SBANC Newsletter
February
1, 2005
Issue
357-2005
QUOTE
"I
believe through learning and application of what you learn,
you can solve any problem, overcome any obstacle and achieve
any goal that you can set for yourself."
-- Brian Tracy
FEATURE
PAPER
The Future Small
Business Workforce
This paper was presented
by Bruce D. Phillips of the NFIB Research Foundation, at the
meeting of the United States Association for Small Business and
Entrepreneurship in Indian Wells, California on
January 13-16, 2005..
During
the next decade, there will be major demographic shifts in the
workforce as the baby boom generation begins to retire. The rate
of growth of the labor force will decline, and the supply of
labor for small firm owners will be smaller and more diverse.
The labor force will grow about 1.1 percent a year from 2002-2012,
compared with rates in excess of 2.0 percent annually during
the 1970-1995
period. Future employees are likely to be either under 30 years
old or over 50 years old. This is the case because workers 30-44
years old are expected to shrink by over three million by 2010.2
What does this mean for owners of small firms looking for either
entry- level or more experienced workers? Much has been written
about the changing labor force. Many new labor force entrants
are also likely to be immigrants or the offspring of recently
arrived immigrants, particularly Asian and Hispanic workers.3 Because
the growth of the labor force has slowed, a rapid increase in
the demand for labor may mean a returnto labor shortages unless
there is a significant increase in employed immigrants.
The
purpose of this paper is to explore how small firm owners will
avoid potential labor shortages during the next decade. How will
small firm owners
adapt to the changing pool of available workers? Four potential
scenarios are explored below:
1.
Increases in the labor force participation rate (LFPR) of the
baby boom generation will increase labor supply. Increases
are being driven by insufficient saving. The lack of retiree health
benefits and pensions will cause workers to postpone retirement,
but move to small employers because of increased flexibility.
2. Spot shortages will occur in rapidly growing sectors—especially
in laborintensive construction and in manufacturing sub-sectors
now dominated by small businesses. It may be especially difficult
to find unskilled workers in
some industries and in some rural areas.
3. Future immigration—at about the current rate –will
continue during the next ten years. Many of these immigrants will
be employed in small firms, but mismatches are likely between the
skills required for various
jobs, and the education and skills of immigrants.
4. Small business owners may use more semi-retired self-employed
persons or leased employees to avoid paying additional costly benefits,
especially if the older workers are already qualified for Medicare.
Read the Entire Paper...
TIP
OF THE WEEK
Assessing a Competitor's
Will
Even the strongest competitor
can be overcome if it is not committed to the market. Similarly,
a weak competitor can cause massive damage if it is fanatically
committed. At some point, it is crucial to assess competitors'
strength of will or committment. This requires going beyond objectives
(what do they want?) to assess the intensity with which they
approach the task (how badly do they want it?). Most competitions
involve several key times when each competitor has the choice
of backing down or continuing the fight. In assessing the likelihood
that a competitor will continue to fight (an act that sometimes
is not rational in a profit sense), one should assess the following
factors.
- How crucial is this product
to the firm? The more crucial the product is in terms of sales
and profits, number of employees, or strategic thrust, the
more committed most companies will be to it. This helps explain
why efforts to unseat a market leader by attacking the heart
of the market provoke violent reactions, whereas a strategy
that nibbles away at secondary markets is more likely to go
unmatched. For example, eBay's key product is its online auction.
Attempts by Amazon.com and others to develop similar auctions
are considered to be a strong threat to eBay's viability and
are met with increased promotions and advertising and expansion
in the number of auction categories.
- How visible is the commitment
to the market? It may be difficult for companies to admit they
are wrong once they are publicly committed. A good example
of this is Exxon's Office Systems Division, which was clearly
in trouble for a long time before it was sold in 1985. Also,
Coca-Cola held on to New Coke and repositioned it several times
even though it did not sell well after its introduction.
- How aggressive are the managers? Personality differences exist, and some individuals are more
combative than others. This aspect of management may not be
detected in the management analysis. Only by knowing how badly
a competitor "wants it" can one successfully approach the next
task: predicting future strategies.
Lehmann,
D., Winer, R. 2005. "Analysis for Marketing Planning," 6th
ed. p. 106-107. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
CONFERENCES
Allied Academies
International Conference
The Allied Academies will hold its 2005 International meeting at the Hilton
Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Presentation dates will be April 14 - 16, 2005,
with registration
on the evening of April 13. Allied Academies will hold joint meetings of
all its member academies.
For more information, visit: http://www.alliedacademies.org/memphis-call.html
Western
Decision Sciences Institute
The Western Decision Sciences Institute (WDSI) is holding its 34th Annual Meeting
at The Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on March 22-26,
2005. Topics of the conference include Accounting I & II, Business & Public
Policy, Marketing, Management Information Systems, etc.
For more information, visit: http://www.wdsinet.org
Association
of Marketing Theory and Practice
The Association of Marketing Theory and Practice is holding its Annual Meeting
at Jekyll Island Club in Jekyll Island, Georgia on March 24-26, 2005. Entrepreneurship/Small
Business Marketing, Marketing Education/The Dynamic Business School Environment,
Service Marketing/Nonprofit Marketing/Ethics and many other topics will be discussed
at this year's conference.
For more information, visit: http://www.amtp.org
International
Academy of E-Business
The International Academy of E-Business is holding its 5th Annual Conference
at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, California on March 24-27, 2005.
The theme for this year's conference is "Evolving E-Business Concepts,
Strategies, and Trends."
For more information, visit: http://www.iaeb.org
2005
IEEE International Conference
The 2005 Conference on e-Technology, e-Commerce, and e-Service (EEE-05)
will be held at the Lam Woo International Conference Centre, Hong Kong Baptist
University in Hong Kong. Conference dates are March 29-April 1, 2005, and topics
for the conference include Web Services, Grid Services, Electronic Contracting
and
Commitment,
Supply
Chain
Integration and Management and much more.
For more information, visit: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/~eee05/news/
CALL
FOR PAPERS
IPSI-2005
Spain
IPSI is holding a Symposium on Challenges in the Internet
and Interdisciplinary Research at the Hotel De La Gavina
in Girona, Spain on April 28-May
1, 2005. Topics for the symposium include: Education, Computer
science and engineering, B2B, B2C, E-Business Management.
Submission Deadline: February 10, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.internetconferences.net/spain2005/index.html
High
Technology Small Firms Conference
The Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference will be held at the Manchester
Business
School in Manchester, England on May 26-27, 2005. The theme of this year's conference
is Academic
Enterprise,
a
topic
of
central
importance
to the
HTSF formation and growth in all economically developed
and developing nations.
Submission Deadline: February 18, 2005
For more information,
enquiries, and bookings, contact: Mrs.
Debbie Toth
HTSF Conference Administrator
Manchester Business School
Booth Street West
Manchester, M15 6PB, England
Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 6540, Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 7143, E-mail:
debbie.toth@mbs.ac.uk
Atlantic Marketing Association
The Atlantic Marketing Association will hold its Annual Meeting at
the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts, USA on September 28-October
1, 2005.
Submission Deadline: April 18, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.atlanticmarketing.org/index_frameset.htm
Decision
Sciences Institute
The 36th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute will be held at San
Francisco Marriott (Downtown) in
California on November 19-22, 2005.
Submission Deadline: April 1, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.dsi2005.org/
International Academy of Business and Economics
The International Academy of Business and Economics (IABE) will
hold its next annual conference at the
Boardwalk Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on October
16-19, 2005.
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.iabe.org/
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Global Student Entrepreneur Awards
Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is seeking applications
for the 2005 Global Student Entrepreneur Award. GSEA is now recruiting
undergraduate entrepreneurs for the eighth annual awards. GSEA
honors outstanding undergraduates who juggle a course load and
run their own businesses at the same time.
Submission deadline: March 1, 2005
For more information, visit: http://www.gsea.org
8th
Annual Enterprise Creation Competition
The Institute for Entrepreneurship is hosting the 8th Annual Enterprise Creation
Competition, which
will
be
held
at
Ball
State
University
in Muncie,
Indiana on April 13 - 15, 2005. The Enterprise
Creation
Cpmpetition
gives
undergraduate
students
the
opportunity
to develop business ventures that demonstrate the ability to be successfully
launched.
For more information,
visit: http://www.theeplace.org/Conferences.htm
The SBANC Newsletter is provided as
a service to the members of our affiliates: Academy
of Collegiate Marketing Educators (ACME), Association for Small
Business& Entrepreneurship (ASBE), Decision Sciences
Institute (DSI), Federation of Business
Disciplines (FBD), International Council for Small Business Congress
(ICSB), Institute
for Supply Management, The International Small Business Congress
(ISBC), Marketing Management Association (MMA), Small Business
Administration
(SBA), Service Corps of Retired Executives, Small Business Institute
(SBI), Society for
Marketing Advances (SMA), United States Association for Small Business& Entrepreneurship
(USASBE), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Western
Decision Sciences Institute (WDSI). If you are interested in membership
or would like
further information on one of our affiliates, please see our web
site at
http://www.sbaer.uca.edu
SBANC STAFF
Main Office Phone: (501) 450-5300
Dr. Don B. Bradley III, Executive
Director of SBANC & Professor
of Marketing
Direct Phone: (501) 450-5345, E-mail: donb@uca.edu
Esther
Mead, Co-Lead Development Director, E-mail: estherledelle@yahoo.com
Amanda Harris, Development Intern,
E-mail: abharris84@yahoo.com
Jesse Holmes, Development Intern, E-mail wags4pets@yahoo.com
Michael Flanagin, Development Intern, E-mail: whiffleball@aol.com
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the SBANC
Newsletter, please E-mail SBANC at sbanc@uca.edu
