photo credit: Sh4rp_i

When George Bush said that the French didn’t have a word for Entrepreneurs, the well-heeled in the Europe snickered. But, George may have the last laugh as many European countries performed poorly in a report on Global Entrepreneurship.

Top Ten Countries for Starting a Business

According to the report, the best places to get your country off the ground are:

1. Denmark
2. Canada
3. United States
4. Sweden
5. New Zealand
6. Ireland
7. Switzerland
8. Norway
9. Iceland
10. Netherlands

This will raise some eye-brows as countries such as Iceland totally collapsed last year, Ireland is heading down the tubes it seems, and countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland are not the powerhouses of European economy.

You can download the complete report here.

Why is the US in 3rd?

Mark Henricks, writing on BNET, remarks that, ‘The United States ranks third overall behind those two countries on the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index. On one of the GEDI’s sub-indexes, this one ranking entrepreneurial activity, the U.S. came in eighth. It did rank first in one sub-index measuring entrepreneurial aspirations. Based on that, you might say that America is the land of wannabe entrepreneurship.’

The report cautions that, ‘his paper should serve more as an eye-opener than as a cause for alarm. The United States maintains its place among the leading entrepreneurial economies. Its performance is still superior in most respects to the averages for innovation-driven and efficiency-driven economies. Its strengths in the skill of its workers, the size of its markets, the institutional support for its people, and the aspirations of the American population are strong and robust.’

Fallen Stars

Australia is 11th. While most western countries got hammered by the recession, my business friends down under seemed fairly immune.

UK comes in 14th place despite a new pro-business government.

Germany, despite its influence across Europe both politically and economically, falls behind into 16th.

Israel comes in 21st, one of the few countries in the Middle East to score high.

Business in Asia

Korea performs well at 20th, though Singapore is higher in 15th.

China is well down in 40th place reflecting the difficulty for small businesses to get off the ground. Hong Kong, with its long ties to the west, is slightly higher in 23rd.

Does it add up?

I’m not sure these figures make sense. Or, to look at it another way, the assessment criteria may favor smaller countries over larger ones.

Think how difficult it is to turn a small boat around (Ireland) compared to a 500 ton tanker (USA). The starting positions are quiet different.

Also, as someone who divides his time between Ireland and China, the figures are slightly perplexing.

Banks in Ireland have been torn to shreds in the press for not lending. Despite massive bailouts.

Whereas Chinese businesspeople I work with seem to have little difficulty getting access to funding.

Note: India, another Asian powerhouse, comes in at 53rd.

Maybe I’ve missed something.

Perceived Strengths & Evolving Weaknesses

The authors of the report believe that ‘as we come to the end of the first decade of the new millennium is a more pragmatic reality check on some of our perceived strengths and evolving strategies to correct for past shortcomings.’

From where you’re standing, what advantages are there for those starting a business? What needs to be done to accelerate the process?

Please share your thoughts below.

What’s the difference between men and women when they go online? eMarketer highlight that when women go online entertainment takes a backseat to utility and socializing, usually with people they already know. Men’s surfing habits are different.

5 Ways UK Women Use Social Media Different Than Men

The report shows that in the UK, women are much less likely than men to seek out entertainment or pass the time on the Internet or mobile phone.

1. Women typically share content and experiences with selected friends.
2. UK women are less numerous than men online; 79% penetration compared with men’s 84%, according to Eurostat.
3. Daily usage is high; data from Nielsen indicates engagement is increasing.
4. Involvement in the social media world, where women’s adoption is outpacing men’s, is rising.
5. Women Internet users were 8% more likely than males to have a social networking site profile.

“Social networks are a primary channel for women online to strengthen existing bonds with friends and family,” said Ms. von Abrams.

According to data from Universal McCann, women’s top activities on social networks in 2009 included managing their own profile and visiting blogs maintained by people they knew.

Men, by contrast, were more interested in making new contacts.

Do Women Use Social Media Different Than Men?

Do these finding surprise you?

What do you see as the main difference in how men and women use the internet? If you’re a man, do you use it to make new contacts or strengthen your existing friendships?

E-commerce is now an important part of the economy, particularly in the developed markets. While e-commerce is still in its infancy in many emerging markets, this is set to change in the coming years especially in Asia. Here are some interesting facts for anyone considering developing mobile application and/or content for mobile devices.

Key highlights:

• By 2012 it is expected that more than 1 trillion will be spent online by B2C consumers. B2B spending will exceed this considerably.

• E-payment solutions are an important part of e-commerce transactions; however security issues continue to tarnish the industry.

• Asia Pacific leads the world in terms of using mobile phones for m-payments, accounting for around 85% of customers worldwide.

• BuddeComm estimates revenue from mobile content and services (excluding SMS), accounts for around 7-10% of total mobile revenues worldwide. SMS remains popular and accounts for a further 10% of total mobile data revenues.

• Online advertising growth is set to continue for the next few years, but will slow slightly in the wake of the US financial crisis. It is expected that online advertising will eventually account for around 20% of all advertising spend in some markets.

• Search services are central to almost everything that users do online, and this places leading search companies such as Google and Yahoo at an advantage. In the emerging Chinese market, Baidu and Alibaba also have a good foothold.

• Google is still the most popular website property worldwide; however individual countries and regions show unique differences with many local sites remaining popular. Other web properties proving popular across multiple markets include Yahoo, Microsoft and Wikipedia sites, Apple Inc, eBay and Amazon.

The report adds that mobile commerce is potentially important for a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, IT, finance, retail and the media, as well as for end-users. It will work best in those areas where it can emphasise the core virtue of mobile networks – convenience.

Read more here: http://companiesandmarkets.com/

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