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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Mar 7, 2006 |
"There is a special and unique character in small towns. There is a sense of place that makes the surroundings worth caring for." -- Conservation Fund vice president and land-use program director Ed McMahon
Congratulations to Bozeman and Montana. "Citing a shortage of qualified engineers in its home state of Connecticut, Sikorsky lands in Bozeman, Montana" http://www.matr.net/article-18511.html We can develop more opportunities like this in Montana and other states http://www.matr.net/news.phtml?cat_id=60&catlabel=Global+Telework
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
MEDA Entrepreneur Working Group
- Montana high school biz students learn, compete in the DECA state conference
"It's really just for being able to put your own professional outfit together," said Laura Stoneberger, a student at Bozeman High School who is also a state officer for DECA. "It's also a public relations deal -- you go out and look for deals. (It) gets you talking about DECA out in public."
Education
- A medium for growth. The State of Entrepreneurship in Wisconsin
Governor Jim Doyle has made entrepreneurship a priority in his Grow Wisconsin plan.
- An Empirical Approach to Characterize Rural Small Business in Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and Utah
The current focus in rural small business development involves helping the rural entrepreneur.
- How Should States Encourage Entrepreneurship?
Venture capital is a lagging indicator of an entreprenurial economy, not a leading indicator. That said, local and regional civic leaders can encourage the formation of more effective networks of early stage investors.
Montana Business
- Bringing Innovation to the Classroom
Some students I've taught over the last five years have told me that the work required in my class has been the most engaging of their B-school career. For once, someone on the faculty is emphasizing creativity, inventiveness, emotional connectedness, and right-brain skills in a business context. The trouble right now is that the majority of business leaders -- including the CEOs we are looking to for leadership -- seem to have gaps in their understanding about how to make innovation work in large corporate or institutional environments. This only underscores how important it is that business schools hit the topic hard, so that in 10 or 15 years the gaps can be closed.
- Speaking ethically. University of Montana’s proposed ethics code draws fire
University of Montana President George Dennison says his draft “Code of Ethics for The University of Montana” is simply a set of ethical guidelines the university community should subscribe to in light of a contemporary culture awash in ethical quandaries. Though he insists the code isn’t intended as an official policy document, Dennison says he’s currently seeking its endorsement by “various areas of university and faculty governance.”
- Gaps appear in state, federal test education proficiency scores
Students from all over the country performed worse on a tough federal test than they did on state exams in reading and math -- raising questions about whether states are setting lower standards.
- Does preschool yield bottom-line benefits? Is this what economic development looks like? YES!!!
Economic development in most states means throwing money at companies with the hope of luring them. But spending on young children is a better investment.
- Teachers: Help your students learn how to use the media
Students are constantly surrounded by the media in the home and even in the classroom. Give your students the necessary tools to become informed citizens who feel comfortable tackling complex issues. Discuss these topics in the classroom so they can leave feeling empowered to speak their mind.
- Elite Colleges Focus on Recruiting at Community Colleges
Five well-known private colleges and three highly selective public schools _ the flagship campuses of the universities of Michigan, California and North Carolina _ were to announce plans Monday to accommodate a total of about 1,100 more community college transfer students from low- to moderate-income families over the next four years. The private colleges participating are Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Bucknell, Cornell and the University of Southern California.
- Changing the way schools educate in Kalispell, Montana - Does your school have a Career Cluster?
An education and business initiative to design a radically new curriculum for Kalispell’s high school students is attracting statewide attention. Local school and work-force leaders are being invited to speak with university groups, state education officials and others who want to hear about School District 5’s proposal for developing career clusters.
- Strengthening Transitions by Encouraging Career Pathways: A Look at State Policies and Practices
A career pathway is a coherent, articulated sequence of rigorous academic and career courses, commencing in the ninth grade and leading to an associate degree, an industry-recognized certificate or licensure, or a baccalaureate degree and beyond.
- Michigan, Microsoft to Develop "Career Development in a Global Economy" Online Course
"It will help our students understand how to thrive in a changing economy, and it will teach them how to learn on-line, something they will need to do throughout their work lives."
- Conference teaches school reform. "Focus on your student's future, not your own past,"
"Businesses in this country are putting pressure on the education system to reform," he said. "Students have got to develop core academic skills based on real-world expectations if they are going to be successful."
Montana Economic Development
- Resodyn adds Butte jobs
Scientists at Resodyn Corp. http://www.resodyn.com/ are looking for ways to speed up the process of making vaccines, with help from a $2.6 million grant.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Cleanup cash drying up. A look at the economic impact of environmental cleanup in Montana
"Western states are going to have to be ever vigilant,"
- Nominations Sought For Montana 2006 Governor's Desiree Taggart Memorial Workforce Development Awards
The awards are aimed at heightening the public awareness of business and individuals who contribute to the success of Montana's workforce development system.
- Montana Senator Conrad Burns and Governor Brian Schweitzer Announce a New Sikorsky Engineering Design Plant in Bozeman, Montana
New Design Center will Bring 40 Engineering Jobs by the End of the Year
- Montana Association of Counties March 2006 Newsletter
- Citing a shortage of qualified engineers in its home state of Connecticut, Sikorsky lands in Bozeman, Montana
Sikorsky, citing a shortage of qualified engineers in its home state of Connecticut, announced in November that it was scouring other states, including Montana, to be the site for at least one engineering design center.
Funding and Building your Business
- Let States Be Entrepreneurs. Competition between states concentrates their minds on this: Capital goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well treated.
To the extent that constitutional limits are placed on states' abilities to compete to produce business-friendly policies, to that extent state politicians will feel free to impose burdens on businesses that are captives without alternatives. Entrepreneurial federalism puts useful pressure on states and localities to heed this axiom: Capital goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well treated.
Legislative Newsletters
- Methods for Evaluating Top Team Candidates
Many excellent stories from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- Is Your Organization Reptile or Mammal?
Beware of not choosing. This dooms a company or individual to the worst of both worlds, not the best. While most companies necessarily have elements of both strategies, the key to success is to have clarity on the basic operating mode, and to drive all buyer-supplier activities toward consistency with this core operating vision.
- A Satisfied Customer Isn't Enough
Deep loyalty turns customers into word-of-mouth promoters—and that's a force you need for growth. An excerpt from the new book, The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth.
- Corporate Meetings Go Through a Makeover. Rooms with no chairs because time is money
Poor meetings waste time and money, but they also may harm employee health.
- Creating a Great Business Card. Success is in the cards when you've got business cards that convey the right message.
Choose a card style that's appropriate for your business, industry and personal style
Global TeleworkRegional Economic Development
- A viable alternative to offshoring "Urban meets Rural" by The Center to Bridge the Digital Divide at Washington State University
"There is a lot of tech-related work that can be handled in rural communities," she says. "In fact, there is little limit to the abilities of the population you now find in rural communities, particularly as more people seek to return home to their roots and look for jobs in those communities."
- Work in your pajamas? This call center allows it
"A lot of people want to work at home, so they want to work for us," said David Meine, executive vice president of O'Currance. "And once we have an employee start working at home, one of the only reasons why they would leave us is if they move or they don't need the income anymore."
Utah Economic Development
- Best Performing Cities 2005. Where America’s Jobs Are Created and Sustained
A rebound in high-tech exports and renewed domestic investment in IT and communications hardware and software should improve the position of several technology centers in the 2006 index.
Government Technology
- About a dozen Utah companies jump aboard state's trade mission to Mexico in April
"For a small business, the idea of trying to enter a foreign market is pretty overwhelming," "It would be practically impossible for us to make the contacts necessary to begin doing business on our own."
Idaho Business
- Government IT and Business Alignment. Only 44 percent of those surveyed feel that IS services meet business expectations -- an "F" Grade
"IT cannot be an island," said McDonald, "you have to find a way to crawl in a window or knock down the door."
Wyoming Business
- Episciences, Inc. od Boise gets export deal with Japan
"Asian nations continue to represent seven of the state's top 10 trading partners in 2005, accounting for for 56 percent of all exports sales," said Commerce & Labor director Roger B. Madsen. Madsen added that Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is asking Idaho lawmakers for $300,000 to help establish a part-time office in Japan to foster future partnerships like the Episciences/Rohto Pharmaceutical deal.
Other Economies
- Wyoming "entrepreneur"(??), Dan Madson's story too good to be true. The term is "Due Dilligence"
"Dan has fabricated stories since his high school days to garner attention and sympathy from others," Flatness wrote. "But this is the first time that things have gone this far without the truth being found out."
Incubators and R&D
- New Mexico areas consider atlas for business
"It will be a tool we can use that identifies all of our assets of the central area for attracting businesses and helping existing businesses," she said. "This allows us to regionalize our efforts and attract these jobs out to the central region of New Mexico."
Careers
- Site aims to put nonprofit research online
"At every scientific meeting you ever go to on any subject, one thing you hear is the general public doesn't understand what we're doing," Saundry said. "This now is a tool for the scientific community to achieve that aspiration."
Non-Profit News
- Blogs becoming resources for job seekers
Here’s the kicker: Sometimes bloggers mention job openings at their companies or others. Or they report they’re changing jobs, which, to a careful reader, might indicate a position is opening up.
- How to find your dream job
"How much are you willing to pay emotionally to stay in a job that's unfulfilling?" Garfinkle says. "Ideally, you want to incorporate your values into your work, making your job fit more effectively into your life."
Energy
- Public Deliberation: A Manager’s Guide to Citizen Engagement
This report documents a spectrum of tools and techniques developed largely in the nonprofit world in recent years to increase citizens’ involvement in their communities and government.
- The Montana Nonprofit Association's (MNA) Public Policy Agenda Survey. Your participation is appreciated
We need your help in identifying the policy issues that are most important to Montana's nonprofit sector.
Space and Zero Gravity Research
- Montana looks to fix mistake. State trying to rebuild electric utility after deregulation failed
"It's almost an unbelievable story when you go through all the events that happened there," said Ken Rose, a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Utilities at Michigan State University. "It's much more of a soap opera than in other states."
Transportation
- High-tech wizardry rules at Montana aeronautics conference
“This conference brings all the flying sectors under one roof,” Lynch said. “Aviation is very important to Montana — we’re a very big state. To carry on general commerce, we need aviation.”
- Look! Up in the sky! Space, the final frontier, is tempting eager entrepreneurs to advance satellite technology
"This is more than a passing craze,'' said Livingston, who flies to Grand Forks each month to teach space studies at the University of North Dakota. "We have people who know business who are putting their talents, their brains, their creativity into this. Odds are at least one or two of them are going to accomplish their goals."
Leadership Montana
- United bringing Chicago flight to Missoula this summer
“What's exciting about this is it offers people a whole new hub with Chicago,” he said. “You can go anywhere in the world out of there. It's a big deal.”
City Club Missoula
- "Ordinary" hero of Hotel Rwanda urges world to stop genocide at MSU presentation
"I will never be a free man," if he abandons them, he told his wife. "I will be a prisoner of my own conscience."
- City Club Missoula, Electric Power Distribution In Montana, 3/17, Missoula
Join in a community dialogue about electric power distribution to Montana communities. Learn what costs are involved, what potential sources of power are available, what the potential economic impacts could be on Montana ratepayers, as well as related pricing issues.
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