Office of Public Affairs
(315) 312-2265
Nov. 5, 2003
CONTACT: Dr. Sarfraz Mian, 312-3154
PROFESSOR OFFERS EXPERTISE ON JOB CREATION
OSWEGO -- Dr. Sarfraz Mian's expertise in small and
medium enterprises as engines for economic growth and new job creation
has him in demand around the world, but the professor of management at
SUNY Oswego would like to apply his expertise locally.
Mian says he sees tremendous need and tremendous
potential in a region experiencing marked decline in manufacturing jobs
that is also home to a college with a recognized School of Business.
The school's forward-looking faculty and its new partnership with the
Center for Business and Community Development in Rich Hall, he argues,
hold opportunity for economic revitalization in Oswego County.
"Just this year, Dr. Mian has had 13 invited
appearances and consulting engagements from as far as Mexico, Canada,
Pakistan and two recent invitations from Germany," says Dr. Paula
Bobrowski, chair of the marketing and management department.
Mian will spend two months this summer at the
University of Osnabrueck in Germany participating in teaching, research
and conferences related to new venture creation. SUNY Oswego has a
10-year-old exchange agreement with the University of Osnabrueck.
Two other institutions in Germany have invited him
to share his expertise while he is there -- the University of
Regensburg and Humboldt University's Institute for Entrepreneurship
Studies and Innovation Management in Berlin.
"They want to learn about my research with NAFTA,"
the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mian says.
"We need jobs in developing countries and in
developed countries, too," he says. "New venture creation is the
burning issue in this area. I think Oswego could be a good place to
have something like that to develop the economy.
"That's an American trait -- to start your own
business and be free and independent," he continues. "We can cultivate
that spark and develop a community that can see the opportunity and
pull it together. If we can attract people here and keep them here,
they can do wonders."
Mian argues for private-public partnerships. "It is
the public sector who has the interest of the people in mind and who
can take the larger view," he says. He cites the need for "a rallying
focal point where people can cluster" and concludes that "the best
place is an educational institution."
The symbolic clustering place he envisions might be
the Business Commons that is part of the plan for Rich Hall, says Nancy
Bellow, director of the Center for Business and Community Development.
Located in the same building since August, the
School of Business and her center have been meeting monthly to identify
how the center can bring the experience of area businesspeople to
benefit the school's academic programs and how Oswego's business
faculty can help develop local business and economic activity, Bellow
says.
Mian envisions a partnership that will link the
knowledge base of the college with the available community resources to
create "a sustainable entrepreneurial development system."
As one step in that direction, the school began
offering a graduate course in entrepreneurship two years ago.
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