The latest study released by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows just how global the small business world has become.
In high-income countries and depending on the size of the national economy, 10-40% of early-stage entrepreneurs expect 25% or more of their customers to come from outside their country. GEM also found that the more burdensome a country’s business regulations, the lower the entrepreneurs’ expectations for growth.
This is not only an issue for entrepreneurs to ponder for their business plans or their strategic decision-making. It is also an issue for public policy.
“The world economy needs entrepreneurs,” says Babson Professor and GEM U.S. team member Kent Jones, “and increasingly, entrepreneurs depend on an open and expanding world economy for new opportunities and growth– through trade, foreign investment, and finance. GEM research confirms that new entrepreneurial opportunities in all countries will expand if trade, entrepreneurship and economic growth are fostered, especially in the developing world.”
The best way to foster the global reach of the entrepreneurial economic boom is through open, free markets, low regulatory barriers, and low tax rates. Previous GEM reports have supported this formula.
So to you entrepreneurs out there: Think Global!
And to you public policy folks and government bureaucrats: Everything you try to actively do to steer the entrepreneurial economy will only hurt it — resist the temptation to intervene and get out of the way!