Small business combat.

• Author: Nye, Janet
• Position: Alaska - Celebrating Small Business

IN ALASKA, SMALL BUSINESSES constitute more than 97 percent of the businesses currently operating. Small business also represents an important part of the nation's economy.

But most small businesses have a difficult time surviving. National figures indicate that 80 percent of all small businesses fail within five years. Although many factors such as inflation, economic recession, and high interest rates contribute to this depressing statistic, most small businesses fail because of poor management.

From the University of Alaska Small Business Development Center's contact with the small-business community, the staff has inferred that the failure rate of small businesses is significantly less than 80 percent here in Alaska. Statistical informational gathering on small businesses in Alaska is limited, however. Many recent national studies indicate that the failure figures are closer to 60 percent in the first five years. These studies tend to take into consideration a more comprehensive database and seem to correspond to our Alaskan figures.

Although not new or startling facts for those of us involved with the small-business community, we tend to operate under the often-stated misconception that our small-business problems are different from those experienced in the Lower 48. This simply is not true.

The goal of the 1989 Governor's Conference on Small Business, which concluded with a September statewide meeting, was to clearly define and to seek solutions for the top 20 economic impediments faced by small-business entrepreneurs in 12 categories: economic policy, education/training, environment/waste, finance, government competition, insurance/bonding, international trade, payroll costs/benefits, procurement, regulation/paperwork, taxation and transportation/marketing.

Through its regional gatherings and subsequent statewide conference, the Governor's Conference on Small Business identified several issues of concern for small businesses throughout the state. But it found that Alaska small businesses have the same problems with different twists - as those of small businesses in the Lower 48. Some examples follow.

Small business opposes the practice of state-contracted services and/or products being purchased out of state. It supports legislation requiring state-funded purchases of products and or services to be awarded to in-state business. This concern came out at each of the individual regional small-business conferences conducted in Alaska and...