Comments on: Shift economic development from hunting to gardening

By: Dan Schrauben

Dan Schrauben — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:17:59 +0000

“Shift…to gardening.” My initial thought was finally someone is supporting the potential opportunities for MI agriculture. Not quite, but perhaps something to consider.
MI ag industry is No. 2 in revenue behind the MI automotive industry. I am an engineer doing farm and greenhouse energy audits per MSU & USDA standards. I am observing a transition to organic milk, but MI organic dairies are required to transport their milk to New York for processing. Why not process in MI?
MI greenhouses are third in the nation in bedding plants behind Florida and California, idle for their non-growing season and growing little produce. There is an increasing demand for locally grown produce. Greenhouse tomatoes are predominantly imported from Canada and Mexico. MI dairy farms have viable methane-energy generation capabilities. This energy source could support year-round local greenhouse operations.
State policies and venture capital could support the MI ag industry transition to develop these and other related opportunities.

By: Alexander Thomas, Jr

Alexander Thomas, Jr — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:36:11 +0000

Mr. Powers,
I have always believed what you have stated to be true. As public servants and administrators (not politicians) with the City of Grand Rapids, we are looking for the public strategies that will support small business development and growth. My owned saying, “Big business won’t go, where small business can’t grow!”
We are looking to use innovation to create, support and perfect those strategies that work in order to influence public policy changes.

By: C Pearson

C Pearson — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:39:57 +0000

Spot on! State of Michigan level must have a strategy and stick to it, work that plan hard every day. Right now, lot of wandering around, hunting, hoping by the State of Michigan economic development corporation.

By: John Schamante

John Schamante — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:14:06 +0000

As a business coach I can tell you that the growth of these companies at start-up are not significant but like the tortoise, they grow and grow into sizable numbers. I currently coach a number of such companies ready to enter the growth stage from 1 and 3 person business to 5 and 10. What will propel them to the next level of 20 plus employees is investment money. Not many choices for those business in this area of development. All the money goes to the big name, with the big tax breaks with the influence. Angel investors are being over run with “good” solid request from those in the “Founders Trap” of the sigmoid curve.Once this level is hurtled then the TAX SYSTEM forces them out of Michigan or the reward versus risk forces them to stay smaller then they could or should be. Has anyone looked at the unemployment tax starting rate for a Michigan Company? Hold you nose!

By: Neil Karl

Neil Karl — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:42:37 +0000

Hunting and gathering small business, home grown business will not be enough. When the business grows enough, the business will encounter significant Michigan business taxes. If the business is not a winner, the business will not qualify for a tax abatement or Renaissance Zone. The choices will be stay small, split into small business holdings, move out of state, or go bankrupt.

By: Dana Baldwin

Dana Baldwin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:00:29 +0000

Phil, one aspect of making a business prosper in any state is good strategies. One of Michigan’s premier consulting groups is the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning. Since 1981 this company has helped hundreds of small to medium sized companies plan successful futures through a well-organized, time efficient and very effective system. We welcome any opportunity to help Michigan grow and prosper, and we agree with you that among the many ways this can be done is by encouraging small businesses to grow with good strategic plans.

By: Jeffrey L Salisbury

Jeffrey L Salisbury — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:50:23 +0000

Well said Phil.

By: Gary Melow

Gary Melow — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:38:55 +0000

I was flummoxed a few years back when Michigan started feverishly chasing high tech and life science industries and neglected the “low hanging fruit” of helping existing industries grow. Maybe it was the “grass is greener” syndrome, or obsession with hitting home runs.

I asked, “Why has there been no effort to attracting value-added processes for Michigan resources? Why can’t we make potato chips here, from Montcalm County potatoes, instead of exporting them to Texas? Why do we ship wood fiber to other Great Lakes States for pulp, paper and other manufacturing processes? Why do the pine boards sold in the big-box home center down the street come from Sweden when half of Michigan is covered in forests?

Amen, Mr. Power for bringing this to light. The only question I have is, “Will policy makers be able to take their eyes off the glamour of the homerun and build a long-term, successful strategy on base hits and solid base running?”

By: Clark Harder

Clark Harder — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:22:41 +0000

This piece is spot-on! Everyone hopes for a major national corporation to plunk down a several-hundred person facility in their local community. Reality is that the home-grown start-ups are much more likely to expand and flourish, creating tens of jobs, rather than that your community experiences an “Immaculate Corporation.” We need to do more weeding and fertilizing!