Set-Aside Plan Angers Women Business Owners (National Public Radio, Morning Edition, Jan. 10, 2008)
In response to the Small Business Administration’s proposal concerning the reservation of federal contracts in early 2008, women business owners say that their disadvantages extend beyond the four industries at which the proposal is targeted.
Topic: Should the new administration offer incentives for investing in women-owned businesses?
Category: Journalistic- Multimedia presentation
What is it? an audio file accessed from NPR.org
Publication Information: National Public Radio, Morning Edition, Jan. 10, 2008. “Last Word in Business”
Broadcasters: Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep
Location: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17984522
Accessed: March 2, 2009. 19:00 PST
Support:
Small Business Administration- an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns
The Washington Post- a leading source for news and video on politics, national, federal government, foreign policy, business, green issues, etc
Norma Byron- president of the Alexandria-based Ashlawn Group, the country’s only woman-owned munitions designer.
The Washington Post interviewed Norma Byron concerning the SBA’s proposal. Mrs. Byron said she can’t believe the proposal doesn’t consider her company a minority. Byron said she faces gender bias, despite her extensive background in firearms and ammunition.
Audience and Agenda: NPR (National Public Radio) is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming. According to the NPR website, NPR is a privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization, NPR serves a growing audience of 26 million Americans each week in partnership with more than 860 independently operated, noncommercial public radio stations. According to quantcast.com, the NPR.org website receives 2.8 million U.S. visits on a monthly basis. There is an equal amount of women and men visitors.
Usefulness: The federal contract procurement program formulated under the previous administration has essentially been terminated according to the Small Business Administration’s extension on the comment period. The short audio segment from NPR in January 2008 shows how ridiculous the proposed plan was in reality. Even the voice fluctuations of the hosts reveal that the SBA is not applying their resources effectively under the G.W. Bush administration. The audio indicates that there is not enough being done to assist disadvantaged business owners on behalf of the Small Business Administration.
Works Cited:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17984522
http://www.quantcast.com/npr.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9e_Montagne
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4080709
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010601526_pf.html
Filed under: Journalistic Sources, Source Notes
[...] On October 29, 2007, Maryland Senator, Benjamin Cardin, announced before the U.S. One Hundred Tenth Congress on that the Small Business Administration failed to meet any of the small business contracting goals for 2006, including goals for women-owned businesses, which fell well below the five percent objective. In late 2007, the Small Business Administration proposed the “Set-Aside Program” which would reserve federal contracts only for women-owned businesses in four industries that the administration deemed disadvantaged. The amendments to the contracting program were met with fierce resistance from women business owners. [...]
[...] Set-Aside Plan Angers Women Business Owners [...]