Madagascar Development

When small-business owners start looking for money to expand, they often begin at a big bank. The banks are highly visible, well-known and often nearby. But many small-business owners report that they have struggled to get loans in the wake of the economic downturn. Ami Kassar, CEO of the small-business-loan broker multifunding.com , advises business owners that large banks are "not the best place to start" when looking for a small-business loan. Kassar has created bankinggrades.com , a website that gives every FDIC-insured bank in the nation a grade based on how many small-business loans it makes. He used data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to create the site, designed to help small-business owners find the best loan. Turned Down Cold Patricia and Jim McGrath own Branches Atelier, a preschool in Santa Monica, Calif. Their existing space had grown too small and they wanted to expand. Late last year they found the perfect site, but they needed a loan to buy ...

The Location Quotient Technique is the most commonly utilized economic base analysis method. It was developed in part to offer a slightly more complex model to the variety of analytical tools available to economic base analysts. This technique compares the local economy to a reference economy, in the process attempting to identify specializations in the local economy. The location quotient technique is based upon a calculated ratio between the local economy and the economy of some reference unit. This ratio, called an industry " location quotient " gives this technique its name. Unlike the Assumption Technique , the Location Quotient Technique does not assume that ALL employment in each industry is Basic or Non-Basic. Instead, location quotients are calculated for all industries to determine whether or not the local economy has a greater share of each industry than expected when compared to a reference economy. If an industry has a greater share than expected o...