BusinessWeek
Okinawa’s Doomed Innovation Experiment
October 18, 2010
Faced with declining competitiveness, Japan launched a series of top-down initiatives in the ’80s to boost innovation. It invested billions of dollars in creating …
Practical Ways to Get More Women to Lead Businesses
October 08, 2010
Last month’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, with 2,150 mostly young women, was the largest gathering ever of women in computing in industry, academia,…
Why Andy Grove Is Wrong About Job Growth
July 09, 2010
In Bloomberg Businessweek’s recent cover story, Intel co-founder Andy Grove writes of the need to create American jobs. He points out that although invention still …
To Avert a New Saddam in Iraq, Encourage Startups
June 08, 2010
“If we’re going to achieve political stability, people have to own the economy.” That may be the most cogent statement I’ve heard about the situation in Iraq. The …
Top-Down Tech Clusters Often Lack Key Ingredients
May 04, 2010
Russia recently announced a government-planned “science city,” to be located outside Moscow, that it hopes will one day rival Silicon Valley’s creative engine. The …
Why Boulder Is America’s Best Town for Startups
April 22, 2010
On a recent morning, a half-dozen young software engineers hunched over laptops at The Cup, a café on bustling Pearl Street in downtown Boulder. They were holding an …
States, Innovate in IT or Else
March 03, 2010
While Grandma can flip through photo albums on a state-of-the-art laptop or, before long, an Apple (AAPL) iPad, many government agencies and corporations are still …
Addressing the Dearth of Female Entrepreneurs
February 04, 2010
I’ll bet that if Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs had even one woman on his executive team, the iPad would have been given a different name. Otherwise why would Apple …
Lessons from a New Industry Cluster in India
December 30, 2009
For government officials and planning consultants looking to create regional economic growth and drive innovation, industry clusters are the Holy Grail. Popularized by…
Visas for Venture-Backed Immigrant Entrepreneurs
December 11, 2009
Myth: Immigrants need to be better entrepreneurs than native-born entrepreneurs to justify a startup visa program. Reality: Recently several influential people …
Let’s Give Visas to Startup Founders
December 02, 2009
Bring up the topic of economic stimulus and job creation, and you won’t hear much about immigration. If the topic does arise, it’s usually because somebody believes …
The Making of a Successful Entrepreneur: Factors That Lead to Success
November 17, 2009
A new study examines the factors that entrepreneurs running high-growth companies say are instrumental to their success
Why Global Entrepreneurship Week Matters
November 13, 2009
Adam Farrell founded a solar technology business when he was just 15 years old. His entrepreneurial career started in ninth grade while working on a science project …
The Global Innovation Migration
November 09, 2009
Research and development is increasingly going global, according to a new report by Duke’s Offshoring Research Network (ORN). More than half of U.S. companies now have…
Chile’s Outsourcing Challenge
October 20, 2009
The list of challengers to U.S. tech supremacy may be getting longer. Many pundits say the greatest threats to the nation’s status as a tech superpower are China and …
Turning Research into Inventions and Jobs
September 20, 2009
A recent BusinessWeek article called for the investment of billions of dollars more in “basic research” to create millions of new jobs. It’s hard to argue against the …
Is Miss Nebraska an Entrepreneur?
September 15, 2009
When Sue Drakeford became the first African-American to represent Nebraska at the Miss USA Pageant in 2001, she saw a great business opportunity. She would start a …
Why China’s Chip Industry Won’t Catch America’s
September 03, 2009
In the 1980s, the U.S. was consumed with fear that Japan would become the preeminent power in manufacturing and technology. Those fears never came to pass. Today the …
Call-Center Jobs That Pay $100K a Year
August 25, 2009
In a column a few weeks ago, I wrote about “smallsourcing” and how U.S. workers are competing for jobs that small companies haven’t chosen to outsource. Some of these …
Why Be an Ethical Company? They’re Stronger and Last Longer
August 17, 2009
With everyone still buzzing about the outrageous bonuses Wall Street continues to pay, it seems like now might be a good time to write a column about ethics. No, I …
What do Venture Capitalists Want?
August 03, 2009
In talking to several entrepreneurs over the last few weeks I heard major frustration over the lack of vc funding available in the marketplace. But it made me wonder: …
Weigh in on the Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Small Jobs
August 02, 2009
This is a guest post by BusinessWeek contributor Vivek Wadhwa. Outsourcing has become such a toxic issue in the U.S. that even the President has rallied against it. …
Outsourcing Benefits U.S. Workers, Too
August 02, 2009
Outsourcing is a dirty word. In the U.S., outsourcing means firing full-time workers and shipping their jobs to a less developed country where wages are lower and …
Responding to Readers About New Research on Entrepreneurs
July 24, 2009
This is a guest post by BusinessWeek contributor Vivek Wadhwa. One thing I’ve learned after joining academia is that with every research project, you create more …
Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?: Who Entrepreneurs Are and …
July 24, 2009
A new study disproves myths about entrepreneurs
The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur
July 08, 2009
This is a guest blog by Emily Schmitt, who joined BusinessWeek’s Small Business team and Investing team in June. When Ken Rapp was 16 years old, his mom died of …
Venture Capital Doesn’t Need Government Help
June 28, 2009
The venture capital industry’s chief lobbying group is arguing that VCs should get government help for their troubled industry. But new research suggests seasoned …
Why Less Is More for Startups
June 23, 2009
If I only had another few million dollars to spend on… That’s the refrain I grew accustomed to rattling off when I was getting my tech startups off the ground. …
We Need Smarter, Not Fewer, H-1B Visas
May 11, 2009
Like watching the Nationals play and the cherry trees blossom, assailing the rights of immigrant workers has become a rite of spring for powerful players in the U.S. …
Bailouts Don’t Create Jobs: Startups Do
April 22, 2009
The government is spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer money to bail out companies like General Motors (GM), AIG (AIG), and Citibank (C) that are deemed too big …
America’s Perilous Anti-Immigrant Protectionism
April 15, 2009
As unemployment rises and the recession deepens, advocating skilled immigration has become fraught with risk. In the past two months, Kauffman Foundation has published…
U.S. Job Losses Not Due to H-1B Visas, Report Says
March 30, 2009
US lawmakers may be busy putting restrictions on the country’s primary temporary work visa, H-1B, but new H-1B visaholders each year represent just seven in 10,000 …
Why the U.S. Is Losing Foreign Graduates
March 19, 2009
Foreign students who graduate from U.S. universities with degrees in science and engineering are increasingly leaving the U.S. to pursue job opportunities in their …
The Grand Challenge for Science and Math
March 09, 2009
It could have been a Final Four basketball game for Duke. The university’s students clamored for tickets, professors canceled classes, and organizers fretted over …
America’s Immigrant Brain Drain
March 05, 2009
As the debate over the role of highly skilled immigrants intensifies in the U.S., we’re losing sight of an important fact: America is no longer the only land of …
Why Skilled Immigrants Are Leaving the U.S.
March 02, 2009
As the debate over H-1B workers and skilled immigrants intensifies, we are losing sight of one important fact: The U.S. is no longer the only land of opportunity. If …
Don’t Blame H-1B Workers for Woes
February 10, 2009
As the U.S. recession deepens and job losses mount, finding fault with foreigners is very much in vogue. The tendency reared its head recently as U.S. senators Bernie …
India: Toward High-End Outsourcing
December 16, 2008
In recent months articles in The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.com have postulated that outsourcing information technology work to India was losing appeal. They said …
Immigrants Are More Likely to Be Entrepreneurs
November 25, 2008
I published a research report back in 2006 showing that over 50 percent of Silicon Valley engineering and technology startups were founded by immigrants (as were 25 …
Engineering: Suddenly Sexy for College Grads
November 14, 2008
Early in his college career, Tyler Bosmeny assumed that after graduating, he would do what hundreds of other self-respecting Harvard University engineering, math, and …
Startups: The Upside of a Downturn
November 07, 2008
In early October, Sequoia Capital summoned executives at its portfolio companies for an urgent meeting to discuss survival in the economic downturn. The presentation …
Does Venture Capital Spur Innovation?
September 30, 2008
Policymakers often believe that venture capital is a prerequisite for regional growth and innovation. And entrepreneurs tend to think that VCs know it all. They spend …
What the U.S. Can Learn from Indian R&D
July 23, 2008
We’ve heard the dire warnings before. The U.S. is falling behind in math and science. A recent admonition came from the Business Roundtable, which cautioned that the …
Losing Our Lead in Innovative R&D
June 10, 2008
To hear the National Academy of Sciences tell it, the U.S. faces little risk of losing its technology dominance. In a new study, the NAS says industries such as …
U.S. Schools: Not That Bad
May 28, 2008
Students have 2 million minutes—the time from the beginning of eighth grade to high school graduation—to build the intellectual foundation they’ll need for…
How to Foster Tech Entrepreneurship
April 30, 2008
American tech entrepreneurs are young college dropouts—often from prestigious universities—who start companies out of their garages. So goes the …
Work Visas: Lose the Lottery
April 22, 2008
The U.S. government will use a random computer lottery to determine which of 163,000 applicants receive the 85,000 work visas it grants this year under the so-called …
High-Tech Hiring: Youth Matters
January 15, 2008
In the engineering globalization debate, the battle lines are drawn. Companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC), and Oracle (ORCL) say there are severe shortages of…
Before You Write a Business Plan
January 07, 2008
Before I launched my last startup, I prepared a business plan exactly as I had been taught in business school. I was determined to lure professional investors, and I …
The Science Education Myth
October 26, 2007
Political leaders, tech executives, and academics often claim that the U.S. is falling behind in math and science education. They cite poor test results, declining …
The Visa Shortage: Big Problem, Easy Fix
October 17, 2007
Signs with the words “U.S. citizens and permanents only” greeted students at employers’ booths at a recent career fair at Duke University, where I teach. In previous …
Who Needs the Ivies?
August 31, 2007
I must confess to being disappointed five years ago when my son, Vineet, told me he had no interest in applying to any of the schools I consider elite. He said he …
The Reverse Brain Drain
August 22, 2007
For the first time in its history, the U.S. faces the prospect of a reverse brain drain. New research by my team at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University …
Why Small Tech Companies Aren’t Outsourcing
July 20, 2007
A common misconception is that today’s outsourcing trend was driven by the tech industry. Even The Wall Street Journal ran a recent front-page article saying that …
One Easy Fix for Immigration
June 21, 2007
Deepa Singh’s journey to the U.S. began as a classic tale of the American dream. She left her native New Delhi in 1999 at the age of 23 and received a master’s degree …
Universities: Get Entrepreneurial
June 15, 2007
University research is an untapped gold mine of knowledge and ideas. To boost innovation and economic growth in the U.S., we need to accelerate the way this research …
Immigrants: Key U.S. Business Founders
June 11, 2007
Entrepreneurs born overseas play a key role in creating new companies in the crucial fields of science, technology, and engineering, but most of these immigrants do …
The Right Way to Get Media Attention
May 01, 2007
Most entrepreneurs I know think that when they achieve success, fame will follow. And now that I have made the transition from business to academia, I can also say …
Be Wary When Partnering
April 02, 2007
Partnering with large companies is often the most effective way to grow your business. You gain a new sales channel, learn from those with more experience and …
A Looming Economic Threat
March 19, 2007
As momentum builds on Capitol Hill to do something about the rising economic challenge from China and India, political support is coalescing around a pat remedy: boost…
A Roadmap for an Entrepreneurial Economy
February 26, 2007
There are a wide range of views about what the U.S. can do to keep its edge in today’s global economy, but no consensus (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/18/07, “Keeping …
Let’s Keep Skilled Immigrants in the U.S.
February 08, 2007
Here’s a story about an immigrant realizing the American Dream—well, almost. In 1996, Denis Kholodar won first prize in a national engineering contest in Russia …
To Patent or Not to Patent?
February 05, 2007
Intellectual property law is notoriously confusing. That’s because there are three main types of intellectual property protection and a swirl of myths surrounding each…
Keeping Research and Leadership at Home
January 18, 2007
Globalization is reality. U.S. businesses see tremendous opportunities abroad and will increasingly locate their operations closer to growth markets. They will also …
Open Doors Wider for Skilled Immigrants
January 03, 2007
Skilled immigrants provide one of the U.S.’s greatest strengths. They contribute to the economy, create jobs, and lead innovation. A new study I helped lead at Duke …
Harnessing the Power of Marketing
December 13, 2006
I’ve written about what it takes to build a product that meets market needs (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/4/06, “Countdown to Product Launch, Part I”) and a business model …
Are Indians the Model Immigrants?
September 14, 2006
They have funny accents, occasionally dress in strange outfits, and some wear turbans and grow beards, yet Indians have been able to overcome stereotypes to become the…
How to Score Funding Without VCs
August 29, 2006
Building a company from scratch is never easy. You have got to create products customers want, a business model that works, and a team that can execute with precision….
Before You Accept VC Funding…
August 03, 2006
Venture capital can be the best thing that ever happened to your company or your worst nightmare. Make sure you know what you are getting into before you sign on the …
15 Things You Need to Score VC Funding
August 01, 2006
I’ve often said that instead of soliciting venture capital for your new startup, you’re better off buying a lottery ticket. You’ll save time, money, and spare yourself…
Venture Capital: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
July 17, 2006
There often comes a time in the life of a startup when the founder must decide if it’s better to own a small piece of a big pie. That’s because bootstrapping can only …
Engineering Gap? Fact and Fiction
July 10, 2006
As a former tech CEO, I learned to sleep with one eye open. Competition is always looming and it doesn’t take much to lose your edge. So I found you need to focus on …
The True Cost of Discrimination
June 06, 2006
Feedback to my last column on the discrimination that women face in the engineering field (see BW Online (see BW Online, 03/14/06, “Fixing Engineering’s Gender Gap”) …
Countdown to Product Launch, Part IV
May 31, 2006
You don’t need an MBA to start a business, but you do need to get a few things right if you want to succeed. Whether you’re opening a restaurant, starting a tech …
Countdown to Product Launch (Part III)
May 19, 2006
You don’t need an MBA to start a business, but you do need to get a few things right if you want to succeed. Whether you’re opening a restaurant, starting a tech …
Countdown to Product Launch (Part II)
May 12, 2006
You don’t need an MBA to start a business, but you do need to get a few things right if you want to succeed. Whether you’re opening a restaurant, starting a tech …
Countdown to Product Launch (Part I)
May 04, 2006
You don’t need an MBA to start a business, but you do need to get a few things right if you want to succeed. Whether you’re opening a restaurant, starting a tech …
Fixing Engineering’s Gender Gap
March 14, 2006
President Bush recently announced a $136 billion program to encourage innovation and strengthen the ability of the U.S. to compete in the global economy. The …
The Art of Doing It Yourself
February 14, 2006
Ditch the business plan and buy a lottery ticket. That’s the advice I give new entrepreneurs who seek venture funding. The odds are better, and you’ll get results …
Filling the Engineering Gap
January 10, 2006
The stakes are very high in the global economic race. As India and China strive to catch up, the debate continues about what the U.S. needs to do to maintain its lead….
About That Engineering Gap…
December 13, 2005
There are few topics that generate as much heated debate as outsourcing. One side argues that globalization will lead to greater innovation and prosperity, the other …
Integrating Ethics at the Core
November 08, 2005
Entrepreneurship is a fascinating journey along treacherous paths. You’ll find tough choices at every juncture. And while business decisions usually have clear …
Businesses That Profit the World
October 11, 2005
In Hollywood, it seems that everyone wants to be a star or has a script for the next great blockbuster. Tech entrepreneurs, similarly, dream of launching the next eBay…
Degrees of Achievement
September 14, 2005
Early in their careers, entrepreneurs have to make difficult decisions about the level of education to pursue. Business school is costly and takes years to complete –…
When Life Hands You Lemons…
August 10, 2005
Success is the magic elixir all entrepreneurs crave. It tastes sweet and makes the whole journey worthwhile. Failure is what entrepreneurs fear and go to extremes to …
Selling for Survival
July 12, 2005
If I were creating a survival guide for entrepreneurs, the first lesson would be on selling. Yes, you have to learn to raise and manage money, create great products …
Ask for Help — and Offer It
June 06, 2005
Some of the most important lessons I’ve learned as an entrepreneur are things they don’t teach you in business school. I’ve learned to be fearless in approaching a …
Selling the Taj Mahal to America
May 10, 2005
No matter what your business, success lies in understanding your market and correctly positioning your product. You can have the right message for the wrong market and…
Lights! Camera! Overruns!
April 11, 2005
On location in India and the U.S., a movie producer grapples with the difference between wasteful spending and prudent budget expansion
Hollywood, Meet Wilmington
March 08, 2005
With Hollywood overheads making TV and movie production an increasingly risky business, entrepreneurs are taking their shows on the road
Giving My Movie a Media Edge
February 08, 2005
I’ve learned that being open to the press is the best way to sell a product — even if this breaks some Hollywood protocols
A Movie’s Musical Marketing
January 11, 2005
A Net music contest for our Bollywood-based film leads to a deal with a TV network and, hopefully, lots of buzz among Indian Americans
Seduction, Hollywood-Style
December 07, 2004
Interest in our movie was decidedly mild at the recent trade market for distributors in Santa Monica. Three gorgeous models and a Variety ad soon changed that
When the Cameras Stop, the Work Begins
October 01, 2004
My new career in the movie business has become a lesson in how little I knew going in. First impressions, for example, turn out to be very deceptive
My Entertaining Education in Movieland
August 10, 2004
I figured folks with their names in lights would be aloof and arrogant, cursed with too much beauty and not enough brains. Boy, was I wrong
Moviemaking Through an Indian Lens
June 07, 2004
Things are different in Bollywood, not better nor worse than in Hollywood, just different. Make the adjustment, and the magic begins
Adding a Hunk of “Sex” Appeal
April 30, 2004
For our movie to work, we needed a bankable star. In Sex and the City’s Jason Lewis, we’ve found just the ticket
A Tight Focus on Financing
April 07, 2004
Finding investors for a movie sure was harder than I expected. It took several creative changes in strategy before the cash was in hand
My Son, It’s Time to Talk of Outsourcing…
March 12, 2004
…and how, without those Russian programmers I hired, neither my U.S. startup nor the jobs it created would ever have existed
The Plot Thickens, Slowly
February 17, 2004
My new career as a Bollywood producer is providing quite an education, especially about the gulf between East and West
Bollywood, Here I Come!
January 21, 2004
Meet our latest columnist, a U.S. entrepreneur-turned-film producer, who will be reporting on his new business in the world’s busiest movie mecca