United States Small Business Administration's Role in Small Business Training

Abstract

Dr. George Solomon currently is a member of the staff of the Associate Administrator for Management Assistance and a member of the faculties of George Washington and Georgetown University in the United States. His major role is the development of new counselling and training programmes for small businesses and he is responsible for the formulation and administration of research studies designed to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the SBA's management assistance programmes. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors, International Council for Small Business. Mark Carney is a Management Analyst with the US Small Business Administration and served on the team which conducted the survey this article is based upon.

The SBA, the leader and innovator in small business training and education in the United States, decided in the summer of 1983, to conduct a national overview on the "State of Small Business Training and Education". The intent of this examination was to determine the usefulness and relevance of current programmes and to develop new methods and ideas for meeting the ever-growing future challenges of small business management training and education. In order to accomplish this national study, a multifaceted training overview was developed by the staff of the Office of Management Assistance.