Growing jobs is economic development, too

It’s time to pay as much attention to helping local businesses grow as is spent seeking out new businesses, business leaders told columnist Rick Hagland.Business experts say economic gardening could provide a richer, more stable source of jobs for the state.Excerpt: Michigan shouldn’t abandon efforts to bring new companies to Michigan, said Rob Fowler, president of the Small Business Association of Michigan.”We don’t think it should be either/or,” he said. “But 60 to 80 percent of the state’s economic development efforts should be put into economic gardening.”Figures compiled by the Cassopolis-based Edward Lowe Foundation, which develops educational programs for entrepreneurs, show that small, “second-stage” companies produced more jobs in the 15-year period between 1993 and 2007 than any other business segment in the state.Second-stage companies are those that employ between 10 and 100 workers, have annual sales of at least $1 million and want to grow, according to the Lowe Foundation’s definition.These businesses created 137,249 jobs in Michigan between 1993 and 2007, while companies employing 500 or more workers shed 257,585 jobs in the same time period.For more on growing businesses, read the rest of the story.Source: Rick Haglund for Mlive