Survey to Outline Businesses’ Concerns

Results of a first-of-its-kind survey on the status of small business in Southern California will be published next Wednesday by The Times and discussed at the Small Business Strategies Conference in October.

Foremost among the results is that most small businesses feel government regulation is slowing their growth, said William Gartner, professor of entrepreneurship at USC, who conducted the survey.

Co-sponsored by The Times and USC, the survey sampled 30,000 randomly chosen small businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.

“There are a lot of hindrances government puts on small business that prevent their growth,” Gartner said. “I think policymakers are going to think the results are fairly powerful if they want to retain and grow small businesses in their communities.”

The survey will be discussed at the conference by a panel of economists at 9:45 a.m. Oct. 17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Other panel members include Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles Development Corp., and Liam McGee, president of Bank of America’s operations in Southern California.

The discussion of the survey is among about 40 speeches, panels and workshops scheduled during the inaugural two-day conference geared toward helping small businesses succeed.

Other topics include technology, financing, growth planning, marketing, management and entrepreneurship.

Registration is $99 for both days and $70 for one day. For more information, call (800) 350-3211 or visit the conference’s Web site at http://shop.nohib.com./sbsc.

Exhibition space is also available by calling (213) 237-3042.