Entrepreneurial Spirit is Alive and Well in Silicon Valley, Business Leaders Tell the Santa Clara University Business Index

Business Wire,  April 27, 2004  

Tags: entrepreneurial, Entrepreneurial Spirit, leader, Santa Clara University

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Business Editors/Education Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 2004

About One-Fifth Are Looking for Capital to Start

New Ventures, as Optimism Grows, Survey Shows

The entrepreneurial spirit lives on in Silicon Valley, despite the economic battering taken by the region in the last four years, reports Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business faculty.

Robert Hendershott, finance professor, said responses to the latest Santa Clara University Business Index survey released today show a healthy interest in starting new companies and in joining fledgling firms among Silicon Valley business leaders.

"About 20 percent of the respondents indicated that an increased availability of venture capital funding would encourage them to launch or expand new opportunities," reported Hendershott, who holds the Henninger Family Fellowship and serves as academic director for SCU's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

"Given the uptick in venture financings at the end of last year, both investors and entrepreneurs should benefit from a convergence of financial and human capital," he predicted. "Valley companies are now seeking to commercialize the best ideas, products and services being developed."

The latest business index survey also showed growing business optimism for the next six months for Bay Area businesses reversing a quarter-long decline in anticipated positive conditions, as measured by the survey conducted each month by Leavey School of Business faculty at Santa Clara University.

Since February 2002, the SCU Business Index has asked managers and executives in a wide range of businesses in Silicon Valley to assess their business prospects for the next six months, and compared to the past six months, as well as current and future availability of jobs in their companies. It is managed for the Leavey School of Business by The Survey Company.

Complete SCU Business Index results and methodology for April and earlier months can be found at www.surveycompany.com/SCUBI/SVOutlook.html.

Media: Finance Professor Robert Hendershott is available for comment on this month's survey results and on business conditions in Silicon Valley. Call 408-554-2162 or 408-554-5126 to arrange an interview.

About the Santa Clara University Business Index

This monthly business indicator, the only one of its kind for the Silicon Valley region, is a composite index that every month tracks business conditions in Silicon Valley companies and their markets, as well as trends in job availability in the region, by polling the region's executives and managers.

About The Leavey School of Business

The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University began in 1926, and was one of the first business schools in the country to receive national accreditation. This month, its MBA program was ranked among the nation's Top Business Schools, and its part-time program was listed in the Top 10. More than 80 percent of its 1,100 MBA students are working professionals in Silicon Valley.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,054 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.

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