Main Streets of Tomorrow: Growing and Financing Rural Entrepreneurs-A Conference Summary
200位农村政策官员和专家在堪萨斯城联邦储备银行会议上达成共识，认为创业是农村发展的新焦点，但面临短期政治周期、缺乏系统方法和股权资本不足等挑战。
Entrepreneurship is the new focal point for rural development. This was the consensus of 200 rural policy officials and experts who gathered in Kansas City on April 28-29 for the fourth annual rural policy conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's Center for the Study of Rural America. For much of the past half century, rural development has been driven by twin incentives aimed at business recruitment and retention. This strategy is no longer working so well, however, for one simple reason-globalization. In a global marketplace, lower cost business sites abound, making rural incentives much less effective. Now, more and more rural regions are turning their attention to the third leg of the development tool growing more businesses on Main Street. The new focus is long overdue, participants agreed, and has great promise for boosting rural economic growth.Making entrepreneurship the new focus of rural policy will not be easy. Entrepreneurship cannot offer a quick fix since businesses take time to grow. That runs counter to the short-term focus of elected officials. Existing entrepreneurship programs do not offer a systematic approach to future business and may need to be overhauled; yet there is still much information needed on which programs work best in which rural regions. Many rural entrepreneurs lack sufficient equity capital, but there is little consensus on what policy can do to fill the gap.Despite these challenges, most conference participants agreed that rural policies built around entrepreneurship offer the greatest chance of helping rural regions. Key to adopting such policies, however, will be a concerted effort to better understand the links between entrepreneurship and regional economies, to inform policymakers of these benefits, and to develop a more systematic approach to supporting the unique needs of rural entrepreneurs.I. RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE 21ST CENTURYIn the first session of the conference, David Sampson discussed the economic proposals of the White House and how these would help entrepreneurs by reducing taxes, encouraging investment, and removing obstacles to growth. He recognized the important role that small entrepreneurial companies play in the U.S. economy-such companies created over two-thirds of new jobs and accounted for two-thirds of the in the last 20 years. Sampson referred to small entrepreneurial companies as the engines of innovation that transform new ideas and technology into real products and services sold to real customers in real markets, creating real He noted that innovations need not be high-tech, but rather focused on superior quality, efficiency, and cost.Federal policies can play a role in spurring more entrepreneurs on Main Street. Sampson suggested that federal economic development programs should encourage and strengthen innovation, entrepreneurship, and competitiveness of areas and ultimately add more jobs. Federal programs should empower regions and communities, especially those with struggling economies. The Economic Development Administration is paying particularly close attention to creating a positive business environment for companies referred to as gazelles-small, innovative companies that grow quicldy. However, conference rapporteur Brian Dabson, along with other participants, argued that high-growth entrepreneurs are rare and perhaps should not be the sole focus of entrepreneurship strategies. Sampson also pointed out that innovations do not have to be based solely on new technologies, but rather on superior execution-beating the competition based on quality, efficiency, and cost. Companies can achieve high rates of growth by being innovative with their services, processes, or marketing techniques.Four characteristics are used to describe entrepreneurs, as outlined by Sampson. First, entrepreneurs view globalization not as a challenge but as a whole realm of opportunities. …