IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecdequ/v20y2006i4p351-367.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microenterprise Development in the United States: Current Challenges and New Directions

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa J. Servon

    (New School University)

Abstract

U.S. microenterprise programs provide business training, small amounts of credit ($35,000 or less), or both to businesses with five or fewer employees. As the microenterprise field nears the end of its second decade in the United States, experts and practitioners agree that the field is in a difficult place; there appears to be relatively widespread agreement on the nature of the problems, which include a lack of standardized data, decreasing funding from some key sectors, increased competition, and difficulty in reaching the target market. The author argues that if the microenterprise field does not make some significant changes, it will neither sustain itself nor approach its potential. Strategies to address these challenges fall into three broad categories: restructuring, innovation, and accreditation and standardization.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa J. Servon, 2006. "Microenterprise Development in the United States: Current Challenges and New Directions," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 20(4), pages 351-367, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:20:y:2006:i:4:p:351-367
    DOI: 10.1177/0891242406289355
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891242406289355
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0891242406289355?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy Bates & Lisa Servon, 1998. "Microenterprise As An Exit Route From Poverty:* Recommendations For Programs And Policy Makers," Working Papers 98-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Timothy Bates, 1995. "Why do Minority Business Development Programs Generate so Little Minority Business Development?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 9(1), pages 3-14, February.
    3. Gregg A. Lichtenstein & Thomas S. Lyons, 2001. "The Entrepreneurial Development System: Transforming Business Talent and Community Economies," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(1), pages 3-20, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Al-Jarhi, Mabid, 2010. "Reviving the Ethics of Islamic Finance," MPRA Paper 66732, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2011.
    2. J. G. Sri Ranjith, 2015. "The Effect of Microenterprises on Poverty: A Cross-county Analysis on US Urban Poverty," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 3(3), pages 128-150, March.
    3. Dr. J. G. Sri Ranjith & Dr. O. G Dayaratna Banda, 2014. "Determinants of Success of Small Business: A Survey-Based Study in Kuliyapitiya Divisional Secretariat of Sri Lanka," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 4(6), pages 38-50, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christy, Ralph D. & Wenner, Mark D. & Dassie, Wylin, 2000. "A Microenterprise-Centered Economic Development Strategy For The Rural South: Sustaining Growth With Economic Opportunity," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 32(2), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Mark Schreiner, 1999. "Lessons for Microenterprise Programs from a Fresh Look at the Unemployment Insurance Self-Employment Demonstration," Evaluation Review, , vol. 23(5), pages 504-526, October.
    3. repec:rri:wpaper:200902 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Schreiner, Mark & Woller, Gary, 2003. "Microenterprise Development Programs in the United States and in the Developing World," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1567-1580, September.
    5. Dr. J. G. Sri Ranjith & Dr. O. G Dayaratna Banda, 2014. "Determinants of Success of Small Business: A Survey-Based Study in Kuliyapitiya Divisional Secretariat of Sri Lanka," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 4(6), pages 38-50, June.
    6. Chris Phelan & Richard Sharpley, 2012. "Exploring entrepreneurial skills and competencies in farm tourism," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(2), pages 103-118, March.
    7. Jacob Benus & Sheena McConnell & Jeanne Bellotti & Theodore Shen & Kenneth Fortson & Daver Kahvecioglu, "undated". "Growing America Through Entrepreneurship: Findings from the Evaluation of Project GATE," Mathematica Policy Research Reports afeceaeccbf54835ae4f79e73, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. repec:rri:wpaper:200904 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Timothy Bates, 2009. "Utilizing Affirmative Action in Public Sector Procurement as a Local Economic Development Strategy," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 23(3), pages 180-192, August.
    10. Sultan, Yousuf & Masih, Mansur, 2016. "Does microfinance affect economic growth? Evidence from Bangladesh based on ARDL approach," MPRA Paper 72123, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Mark Schreiner, 2001. "Evaluation and Microenterprise Programs," Development and Comp Systems 0108002, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 27 Dec 2001.
    12. Amaechi N. Nwaokoro & Abiodun Ojemakinde & Lee Washington, 2017. "The Merits of Specialized Microfinance Instruments and Their Feasibility in Alleviating Poverty in Albany-Dougherty County, Georgia," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 8(4), pages 134-147, October.
    13. Goetz, Stephan J. & Fleming, David A. & Rupasingha, Anil, 2012. "The Economic Impacts of Self-Employment," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 44(3), pages 1-7, August.
    14. Merguei, Nitzan, 2022. "Venturing out: Designing effective pre-acceleration programs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    15. Money, Udih & Edjore Emmanue Odibo, 2015. "Nigerian Small and Medium Business Management: An Effect of Entrepreneurship Skills," Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, Educational Research Multimedia & Publications,India, vol. 6(3), pages 31-36, September.
    16. Maribel Mojica & Tesfa Gebremedhin & Peter Schaeffer, 2009. "An Empirical Analysis of the Link between Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth in West Virginia," Working Papers Working Paper 2009-02, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    17. Maribel Mojica & Tesfa Gebremedhin & Peter Schaeffer, 2009. "A County-Level Assessment of Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth in Appalachia Using Simultaneous Equations," Working Papers Working Paper 2009-04, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    18. Eric Stokan & Lyke Thompson & Robert J. Mahu, 2015. "Testing the Differential Effect of Business Incubators on Firm Growth," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(4), pages 317-327, November.
    19. Mohammad Salman Shabbir & Mohd Noor Mohd Shariff & Arfan Shahzad, 2016. "Determinants of Entrepreneurial Skills set in Pakistan: A Pilot Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 6(2), pages 76-86, April.
    20. Wei, Yifan, 2022. "Regional governments and opportunity entrepreneurship in underdeveloped institutional environments: An entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    21. Yang Shu & Kher Romi & Lyons Thomas S., 2018. "Where Do Accelerators Fit in the Venture Creation Pipeline? Different Values Brought by Different Types of Accelerators," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 8(4), pages 1-13, October.
    22. Jakša Puljiz & Marina Funduk & Ivana Biondić, 2024. "Revitalizing from Ashes: Economic Development and Business Resilience in the City of Vukovar," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-22, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:20:y:2006:i:4:p:351-367. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.