THREE-WHEELIN’: TerraTrike employee Brandon Griffin, 29, of Caledonia shows off one of the firm’s creations on a trail through Cascade Township Park near Grand Rapids. TerraTrike is one of the 2013 “50 Companies to Watch” across Michigan. (Bridge photo/Lance Wynn) You can tell a lot about where the state’s economy has been and where it’s […]
Edward Lowe Foundation
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan seeks 'sweet spot' on small businesses
Most new jobs are created by small businesses, right? That’s long been the perception perpetuated by small-business advocates and politicians from the local level on up to the White House. The reality isn’t so neat. While federal statistics show small businesses accounted for 65 percent of all new jobs in the United States between 1993 […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan workers more likely to work for big business — then and now
Michigan has a long-held reputation as a big-business state. But the number of large establishments in the state and the number of workers they employ have dropped significantly since the mid-1990s, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Edward Lowe Foundation in Cassopolis. The Lowe Foundation compiles statistics on small […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Metro Detroit bank, Traverse Bay winery navigate way to 2012 '50 to Watch' list
It isn’t surprising to see computer software, health care and Internet-based companies on a list of up-and-coming companies in Michigan. But a community bank? Wall Street’s meltdown in 2008 wiped out hundreds of banks across the country, including 13 mostly small local banks in Michigan. The banking climate was so bad in Michigan that the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Almost all in 2006 '50 Companies to Watch' still in business
Strathmore Development Co., an East Lansing-based commercial and residential developer, was named to the “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” list in 2006. Times were good, but Strathmore and many other promising companies on that list were about to experience the challenge of their young lives as the U.S. economy nosedived just a year later. “The […]