Investing in Entrepreneurs: A Strategic Approach for Strengthening Your Regional and Community Economy

A compelling argument for placing entrepreneurship at the heart of economic development provides a guidebook for how this can be done efficiently, effectively, and equitably.

Investing in Entrepreneurs: A Strategic Approach for Strengthening Your Regional and Community Economy offers a compelling argument for making the support of entrepreneurship the centerpiece of local and regional economic development--and provides a plan to make it happen. The book is organized around a tool, developed by the authors, that permits a community to strategically map and manage its business assets in a way that can transform its economy.

Investing in Entrepreneurs begins with a reflection on the importance of entrepreneurship, a discussion of its diminished place in economic development, and a call for its rise back to prominence. The importance of managing entrepreneurial assets is discussed, followed by a thorough articulation of the author’s tool for accomplishing this in a holistic and strategic manner. Examples drawn from the authors’ fieldwork illustrate the many ways in which the tool can be utilized to guide economic development efforts. A final chapter discusses possible resistance to this innovation and how that resistance can be successfully addressed.

Gregg A. Lichtenstein, PhD, is president of Collaborative Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in working with entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and in strategic alliances.

Thomas S. Lyons, PhD, is the Lawrence N. Field Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and professor of management in the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College of the City University of New York. Dr. Lyons coauthored Creating an Economic Development Action Plan and Financing Small Business in America.