In the U.S., most college students are familiar with the process of business start-up. Some college students are already small business owners. But in China, most students are busy taking exams and chasing certificates. Business start-up procedures are a remote issue for most graduates. Even if they fail to find a job on graduation, few think about starting a business. Although it goes against the grain of traditional Chinese educational culture, the government and universities need to launch special training programs to educate students about the procedures and principles of small business operation.

Most American small business owners are familiar with SCORE (http://www.score.org/index.html ), known as “Counselors to America’s Small Business.” Founded in 1964 as the “Service Corps of Retired Executives”, SCORE has 11,200 volunteers nationwide in the U.S., and more than 8.4 million entrepreneurs have been counseled by SCORE or attended SCORE workshops. Working and retired executives and business owners donate their time and expertise as business counselors. This is a model that China could follow by promoting a volunteer culture and involving retired executives helping educate those who are willing to set up a business and start out as entrepreneurs.

Small business should be encouraged to participate in research and development (R&D) projects. The Intuit Future of Small Business Report, written by Emergent Research, concludes that innovation will be essential for small businesses over the next decade. Small business owners are natural innovators. Compared to large corporations small businesses have advantages that enable them to identify opportunities, react quickly to changing conditions and remain competitive. Chinese small-business owners, with their well-known intelligence and capability, are well positioned to innovate. Chinese government agencies should encourage small businesses to innovate.

Small businesses account for a large and growing percentage of new jobs created in China. If China’s small businesses grow at a healthy pace, unemployment will be significantly reduced, and sustainable economic growth will become more achievable. If small businesses make a greater contribution to technological innovation, then China’s competitiveness will be put on solid foundations, and if small businesses support the stability of large corporations, job creation will become less of an issue for the government. We understand that this is a tough time for small businesses, but we also believe that making small business strong is more important now than ever. If there was ever a time to develop a national strategy to help small business flourish in China, it is 2009. The time is now.

Dr Zhang Lijuan is the Fulbright Scholar (1997-1999) and professor at School of Economics, Shandong University.