University of Wisconsin - Extension

WISCONSIN SBDC LEADS NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

DESIGNED TO BENEFIT SMALL BUSINESSES

MADISON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Extension Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has been awarded $100,000 by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to design and facilitate a national strategic planning process for the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC).

The ASBDC, a partnership uniting private enterprise, government, higher education and local nonprofit economic development organizations, fosters the development of small business nationwide.

In keeping with the ASBDC's 25-year history as a leader in providing innovative education and solutions to small-business owners, the strategic planning process will, for the first time, use distance technology to allow for wider participation. The use of WisLine Web, a Web-based information technology administered by the University of Wisconsin-Extension, will ensure that a broad range of stakeholders - state, associate state and regional directors; center directors; and center staff and clients - are involved in the planning process. More than 250 SBDC Center directors and staff members from across the country will participate.

The strategic planning process will address how to best accomplish several key goals, including how to keep SBDC services affordable for all business owners and managers, while at the same time preserving and enhancing the quality of counseling, educational programs and information transfer.

Additional ASBDC goals to be explored during the planning process are:

• adapting new technology for instructional use;

• serving the needs of a growing population of entrepreneurs and the growing educational needs of the small-business community;

• using limited state and federal funding more effectively and efficiently;

• maintaining a leadership position in business management research and technology transfer; and

• joining with other entrepreneurship partners that serve businesses around the country.

Erica Kauten, state director of the Wisconsin SBDC, will serve as ASBDC Strategic Planning Committee chair. The committee includes the state directors of New York, Montana and Rhode Island, and the associate directors of Delaware, Idaho, New Hampshire and Texas - Houston. Kathleen Paris of Station 1 Inc., formerly a senior consultant with the Office of Quality Improvement at University of Wisconsin-Madison, will help to facilitate the planning process.

"Thanks to the innovative use of distance technology, this widely inclusive planning process will bring together some of the best thinkers and most experienced business professionals in the country. I am confident that the results of this Wisconsin SBDC-ASBDC strategic planning partnership will provide new and established small businesses throughout the country with the support they need to build profits and contribute to the economic success of their communities," Kauten said.

The new strategic plan will be presented to the state directors for approval at the spring 2004 Conference of the Association of Small Business Development Centers.

A unit of the University of Wisconsin-Extension, the Wisconsin SBDC applies university research, knowledge and resources to meet the training needs of entrepreneurs and businesses throughout the state. For more information, see http://www.wisconsinsbdc.org .