The Ascent of America's High-Growth Companies: An Analysis of the Geography of Entrepreneurship

This report offers the first-ever deep dive into the geographic trends of America's fastest growing private companies -- the Inc. 500. Inc. magazine's annual ranking, which began in 1982, has become an important point of pride for high-achieving companies and a source of research for economists. Not until now, however, has anyone dissected the past thirty years of comprehensive data from these high-growth companies. Through a partnership with Inc. magazine, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has done just that. In this, one of a set of studies examining Inc. 500 data over time, we offer a geographic analysis of how regional characteristics are associated with fast-growing companies and innovations. Tracing hundreds of Inc. firms per year and thousands per decade, we have captured a range of innovations and analyzed the regions that continuously produce fast-growing companies. Knowing that very little is understood about the geography of high-growth companies, we approached this analysis with a range of questions: where are the fast-growing Inc. firms located at the state and metropolitan levels? How have they shifted over time? Do we find greater geographic concentration of Inc. firms over time? How is the geography of Inc. firms different from commonly associated growth factors, such as high-tech industries, venture capital firms, and research universities?As you review the findings of this report, keep in mind that the creation of another ranking is not our primary objective. It is more important to demonstrate different regions with different sectors and strengths, in contrast to previously identified areas that have been highlighted as strong producers of high-tech companies. Thus, our objective is to shed light on formerly understudied areas of economic development

Leveraging Regional Assets: Insights from High-Growth Companies in Kansas City

As a typical Midwestern city, Kansas City and its successful entrepreneurs often are overlooked in economic development studies. We find, however, compelling evidence that the region has ample entrepreneurial success to celebrate, study, and share since numerous Kansas City area firms have appeared on Inc.magazine's list of the fastest-growing companies. We recently interviewed the founders of some of these firms in the city's information technology, biotechnology, and business services sectors about their views on the strengths and viability of Kansas City's entrepreneurial ecosystem. We gained valuable insights for area policy and economic leaders. Key findings of our interviews include:-Lack of venture capital or angel investment does not hinder the growth of Kansas City firms. Only a small percentage of the high-growth firmsinterviewed reported receiving investment from Venture Capital or Angel investors. Instead, most high-growth firms were self-financed or received financial assistance from founders' close friends and families. Some bootstrapped by adapting their firms to customer needs to achieve growth, while others scaled up only as revenues increased and additional customers were found. No matter how they were funded, the firms successfully grew their revenue. -Kansas City firms enjoy a substantial pool of talent in the region. Growing firms often have a long-term employee development strategy to hire young people and train them to be first-class professionals, including technical experts. Entrepreneurs also find the region's low cost of living and strong, Midwestern work ethic to be major strengths.-Most Kansas City entrepreneurs find support from customers, vendors, and/or collaborating firms in the region. This finding runs somewhat contrary to Swiss researcher Heike Mayer's recent conclusion that firms in the Kansas City region are disconnected. These regional connections lead to the firms' innovations and growth. -A number of high-growth firms serve only the Kansas City area or a limited market of regional cities, yet they see this limited regional focus as a business strength. Entrepreneurs and their support community should take note that a firm does not have to capture a national or global market to be highly successful. -Most Kansas City entrepreneurs report that locally based mentors have played a significant role in their success. Whether through informal or 2 formal channels, connecting experienced entrepreneurs to aspiring or nascent entrepreneurs and allowing mentor-mentee relationships to grow organically should be goals of the city's entrepreneurial support community. Further research is needed on how best to create and implement local mentorship programs

Environmental policy for ecosystem services and biodiversity

Threats to ecosystem services and biodiversity are some of the most important contemporary policy problems facing the planet. Consisting of four papers, the motivation for this thesis is threefold: to understand the different ways of defining the benefits humans receive from the environment, how the public may be able to understand more nuanced scientific aspects of biodiversity, and how forest policy instruments are used to encourage family forest owners to safeguard ecosystem services and biodiversity on their properties. Paper I describes the different ways in which ecosystem services are uniquely defined in the broad ecosystem services literature. Paper II investigates how respondents to a stated preferences survey value a little-known species with an important biodiversity characteristic relative to a familiar species of lesser biodiversity importance. The interpretation of Paper II is that using multiple flagship species targeted toward different members of the general public may be a way to use unfamiliar yet ecologically important species for public outreach purposes. Papers III and IV investigate how family forest owners in Sweden interact with and think about forest policy instruments aimed at preserving biodiversity on their forest properties. The result of Paper I shows that conceptual ecosystem services definitions exist on a spectrum with some definitions being more characteristic of natural sciences, some more characteristic of economics, and some existing between the natural science and economics definitions. Paper II confirms the appeal of an unfamiliar species with a unique biodiversity characteristic relative to a more familiar species is not limited by geographic distance, but the appeal of such biodiversity may include areas close to its habitat. Paper III shows Swedish family forest owners who are interested in taking environmental efforts on their properties and stay out of forest stewardship certification may be more skeptical of state action to secure biodiversity in Swedish forests. Finally, Paper IV shows the benefits of targeting different kinds of instruments to different kinds of ownership objectives may be limited. Findings from this thesis may contribute to better environmental policy by improving conservation public outreach efforts and by clarifying the opportunities and challenges of engaging family forest owners in achieving public policy goals

Stress Free Temperature Testing and Residual Stress Calculations on Out-of-Autoclave Composites

Future launch vehicles will require the incorporation large composite parts that will make up primary and secondary components of the vehicle. NASA has explored the feasibility of manufacturing these large components using Out-of-Autoclave impregnated carbon fiber composite systems through many composites development projects. Most recently, the Composites for Exploration Project has been looking at the development of a 10 meter diameter fairing structure, similar in size to what will be required for a heavy launch vehicle. The development of new material systems requires the investigation of the material properties and the stress in the parts. Residual stress is an important factor to incorporate when modeling the stresses that a part is undergoing. Testing was performed to verify the stress free temperature with two-ply asymmetric panels. A comparison was done between three newly developed out of autoclave IM7 /Bismalieimide (BMI) systems. This paper presents the testing results and the analysis performed to determine the residual stress of the materials

Stress Free Temperature Testing and Calculations on Out-of-Autoclave Composites

Future launch vehicles will require the incorporation of large composite parts that will make up primary and secondary components of the vehicle. NASA has explored the feasibility of manufacturing these large components using Out-of-Autoclave impregnated carbon fiber composite systems through many composites development projects. Most recently, the Composites for Exploration Project has been looking at the development of a 10 meter diameter fairing structure, similar in size to what will be required for a heavy launch vehicle. The development of new material systems requires the investigation of the material properties and the stress in the parts. Residual stress is an important factor to incorporate when modeling the stresses that a part is undergoing. Testing was performed to verify the stress free temperature with two-ply asymmetric panels. A comparison was done between three newly developed out of autoclave IM7/Bismaleimide (BMI) systems. This paper presents the testing results and the analysis performed to determine the stress free temperature of the material

Repair Development for a Composite Cryotank

The Composite Cryotank Technologies and Demonstration Project is working to advance the technologies for composite cryogenic propellant tanks at diameters suitable for future heavy lift vehicles and other in-space applications. The main goals of the project are to reduce weight and cost. One aspect of this project has focused on damage evaluation and repair development. Test panels have been impacted, repaired, and tested. Several repair methods were used to compare their effectiveness at restoring the integrity of the composite. Panels were evaluated by nondestructive evaluations at several points during the process to assess the damage and repair. The testing performed and the results and conclusions from the nondestructive evaluations and the destructive testing will be discussed. These results will lead to further development of inspection techniques and repair methods

Characterization of Fluorescent Polystyrene Microspheres for Advanced Flow Diagnostics

Fluorescent dye-doped polystyrene latex microspheres (PSLs) are being developed for velocimetry and scalar measurements in variable property flows. Two organic dyes, Rhodamine B (RhB) and dichlorofluorescence (DCF), are examined to assess laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) properties for flow imaging applications and single-shot temperature measurements. A major interest in the current research is the application of safe dyes, thus DCF is of particular interest, while RhB is used as a benchmark. Success is demonstrated for single-point laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and also imaging fluorescence, excited via a continuous wave 2 W laser beam, for exposures down to 10 ms. In contrast, when exciting with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser at 200 mJ/pulse, no fluorescence was detected, even when integrating tens of pulses. We show that this is due to saturation of the LIF signal at relatively low excitation intensities, 4-5 orders of magnitude lower than the pulsed laser intensity. A two-band LIF technique is applied in a heated jet, indicating that the technique effectively removes interfering inputs such as particle diameter variation. Temperature measurement uncertainties are estimated based upon the variance measured for the two-band LIF intensity ratio and the achievable dye temperature sensitivity, indicating that particles developed to date may provide about +/-12.5 C precision, while future improvements in dye temperature sensitivity and signal quality may enable single-shot temperature measurements with sub-degree precision

Skepticism of state action in forest certification and voluntary set-asides : a Swedish example with two environmental offsetting options

Non-industrial private forest owners in Sweden are encouraged to mitigate environmental damages from forestry on their properties under a principle of “freedom with responsibility,” although the level of mitigation is generally left to the owners’ discretion. One voluntary measure private forest owners are encouraged to take is setting aside a part of their productive forests for conservation. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how non-industrial private forest owner beliefs concerning both their own and the Swedish state’s responsibility for nature protection differ among owners of certified forests, who automatically leave a set-aside, and those who have stayed out of forest certification but have decided to leave a set-aside. Results of a Heckman selection bivariate probit model show that the more a respondent believes the state is responsible for fulfilling environmental goals compared to private forest owners, the less likely it is that an owner of a non-certified forest will leave a set-aside for conservation. Beliefs about responsibility do not, however, differ among owners of certified and non-certified forests. From a policy perspective, Swedish government agencies may have difficulty steering specific measures taken by private forest owners who are interested in conservation but have stayed out of forest certification regimes

Following up with Forest Inheritors : A Survival Analysis of Recently Inherited and Recently Sold Non-Industrial Forest Land in the State of Washington, USA

A growing body of literature shows that the transfer of forest land from one owner to another in the US is associated with events such as parcelization of forest land and/or the subsequent conversion of the land away from forestry land use. For individuals and families who own forest land, a key driver of ownership transfer is the eventual or actual mortality of forest owners themselves. In the State of Washington as well as the US nationally, studies on forest legacy planning reveal that most forest owners want their children or grandchildren to own their forest properties after they no longer own the forest. In contrast, the same surveys also show that a majority of US forest owners acquired their forest land by purchasing the land from a non-relative. We utilize the Washington State Forestland Database to conduct a non-parametric survival analysis of how long recently inherited forest properties remain fully owned by the new owners (i.e. there is no subsequent sale associated with the property) compared to forest land that was sold. Results show that inherited parcels have a significantly lower survival probability as measured by remaining solely within the ownership of the new owner relative to parcels that were sold within an 8-year period. This study quantifies how the mode of forest transfer influences the duration of the following ownership lifecycle and indicates that stewardship efforts should be tailored for owners who have recently inherited forest lands