Ohio Business Development Coalition

Enterprise Appalachia in Action: Real Results for Real Entrepreneurs

Throughout 2010, Enterprise Appalachia and Inc. magazine developed and released the Enterprise Benchmarks series of white papers, each focused on a specific topic of critical importance to entrepreneurs and highlighting resources available to them in Ohio. These papers explore the ideal location selection model for entrepreneurial startups based on four key criteria. They look at the challenges entrepreneurs face in finding funding, building a knowledge base, optimizing supply chains, and expanding their market reach, along with the solutions they are finding to meet those challenges.

In preparing the white papers, Enterprise Appalachia and Inc. tapped a broad knowledge base, citing research and sources from the public, private, and academic arenas, including, in many cases, entrepreneurs who have started and are running successful businesses. This paper offers a summary of the key findings presented in each of the Enterprise Benchmarks white papers, along with the stories of entrepreneurs who are putting those findings into action in their own businesses.

Finding Funding

As the first white paper in the Enterprise Benchmarks series, "Finding Funding" notes, most small businesses face the prospect of finding funding at some point in their existence.

Building Your Knowledge Base

The second Enterprise Benchmarks white paper, "Building Your Knowledge Base," focuses on the importance of building a knowledge base that provides credible business intelligence and gives you the information you need to make critical business decisions about issues such as labor, technology, competition, growth, and more.

Real Best Practices for Supply Chain Optimization

No matter what its products, services, or specialization, every business has a supply chain. Materials, information, and finances flow through a process from raw materials or resources to finished products or services to delivery to the end user or customer.

Expanding Your Market Reach

Most new businesses go through a progression of growth stages, starting with "existence," advancing to "survival," and culminating in "success," according to a classic case study on small business growth published in Harvard Business Review in the 1980s.

For more information, go to Enterprise Appalachia: The Real Story on Ohio’s Taxes.

NOTES

1. Data Source(s): Ohio Department of Development; State of Ohio Department of Taxation, Commerce Clearing House, Federation of Tax Administrators, and each state’s department of taxation and/or revenue.

2. Examples only consider direct state business taxes. The examples do not reflect the application of various local business taxes (i.e., real and personal property tax, local business tax) as well as local service charges and user fees).

3. Case #1: Total sales (i.e., net gross receipts) of $1,000,000; expected profit margin of 5.0%, with 100% of sales in-state; purchase of $500,000 in personal property (required for State of Michigan tax calculations).

4. Case #2: Total sales (i.e., net gross receipts) of $5,000,000; expected profit margin of 5.0%, with 50% of sales in-state and 50% of sales to out-of-state customers; purchase of $1,500,000 in personal property (required for State of Michigan tax calculations). In addition, the State of Ohio Revised Code Section 5751.01 requires the commercial activity tax is paid by all businesses that either:

Have at least $500,000 in taxable gross receipts in Ohio, or;
Have at least $50,000 in property in Ohio, or;
Expend at least $50,000 in payroll for work in Ohio, or;
Have at least 25% of their total property, payroll, or gross receipts in Ohio, or;
Are domiciled in Ohio.