After providing background on small business development centers (SBDCs), reviews steps in establishing a SBDC in a community college and describes programs at Lane Community College (Oregon), Mercer County Community College (New Jersey), and Montgomery Community College (Maryland). (DMM)

Time sharing, in which professionals distribute their working hours among several enterprises through part-time contracts, creates jobs, enables small businesses to take advantage of skills and experience, and gives flexibility. The question of how benefits, retirement, and unemployment insurance apply remains to be resolved. (SK)

Provides small companies with limited resources some suggestions for undertaking a hypertext project. Describes how to create various forms of online documentation systems. (HB)

In 1994, a multiagency service team, consisting of state and federal agencies, colleges, private consultants, and nonprofit organizations, was formed to coordinate delivery of technical assistance services to small manufacturers in Maine's wood products industry. Results were generally positive but showed the need to carefully match assistance…

Masters level rehabilitation counseling students (n=57), college students with disabilities (n=62), and small business employers (n=83) were participants in a study that assessed attitudes toward the American Disabilities Act (ADA) Title I. Students with disabilities held the most favorable attitudes, rehabilitation counseling students' attitudes…

Presents advice to young innovators from the founder of Ethernet technology. (WRM)

A study of online courses for managers in small and medium-sized enterprises in Finland, Italy, Spain, and Scotland found they are effective only if educational providers and enterprises have collaborative working relationships in which learners receive support from both. Flexibility in matching delivery to individual needs is also a key. (SK)

Surveys of 233 employees and 217 supervisors from 95 small Dutch companies identified total number of jobs held, average time in each, and the learning value of job functions. It appeared that it was not experience as such that predicted the development of expertise, but the allocation of different job assignments. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

The British Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) stimulates university-industry partnerships in innovative projects. The growing importance of small and medium-sized enterprises has necessitated some changes to help small businesses supervise interns, support multiple internships, manage projects, and disseminate innovations. (SK)

A community restaurant begun in Montreal by 12 welfare recipients has provided jobs and inexpensive meals and served community interests. It attempts to integrate social and economic development, operating not primarily as a job training program but as a community-based, socially useful business. (SK)

Compares the professional development programs developed by the Small Business Development Centers in Michigan and Florida. Looks at the staffing, needs assessment methods, program structure, training methods and materials, competency measurement methods, and program evaluation of the two programs. Provides a checklist for creating professional…

The Graduate Apprenticeship Scheme places new college graduates in small and medium-sized enterprises and provides skill development workshops to enhance their employability. Employers thus have a low-risk means of evaluating potential employees and graduates gain experience that helps them avoid underemployment. (SK)

You probably think instant messaging (IM) as something teenagers do to chat up friends online, whether across the street or across the world. But IM has some buttoned-down business benefits, as well as some risks you may not be aware of. Unlike e-mail, in which you fire off messages to recipients who read them when they next check their in-box,…

Academic researchers are increasingly recognizing the potential of graduates to influence management decisions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper focuses on a detailed qualitative study which looked at graduates who had obtained employment in SMEs in the East Anglia region of England. It examines the skills, competences and…

Purpose--The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a learning organisation can be created within the framework of the family SME in Ireland. Design/methodology/approach--No comprehensive list of independent family businesses in Ireland was available. To overcome this problem a pragmatic approach was taken in the construction of a sampling…