings, Recentralization: Community Economic Development and the Case for Regionalism, 8 J. Small & Emerging Bus. L. 131 (2004).
Abstract: Community economic development’s commitment to local empowerment reflects the broad movement against centralized political decision making in American politics. Yet, while it has many virtues, the empowerment orientation of community economic development poses challenges to the goal of distributive justice. In particular, by advancing an inward-focused notion of community that largely ignores the macro-level political structures that shape neighborhood development dynamics, community economic development does not directly respond to the most significant barriers to greater urban equality: government-sponsored jurisdictional divisions that confine poor communities within municipalities that are overburdened by social service demands and under-funded by tax revenues. As an alternative to the dominant localist approach, this Article suggests that distributive justice goals would be better served if community economic development policy and practice were informed by a regionalism perspective. This Article sketches the outlines of what a regionalism approach might look like, describing regional policy initiatives in the areas of affordable housing and economic development, and offering examples of grassroots advocacy strategies that adopt a regional focus. It concludes with a preliminary accounting of the challenges to community economic development presented by regionalism and offers some tentative responses.
Tom Eikenberry, A Tennessee Seed Capital Qualified Investment Tax Credit: A Survey and Concrete Proposal for Legislative Action, 4 Transactions 105 (2003).
Abstract (from author): The components of today's "vibrant and prosperous" economy are "fundamentally different from those of the past." Specifically, a "New Economy" has developed and is generally characterized as a "movement from a tangible-asset to an intangible [-] asset-based economy." Today, "knowledge-driven innovation, science, and technology are critical to job and wealth creation," and "capital, particularly seed and venture capital, is critical to fuel the new businesses that will drive" state economies.
Shervin Espahbod & Jahangir Yadollahi Farsi, Scanning of Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Agritourism in Villages Located in the Suburbs of the Metropolitan Cities of Iran: An Empirical Review (International Conference on Business, Economics and Tourism Management, 2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2118967.
Abstract (adapted from author): The purpose of this paper is to identify entrepreneurial opportunities that contribute to the development of agricultural tourism. In this research, the authors have implemented the opportunity discovery model proposed by Morrison and then, after reviewing all published works in the field of rural and agricultural tourism between 2005 and 2010, the authors present their final evaluation. The sample size of the field research includes approximately over 1580 individuals in the localities and over 12587 villages from all across Iran. This shows that if reinforced by appropriate policies, the agricultural tourism in the suburbs of the metropolitan cities in developing countries can be advantageous for the farmers, governments and tourists. For such a change to take effect, an integration of economic, social, legal and managerial approaches is but necessary. The results from the research give a comprehensive insight into the state of agricultural tourism.
Sara A. Faherty, Preface: Financing the Next Generation of Community Development, 12 J. Affordable Hous. & Cmty. Dev. L. 278 (2002-2003).
Brian Glick & Matthew Rossman, Neighborhood Legal Services as House Counsel to Community-Based Efforts to Achieve Economic Justice: The East Brooklyn Experience, 23 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 105 (1997).
David Goodman, Holly N. Mancl, Kristy L. Rice & Allison A. Weimer, Braving the Waters: A Guide for Tennessee's Aspiring Entrepreneurs: 4th Edition, 9 Transactions 367 (2008).
Abstract (from authors): According to 2004 U.S. census data, approximately 19.5 million people in the United States are self-employed. These entrepreneurs own businesses ranging from home childcare businesses to international consulting businesses. If you are interested in starting your own business or buying a franchise or existing business, this Article will help you get started and point you in the direction of more specific advice.
James B. Greenberg, Microfinance, Law, and Development: A Case Study in Mali, 30 Ariz. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 135 (2013).
Abstract (adapted from article): Microfinance is based on a simple, but hardly new idea, that if the poor are given access to savings and credit they are capable of lifting themselves out of poverty. Just as this idea inspired nineteenth-century liberal attempts to deal with poverty, its twentieth-century versions stirs the imagination and led to a vast microfinance movement with millions of clients. This movement, however, is based on some very shaky assumptions: 1) that the poor lack access and want affordable credit; 2) the poor are natural entrepreneurs; and 3) that even small loans can make a difference.
Even if microfinance is not the engine that will lift people out of poverty or the empowering tool that will profoundly change the position of women in the home and society, the small changes it does produce are very real and are greatly appreciated. However, the real story about microfinance is not about whether it delivers on its promises to alleviate poverty as much as whether it is a politically driven game of bait-and-switch. Seen from this perspective, its neoliberal embrace makes sense. Unhappy with development aid, and subsidizing loans to the poor, microfinance offered a seemingly viable, market based alternative that fit the neoliberal vision of development. Still this vision needed to be sold, so claims of its success were if not exaggerated, then based on business metrics rather than social metrics, on amounts loaned and repayment rates, and other numbers rather than on social outcomes. Reinforcing the tale with these metrics, were the doubtlessly true stories of individuals whose lives had been transformed by a small loan. That such results are not typical was certainly less important than the fact that such stories helped raise the money NGOs needed to offer these microfinance programs.
Although it is tempting to make sweeping generalizations, not all NGOs are the same, and the concrete facts on the ground vary as well. On balance, despite the hype, and exaggerated claims, and internal problems with the design and administration, microfinance programs do make a difference, even if it is a more modest one than claimed.
David H. Hu, Seed Capital is Not Enough: Lessons from Hawai'i's Attempt to Develop a High-Technology Sector, 30 Haw. L. Rev. 401 (2008).
Abstract: This article examines Hawai'i's one-hundred percent tax credit program for investors in qualified high-technology businesses ("QHTBs"). Part II examines how Act 221/215 works and presents arguments for and against its effectiveness in developing a high-technology sector. Part III describes ways in which Hawai'i can improve its efforts to develop a strong high-technology industry. It proposes that Hawai'i lower Act 221/215's one-hundred percent tax credit and introduce a policy limiting the amount of available credits. This section further recommends that because Act 221/215's main focus is to create research and development and seed capital, it should be supported by a government program that generates venture capital. It argues that there is a venture capital funding gap and companies started under Act 221/215 have a high likelihood of leaving Hawai'i in search of this venture capital. Finally, this section suggests that Hawai'i take a long-term perspective in developing its high- technology sector and work toward finding its niche within the global high-technology economy. Part IV concludes that while, in implementing Act 221/215, Hawai'i has taken the initial step to develop a high-technology sector, many more steps are needed.
Matthew D. Kaufman, If You Build It, Will They Come?: A Critical Look at the Policy Approach to Encouraging Entrepreneurship in Wyoming, 13 Wyo. L. Rev. 615 (2013).
Abstract (adapted from author): This article examines whether Wyoming’s current policies aimed at spurring and developing entrepreneurialism have the desired effect, and if not, whether a different policy focus could be more fruitful. Almost all Wyoming policy efforts intended to encourage and build entrepreneurship center more or less exclusively around product-type incentives--such as grants, training resources, office space--and financial or tax incentives. A closer examination of entrepreneurs, however, reveals product-type policy programs often fail to encourage entrepreneurs to pursue new ventures. Entrepreneurs primarily need and desire access to like-minded people, access to other entrepreneurs, and access to human capital and expertise--in essence, access to a network of entrepreneurialism. This article proceeds in three sections. The first section examines entrepreneurial ecosystems by defining terms critical to an entrepreneurial discussion, analyzing agglomeration effects of entrepreneurial networks, and discussing policy techniques beneficial for building local and regional entrepreneurial networks. The second section describes and analyzes Wyoming’s salient entrepreneurial laws and policies. The third section concludes with suggestions for encouraging future Wyoming laws and policies that focus on building entrepreneurial networks to foster economic prosperity.
Teemu Kautonen, Do Age-Related Social Expectations Influence Entrepreneurial Activity in Later Life? 13 Int’l J. Entrepren. & Innovation 179 (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2271627.
Abstract (by author): This article examines how the social expectations of the general public concerning the economic contribution of older people (country-level explanatory variable) affect the entrepreneurial activity of ageing individuals (individual-level dependent variable). A multilevel analysis based on data from 24 European countries finds that the perceived economic contribution of older people is negatively associated with entrepreneurial activity at an older age. The article suggests that the negative effect may be due to a higher perceived economic contribution of ageing people leading to less ageism in the workplace and higher demand for older workers in the labour market, which undermines the relative attractiveness of starting a business.
William C. Kennedy, Gary F. Smith & R. Mona Tawatao, Cultural Changes and Community Economic Development Initiatives in Legal Services: What Happened in Two Programs, 33 Clearinghouse Rev. 440 (1999-2000).
Abstract: William Kennedy, Gary Smith, and R. Mona Tawatao, all attorneys at LSC-funded Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC), argue that “devastating reductions in federal legal services funding, the substantive and practical restrictions imposed upon the advocacy of federally funded legal services programs, and local legislation targeting poor clients … have permanently transformed the poverty law landscape.” The authors assert that federally-funded legal services programs should collaborate with private lawyers to provide assistance to community-based organizations and development corporations working to stimulate economic and community-building in low-income neighborhoods. The authors point to LSNC and LSC-funded San Fernando Valley Legal Services as exemplifying the benefits of this work.
Yasser Killawi, Note, Preserving an Entrepreneurial America: How Restrictive Immigration Policies Stifle the Creation and Growth of Startups and Small Businesses, 8 Ohio St. Entrepreneurial Bus. L.J. 129 (2013).
Abstract (adapted from author): This note analyzes the effect of the United States’ restrictive immigration policies on the creation and growth of startups and small businesses. While there is no doubt that the current immigration system is in need of comprehensive reform, this note will not address the wider immigration debate. Rather, this note will focus on the shortcomings of American immigration policies that stifle the creation and growth of startups and small businesses. Part II of this note discusses the importance of startups and small businesses to the American economy. Part III focuses on the significant contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs to the creation and growth of startups and small businesses. Part IV addresses the specific pitfalls of our current immigration policies that harm immigrant entrepreneurship and stifle new business creation and economic growth. Part V proposes reforms to restrictive immigration policies that will allow America to better capitalize on the valuable contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs.
Phillip H. Kim & Mingxiang Li, Seeking Assurances When Taking Action: Legal Systems, Social Trust, and Starting Businesses in Emerging Economies (Organization Studies, forthcoming 2013), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2297439.
Abstract (adapted from authors): This study examines how institutional conditions provide assurances founders seek when creating businesses. Classical theories predict legal institutions promote supportive conditions that foster business creation. The authors develop an alternative theory for why this relationship is not as straightforward in emerging economies. In these regions, people may be discouraged from taking entrepreneurial action because of the difficulties in accessing legal protections efficiently. This paper also introduces theory regarding the moderating role of generalized social trust because of its normative influences on business creation. The authors argue generalized trust in strangers exerts positive moderating effects on the direct relationship between legal protections and entrepreneurship. The findings from our multilevel analysis of 30 emerging economies are consistent with their theory. This work advances a new framework for how entrepreneurs cope with uncertain business conditions in emerging economies where informal, normative social structures offer more privately oriented safeguards than do formal, publically oriented institutions. The study also reconnects macro-institutional theories with individual-level accounts of entrepreneurship.
Milton Kotler, The Politics of Community Economic Development, 36 Law & Contemp. Probs. 3 (1971).
Lucica Matei, & Ani I. Matei, The Social Enterprise and the Social Entrepreneurship – Instruments of Local Development – A Comparative Study for Romania, 62 Soc. & Behav. Sci.1066, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2130525.
Abstract (by authors): The authors examine the evolution of the social enterprise and the social entrepreneurship in Romania, as solutions of local development, as instruments of cooperation among citizens, organizations and the bodies of local, regional, national and European representation. The study takes into consideration the theoretical and normative framework in view to present the characteristics of the forms of organization of social economy, achieving a comparative study which uses comparative items: conceptual system, normative system, field of activity, integration on the labor market, etc. The development regions in Romania represent the sample for the comparative study. The comparative study is accomplished according to the methodology of similar studies from the field literature, highlighting the trends and development of social entrepreneurship and enterprise in the EU Member States.
Laurie A. Morin, Legal Services Attorneys as Partners in Community Economic Development: Creating Wealth for Poor Communities through Cooperative Economics, 5 D.C. L. Rev. 125 (2000).
Note, Proposing a Locally Driven Entrepreneur Visa, 126 Harv. L. Rev. 2403 (2013).
Abstract (adapted from author): This Note proposes and examines a method to help struggling localities take advantage of their abundance of space to spur local economic activity: an entrepreneur visa allowing for entry into the United States of individuals of any skill level who commit to creating and sustaining small and medium-sized businesses under the sponsorship of a qualified local government entity. This “Entrepreneur Visa” program would be implemented by the federal government with much discretion afforded to participating localities. The primary goal would be to enhance economic activity in areas facing difficult economic conditions and declining populations. The program would aim to stimulate economic growth by leveraging the immigrant population--a group that has been an important contributor to the U.S. economy--to create businesses where others may be less willing to do so because of the localities’ decline. A secondary aim would be to make more effective use of the thousands of government buildings across the country that are underutilized and contributing to urban blight by making these buildings available to the new business owners as part of the implementation of the Entrepreneur Visa program.
Part II of this Note summarizes the current landscape of United States visa programs involving investment, entrepreneurship, or employment. Part III details the proposed Entrepreneur Visa program and discusses the benefits of including immigrant entrepreneurs of low and ordinary skills among those potentially eligible for the visa, as well as the respective roles of localities and the federal government in the program. Part IV considers the legal issues pertaining to the proposal, particularly the balance of power among federal, state, and local entities. Part V examines the main virtues of an Entrepreneur Visa program, Part VI considers several concerns about the proposal, and Part VII concludes.
Peter Pitegoff, Law School Initiatives in Housing and Community Development, 4 B.U. Pub. Int. L.J. 275 (1994-1995).
Abstract: This article discusses the role of law school clinical programs in developing lawyering strategies that emphasize non-litigation approaches to public interest law and problem solving.
Jacob B. Puhl, Note, To B or Not to B: Why Ohio Should Enact Benefit Corporation Legislation to Protect Small Businesses in Ohio Who Wish to Make a Profit While Making a Difference, 9 Ohio St. Entrepreneurial Bus. L.J. 173 (2014).
Abstract (adapted from author): This Note discusses the arising dichotomy between the rigid fiduciary duties of large corporations and the more flexible goals of social entrepreneurship. Further, this Note highlights the latter’s unique opportunity to take advantage of emerging legal structures for more holistic protection. Section II discusses B Corps versus benefit corporations, their place in corporate governance law and how they have arrived at this point. Section III demonstrates the lack of legal security provided by the current status of the laws in most states and will illuminate the consequences of this lack of legislative protection. Section IV offers a solution in the form of state legislation, surveying laws enacted in Maryland, Delaware, California and also the Model Benefit Corporation Legislation. The section ends with a recommendation to the Ohio legislature based on the successes and failures of other states. Section V concludes by weighing positive and negative effects the legislation may have and offer suggestions on what subsequent legislation could mean.
Ben Quinones, Serving Clients in New Ways: Community Economic Development - CED on the Job, 27 Clearinghouse Rev. 773 (1993-1994).
Felicia R. Resor, Benefit Corporation Legislation, 12 Wyo. L. Rev. 91 (2012).
Abstract (adapted from author): When the Maryland Governor signed into law the nation's first benefit corporation legislation, state Senator Jamie Raskin remarked, “This is a great moment in the evolution of commercial life in Maryland and America. We are giving companies a way to do good and do well at the same time. The benefit corporations will tie public and private purposes together.” A benefit corporation is one of a handful of new business entities designed to accommodate businesses that aim to benefit society in more ways than traditional corporations can through contributions to shareholders, consumers, employees, and general economic growth. In a growing number of states, lawmakers have passed legislation creating various new business entities to house social enterprise and organizations that blend for-profit and not-for-profit purposes. Benefit corporations are best understood within the broader context of corporate social responsibility (GSR) and its more recent offshoots, social enterprise and organizations with hybrid purposes. The creators of the new legal form, the benefit corporation, explain that hybrid organizations use “the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.” Social enterprise and businesses with hybrid purposes can have a primarily for-profit or a primarily not-for-profit purpose, yet with either combination the organizations will incorporate social and environmental responsibility into their policies. This comment begins with a short background to introduce the primarily binary organizational system and its limitations on corporate social responsibility. The background also introduces three hybrid legal forms now available in various states: the benefit corporation, the flexible purpose corporation, and the low profit limited liability company (L3C). Next, the analysis section demonstrates how benefit corporation legislation addresses three problems that organizations with hybrid purposes face as traditional for-profit corporate entities: (1) the shareholder wealth maximization norm; (2) the lack of accountability standards; and (3) the lack of transparency standards. The analysis argues that because of a benefit corporation's features that address these problems, it is a better form for social enterprise than a traditional corporation. The analysis then describes how benefit corporation legislation can create economic opportunity in Wyoming and is consistent with Wyoming public policy. In conclusion, this comment argues the Wyoming legislature should adopt benefit corporation legislation to create more legal clarity, accountability, transparency, and economic opportunity.
David M.G. Ross, Leveraging Federal Programs to Boost Local Innovation and Encourage Venture Capital Investment: Considering the Small Business Innovation Development Act and Derivative State-level Incentives, with Specific Implications for Innovators and Legislators in Louisiana and the Southern States, 11 Tul. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. 115 (2008).
Abstract: Article describes the Small Business Innovation Development Act and surveys scholarly analysis of the Act. The article also surveys state statutes that specifically target beneficiaries of the Act, and explores the methods by which various states seek to either promote local businesses to apply for the program, or attract out-of-state recipients of the grants to move into the state. As a case study, the article considers the application of an SBIR-based innovation incentive as a means to redevelop the economies of the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans.
Mario Salgado, Building a Community Economic Development Unit, 28 Clearinghouse Rev. 981 (1994-1995).
Richard C. Schragger, Mobile Capital, Local Economic Regulation, and the Democratic City, 123 Harv. L. Rev. 482 (2009).
Abstract (from author): This Article examines local efforts to regulate mobile capital. Despite the conventional wisdom that subnational governments cannot effectively control or redistribute capital, cities have increasingly sought to do just that. This Article describes these efforts, which include putting conditions on the entry of development dollars through contract, excluding capital through anti-chain and anti-big box store laws, and redistributing from capital to labor through local minimum wage laws and other labor-friendly legislation. The Article describes the economic and political factors that have given rise to these local regulatory efforts and assesses the viability of local regulation of mobile capital. In the course of doing so, I argue that the mobility of capital drives a set of local political pathologies, all of which revolve around the governmental promotion of, participation in, and subsidization of private commercial enterprise. Geographically fixed cities are inclined both to give too much away in trying to attract mobile capital and to extract too much from capital once it has become fixed in place. These two political problems--giveaways and exploitation--explain the historical development of local government law as well as current approaches to the division of labor among city, state, and federal levels of government. The new “regulatory localism” challenges the proposition that industrial policy, redistribution, and other responses to global economic restructuring must be addressed at the national level. It also challenges the proposition that local economic development policies must necessarily be biased in favor of corporate capital.
Michael B. Sichter, Note, Pumping Up America: Using The EB-5 Visa To Inject Entrepreneurial Steroids Into A Struggling U.S. Economy, 79 UMKC L. Rev. 1007 (2011).
Abstract (adapted from author): This article closely examines the EB-5 visa as it was originally created, and the practical reality of how it is currently administered and adjudicated. It provides a description and background of EB-5 visas, then outlines the basic procedure for application. It then describes many of the practical considerations, including precedent court decisions, that practitioners must take into account during the application process and points out the commonly encountered problems with EB-5 visas. It ends with policy arguments for change and suggestions for improvements.
William H. Simon, Lawyers and Community Economic Development, 95 Cal. L. Rev. 1821 (2007).
Mark C. Suchman & Mia L. Cahill, The Hired Gun as a Facilitator: Lawyers and the Suppression of Business Disputes in Silicon Valley, 21 Law & Soc. Inquiry 679 (1996).
Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law, Braving the Waters: A Guide for Tennessee’s Aspiring Entrepreneurs (5th Edition), 17 Tenn. J. Bus. L. 225 (2016).
Abstract (adapted from author): According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2015 approximately 9.6 million people in the United States were self-employed. These entrepreneurs own businesses ranging from home childcare to international consulting. This article can help you get started with your own business or buying a franchise or existing business. The resource section that follows provides all of the contact information needed to start moving towards the goal of owning a business. Success is more certain if one educates oneself on the specifics of business start-ups. Learn the language of concepts like target market, working capital, break-even point, and cash flow, and you will learn to understand and to speak the language of the business.
Patricio I. Ovalle Wood et al., Female Entrepreneurship: Empirical Evidence from Chile (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2120795.
Abstract (by author): This paper gives an account of the Consultancy in 15 schools of Female Entrepreneurship, conducted for the National Women Service SERNAM, Chile's state agency, as part of Support Social Cohesion EU-Chile, coordinated by the Agency International Cooperation, AGCI, which is an organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Chile, inspired as a cooperation program to promote policies that help overcome social inequality and propitiate towards gender equality as a foundation for the existence of a more equitable, humane and cohesive society. We present the results in the south of Chile, specifically in the regions of Araucania, Los Rios, Los Lagos, Aysen and Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, where it could be verified empirically, attributes such as commitment, strength, identity, courage, attitude and entrepreneurial mind of those southern regions women.
Jun Yu, Joyce Zhou, Yagang Wang & Youmin Xi, Rural Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: Reading Institutional Perspectives fromEntrepreneur Stories, 51 J. Small Bus. Mgmt. 183 (2013), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2235458.
Abstract (by authors): Rural entrepreneurs are of extreme importance in China's progress toward a more market‐oriented economy as the vast majority of Chinese live in rural areas. From an institutional perspective and based on content analysis of 91 publicly published stories about rural Chinese entrepreneurs broadcast by China Central Television, this paper addresses several key aspects of rural entrepreneurship in China and specifically probes into how different institutional elements (i.e., regulative, normative, and cognitive components) affect the strategic behaviors of rural Chinese entrepreneurs. We found that due to weak regulatory protection of intellectual rights, rural entrepreneurs in China tend to work on innovations on their own or with close family members instead of collaborating with external sources; these entrepreneurs use guanxi strategically to deal with constraints from the institutional environment; it is important to build legitimacy by either building alliances with large, established firms, or acquiring approval from people of authority.
Online Resources
Amr Adly, Reforming the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Post-Revolutionary Egypt and Tunisia (Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University Apr. 21, 2014),http://cddrl.stanford.edu/publications/reforming_the_entrepreneurship_ecosystem_in_postrevolutionary_egypt_and_tunisia/.
Matthieu Chemin, The Impact of the Judiciary on Entrepreneurship: Evaluation of Pakistan's Access to Justice Programme (2007).
http://www.cirpee.org/fileadmin/documents/Cahiers_2007/CIRPEE07-27.pdf
Abstract: A key element of government is to uphold law and order. This paper will evaluate the impact of slow judiciaries on entrepreneurship. In 2002 a judicial reform was implemented in 6 of Pakistan's 117 districts to facilitate rapid case disposal. Drawing on a panel dataset of 875 district judges' performance between 2001 and 2003, a difference-in-differences analysis shows that judges disposed of 25 percent more cases thanks to the reform. Three rounds of the Labour Force Surveys will be then used to show that the reform improved security of property rights, encouraged people to seek loans, fostered entrepreneurship and was associated with increased transition from unemployment and paid employment to entrepreneurship.
Nick Drainas, The Land Of 10,000 Lakes Drowns Entrepreneurs In Regulations, Inst. for Just. (2004).
http://www.ij.org/images/pdf_folder/city_studies/MN-barrier-study.pdf
Jonathan Greenblatt & Robynn Sturm Steffen, Helping Social Entrepreneurs Tackle Global Development Challenges, The White House Office Sci. & Tech. Pol’y (Nov. 25, 2013), http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/11/25/helping-social-entrepreneurs-tackle-global-development-challenges.
U.S. Department of Commerce, The Innovative and Entrepreneurial University: Higher Education, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Focus (Oct. 2013),http://www.eda.gov/pdf/The_Innovative_and_Entrepreneurial_University_Report.pdf