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GEM Global Report 2007 Finds World Economy Needs Entrepreneurs

            
                        Babson College's Kent Jones

Babson College and London Business School today released the findings of the 2007 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) to team researchers gathered here from 42 countries.  In-coming Babson College President Leonard Schlesinger said that GEM research is the exception to the historical evolution of management research.

“GEM research on entrepreneurial activity has the strongest link with what is actually happening in the real world.”  According to Schlesinger, this is because GEM is highly collaborative, and he stated Babson's commitment to continue to make GEM biggerand better.

          
        Michael Hay, LBS and Babson Provost Patti Greene

Niels Bosma, GEM Fellow from Utrecht University, reported on new research looking at entrepreneurial activity in global metropolitan areas.  Cities most conducive to entrepreneurship?  Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Auckland, Los Angeles, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, and New York.

GEM Global Report 2007 also looked at the role world financial institutions play and will play in building entrepreneurship even at the domestic level.  “Globalization is increasingly leaving its imprint on domestic market conditions,” said Babson Professor and GEM US member Kent Jones, “Any attempts to block or discourage trade will hurt purely domestic, as well as trading entrepreneurs.”

GEM found that governmental red tape tends to deter high-growth expectation entrepreneurship; and the degree to which governments favor certain industries over others usually works to the detriment of new and smaller firms.

GEM makes it clear said Jones, “The world economy and entrepreneurship need each other.” 

The GEM 2006 Report is available at: www. Gemconsortium.org  

 Niels Bosma, GEM Fellow