Books
Wendy Beech, BLACK ENTERPRISE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS (1999).
Abstract (from publisher): This book offers essential, timely advice on all aspects of entrepreneurship, including defining and protecting a business idea, researching the industry and the competition, confronting legal issues, choosing a good location, financing, and advertising. You'll even learn how to make the most of the Internet by establishing a Web presence. Plus, you'll hear from black entrepreneurs who persevered in the face of seemingly unbeatable odds and have now joined the ranks of incredibly successful black business owners. This exceptional reference tool also includes: The ten qualities you must possess to be a successful entrepreneur. A list of helpful resources at the end of every chapter.
Flournoy A. Coles, Black Economic Development (1975).
Ethnic Communities in Business: Strategies for Economic Survival (Robin Ward & Richard Jenkins eds., 2010).
Abstract (from Amazon.com): Originally published in 1984, this book was the first broad review of the development of business among ethnic minorities in Britain. Chapters describing business performance among established groups such as Jews and Italians were accompanied by accounts of business development among minorities from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. Reviews of parallel trends in the United States and Western Europe underlined the important role of ethnic businesses in capitalist societies as a whole. At the time, ways of encouraging business development among minorities were raising important questions. Was this the way to give new life to the economy in the inner city? Could involvement in business provide opportunities for economic advance and increase stability in ethnic communities? Or was it simply an attempt to make the best of the increasingly marginal social and economic situation in which they found themselves in the 1980s? This book allowed for a clearer assessment of ethnic business development as a strategy for economic survival.
Entrepreneurship Education in Asia (Hugh Thomas & Donna Kelley eds., 2011).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): The continuing success of the Asian Miracle relies on an entrepreneurial revolution that has increased the productivity and flexibility of economies across the region. Yet this revolution has largely been necessity-driven, traditional and vulnerable to erosion as the region becomes increasingly prosperous and well educated. How to educate the next wave of entrepreneurs is a pressing Asian question that resonates around the world and is the subject of this volume. Hugh Thomas and Donna Kelley draw on 24 scholars from 15 institutions to report on regional entrepreneurship education. They identify problems encountered by educators and describe solutions that stimulate students to create value. The approaches are hands-on, project-based and multidisciplinary, geared to develop educator-to-business entrepreneurial ecosystems. The entrepreneurial programs described in this book involve experiencing foreign cultures, working with major corporations, consulting to small and medium sized enterprises, travelling to distant lands, addressing environmental and social problems, and reaching out to the disadvantaged. Social entrepreneurship is combined with for-profit entrepreneurship in programs that extend the concept of value creation. This book eloquently and expertly describes how entrepreneurship education – whether in Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, China or elsewhere on the globe – can combine with community to help youth create a better world.
Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, RACE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS: BLACK-, ASIAN-, AND WHITE-OWNED BUSINESSES IN THE UNITED STATES (2008).
Abstract (from publisher): This book examines racial disparities in business performance. Drawing on the rarely used, restricted-access Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) dataset compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, Fairlie and Robb examine in particular why Asian-owned firms perform well in comparison to white-owned businesses and black-owned firms typically do not. They also explore the broader question of why some entrepreneurs are successful and others are not. After providing new comprehensive estimates of recent trends in minority business ownership and performance, the authors examine the importance of human capital, financial capital, and family business background in successful business ownership. They find that a high level of startup capital is the most important factor contributing to the success of Asian-owned businesses, and that the lack of startup money for black businesses (attributable to the fact that nearly half of all black families have less than $6,000 in total wealth) contributes to their relative lack of success. In addition, higher education levels among Asian business owners explain much of their success relative to both white- and African American-owned businesses. Finally, Fairlie and Robb find that black entrepreneurs have fewer opportunities than white entrepreneurs to acquire valuable pre-business work experience through working in family businesses.
Joe R. Feagin & Nikitah Imani, Racial Barriers to African American Entrepreneurship: An Exploratory Study, 41 Soc. Probs. 562 (1994).
Sati Umaru Fwatshak, African Entrepreneurship in Jos, Central Nigeria, 1902-1985 (2011).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book recognizes the historic roles of African/Nigerian entrepreneurs in the economic development of Jos, in Nigeria’s central region, from the colonial period to 1985. It provides a comparative analysis of African/Nigerian enterprises (private and public) and foreign enterprises. The book also analyzes entrepreneurship theories as an aspect of the history of economic thought and surveys African entrepreneurship in the context of scholarly research traditions. It is the first major study of the business history of Jos, which identifies general and specific business lines and their owners. The book uses historical methodology, and it consults a wide range of primary and secondary source materials. Fwatshak analyzes different sources using the multi-disciplinary research tradition.
Steven J. Gold, The Store in the Hood: A Century of Ethnic Business and Conflict (2011).
Abstract (from Amazon.com): This book develops a more nuanced understanding by exploring merchant/customer conflicts over the past hundred years across a wide range of ethnic groups and settings. Utilizing published research, official statistics, interviews, and ethnographic data collected from diverse locations, the book reveals how powerful groups and institutions have shaped the environments in which merchant/customer conflicts occur. These conflicts must be seen as products of the larger society's values, policies and structures, not solely as a consequence of actions by immigrants, the urban poor, and other marginal groups.
Earl G. Graves, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White: Straight Talk on Making it in America (1998).
Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): Nationally recognized authority on black business development Earl G. Graves pulls no punches in his honest and inspirational new book, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America. Aimed directly at African Americans struggling with the White-dominated corporate world, it presents a profusion of helpful suggestions drawn from Graves's 26 years experience as publisher of Black Enterprise magazine and a leader in numerous other minority-oriented business projects.
Leonard Greenhalgh & James Lowry, Minority Business Success: Refocusing on the American Dream (2011).
Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): In this important and path-breaking book, the authors focus especially on the need for and ways to facilitate the growth of minority-owned businesses, not only to ensure minorities' full participation in American economic success, but also to help assure that outcome. Their hard-headed analysis and recommendations deserve the full attention of citizens and policymakers at this critical juncture in the nation's history.
Joshua D. Griffiths, Minority Business Ownership: Characteristics and Issues (2011).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): Minority business enterprises are an engine of employment growth and economic expansion in America. Although the number of minority firms continued to increase at a fast rate between 1997 and 2002 their growth rate in gross receipts has lagged behind their growth in number of firms. This new book analyzes minority businesses to identify trends that may have impacted their performance and examines some of the challenges minorities may be facing in growing their businesses
Wendy Harris, Against All Odds: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Followed Their Hearts and Found Success (2001).
Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): Discover the compelling true stories of African-American men and women who beat the odds to become some of today’s most successful black entrepreneurs. In a series of intimate profiles, journalist/author Wendy Harris details the paths they traveled, the obstacles they overcame, and the important lessons they learned along the way about what it takes to succeed in business.
Joy Kooi-Chin Tong, Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China (2012).
Abstract (from publisher): Inspired by Max Weber’s thesis on the Protestant ethic, ‘Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China’ sets out to understand the role and influence of Christianity on Overseas Chinese businesspeople working in contemporary China. Through its in-depth interviews and participant observations (involving 60 Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the United States), the text discusses how Christianity has come to fulfill an increasingly visible and dynamic function in the country, most notably as a new source of business morality. Recognizing that China’s economic transition toward a market-oriented economy was not initiated by Christians (or indeed any other religious group), this volume demonstrates the importance of exploring the impact of religious ethics on economics at micro and organizational levels, via the subjective understandings of individuals and small businesses. Significant but often neglected facets of Weber’s thesis arise as a result. Of key importance is the issue of gender differences within the Christian ethos – a crucial aspect of the Protestant ethic that has yet to be systematically studied, but which offers great potential to enhance our understanding of Weber’s work. As a result, the text’s novel application of Weberian sociology to the context of contemporary China can be seen to offer a double return, elucidating both the theory and its subject.
Marilyn L. Kourilsky et al., THE ENTREPRENEUR IN YOUTH (2007).
Abstract: This book offers an assessment of African American, Latino, and white high school students’ aspirations, knowledge, opinions and educational views related to entrepreneurship and philanthropy. A key strength is its longitudinal approach to analysis and interpretations, made possible by extensive surveys of over 11,000 respondents from high school youth and other groups, including adults and business owners. The key findings exhibit an extraordinarily high level of interest in entrepreneurship among youth as well as a strong desire to give back to their communities. However, they lack the knowledge and experience to achieve their aspirations.
Chan Kwok-bun & Chan Wai-wan, Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs (2011).
Abstract (from publisher): From nomadic traders in the ancient world to peddlers on the American frontier, the immigrant entrepreneur is a timeless figure. In our current age of globalization and multinational corporations, however, this experience is complicated by patterns of adaptation and transformation, relocation and re-invention. Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs draws extensively on the narratives of sixteen small-to-medium business owners, born on the mainland, who have immigrated to Hong Kong and returned to China to establish their enterprises. For these executives, business and social life alike are marked by constant interplay of identities, such as individual identity/group membership and ancestral/immigrant identity. Yet as often as this juggling of these “selves” can be beneficial in the economic sphere, it can also lead to feelings of rootlessness and alienation. Writing with rare sensitivity, the authors synthesize insights from economic sociology, psychology, ethnic relations, and social networks, creating an exploration of social capital and social identity comparable to similar groups of businessmen and –women in other areas of the world.
Melvin L. Oliver & Thomas M. Shapiro, Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States (2010).
Abstract (from Amazon.com): Thirteen million people in the United States—roughly one in ten workers—own a business. And yet rates of business ownership among African Americans are much lower and have been so during the last 100 years. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, businesses owned by African Americans tend to have lower sales, fewer employees and smaller payrolls, lower profits, and higher closure rates. In contrast, Asian American-owned businesses tend to be more successful. In Race and Entrepreneurial Success, minority entrepreneurship authorities Robert Fairlie and Alicia Robb examine racial disparities in business performance. Drawing on the rarely used, restricted-access Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) data set compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, Fairlie and Robb examine in particular why Asian-owned firms perform well in comparison to White-owned businesses and Black-owned firms typically do not. They also explore the broader question of why some entrepreneurs are successful and others are not.
Paul D. Reynolds & Sammis B. White, The Entrepreneurial Process: Economic Growth, Men, Women, and Minorities (1997).
Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): Entrepreneurship is an extremely important, but little understood, component of the U.S. economy. This book aids that understanding by exploring the challenges and outcomes of the start-up phases of new firms. This is the first detailed, large-scale, longitudinally-based analysis of the entrepreneurial process. Three representative samples of new firms and two representative samples of nascent entrepreneurs (those attempting to start new firms) are used to consider a variety of factors that affect successful completion of the major transitions in the life of new businesses: conception, birth, and early development (survival and growth). Surprisingly, a substantial minority of start-ups become operational new firms. Among the many lessons the authors learn are that although new firm growth appears to reflect many factors, initial size is of special consequence. Not only are many general insights for entrepreneurs revealed, but the authors also pay special attention to the involvement of women and minorities in entrepreneurship and suggest effective government policy for different stages in the entrepreneurial process.
W. Sherman Rogers, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ENTREPRENEUR: THEN AND NOW (2010).
Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com): African American entrepreneurship has been an integral part of the American economy since the 1600s. Besides providing a glimpse into the world of black entrepreneurship both past and present, this book urges African Americans to gain financial independence as entrepreneurs. The book explores the lower economic status of black Americans in light of America's legacy of slavery, segregation, and rampant discrimination. Its main purpose is to shine a light on the legal, historical, sociological and political factors that together help to explain the economic condition of black people in America from their arrival in America to the present. In the process, the book spotlights the many breakthroughs made by black entrepreneurs even before the Civil War and Emancipation.
Alexander Shvarts, Russian Transnational Entrepreneurs: Ethnicity, Class, and Capital (2011).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): How have immigrants, who grew up in a state-controlled communist system, learned to become so adept at starting businesses in the North American market economy? This book follows the emergence of successful cosmopolitan entrepreneurs after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Through an analysis of interview data and biographies of entrepreneurs, Dr. Alexander Shvarts uncovers five diverse paths to self-employment for Russian immigrants, which are shaped by transitional economy, ethnic and class dimensions of entrepreneurship, and transnationalism.
Patricia Carter Sluby, The Entrepreneurial Spirit of African American Inventors (2011).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): Successful entrepreneurs and inventors share valuable characteristics like self-confidence, perseverance, and the ability to conceptualize unrealized solutions or opportunities. However, another personality trait has been required for African Americans wishing to become business owners, creative thinkers, or patent holders: a willingness to overcome the additional barriers placed before them because of their race, especially in the era before civil rights. The Entrepreneurial Spirit of African American Inventors provides historical accounts of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship among black Americans, from the 19th century to the present day. The author examines how these individuals stimulated industry, business activity, and research, helping shape the world as we know it and setting the precedent for the minority business tradition in the United States. This book also sheds light on fascinating advances made in metallurgy, medicine, architecture, and other fields that supply further examples of scientific inquiry and business acumen among African Americans.
Glenice J. Wood et al., Minorities in Entrepreneurship: An International Review (2012).
Abstract (adapted from publisher): Although there is an expanding body of literature on the characteristics, aspirations, motivations, challenges and barriers of mainstream entrepreneurs, relatively little is known about whether these findings can be applied to the entrepreneurial activities of minority groups. This book addresses this short-fall and presents an international review of the characteristics, motivations and obstacles of eight minority groups: younger; older; women; ethnic; immigrant; lesbian, gay and bisexual; disabled; and indigenous entrepreneurs. The expert contributors discover enormous variability between these minority groups, such as in the motivators that either ‘pushed’ or ‘pulled’ individuals into an entrepreneurial venture, as well as diverse attitudes toward ‘success’: some groups wanted to achieve financial security – others wanted to enhance their sense of self-worth, or to change existing social and economic circumstances. However, some striking similarities were noted: initial disadvantage often created a powerful impetus to starting up a business venture, and accessing finance was extremely difficult for many. Including comparative cross cultural data and case studies on the various minority groups reviewed, both post graduate students and undergraduate students studying entrepreneurship will find this book an invaluable resource.
Zulema Valdez, The New Entrepreneurs: How Race, Class, and Gender shape American Enterprise (2011).
Abstract (from Amazon.com): With a focus on a diverse group of Latino entrepreneurs, this book explores how class, gender, race, and ethnicity all shape Latino entrepreneurs' capacity to succeed in business in the United States.
Bringing intersectionality into conversation with theories of ethnic entrepreneurship, the author considers how various factors create, maintain, and transform the social and economic lives of Latino entrepreneurs. While certain group identities may impose unequal, if not discriminatory, starting positions, membership in these same social groups can provide opportunities to mobilize resources together. The Author reveals how Latino entrepreneurs—as members of oppressed groups on the one hand, yet "rugged individualists" striving for the American Dream on the other—work to recreate their own positions within American society.
Robert Weems & Lewis Randolph, BUSINESS IN BLACK AND WHITE: AMERICAN PRESIDENTS AND BLACK ENTREPRENEURS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (2009).
Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com): This book provides a panoramic discussion of various initiatives that American presidents have supported to promote black business development in the United States. Drawn from a variety of sources, the book illustrates how every administration since Coolidge has addressed the subject of black business development, from campaign promises to initiatives to roadblocks. Although the government's influence on black business dwindled during the Eisenhower Administration, the author points out that the subject was reinvigorated during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations and during the early-to-mid 1960s, when “civil rights” included the right to own and operate commercial enterprises.
Michael D. Woodard, Black Entrepreneurs in America: Stories of Struggle and Success (1998).
Abstract (from Publishers Weekly): This concise study of recent trends in black entrepreneurship, with its excellent historical summary, asks two questions: "Why has it taken so long?" and "Why is it still so hard?" Indeed, even in antebellum America, blacks owned prosperous businesses serving predominantly white clientele, while industrious slaves maintained small businesses in their free time (time for which they had to pay their masters). Between 1820 and 1830, Philadelphia's sail-making industry was controlled by African Americans, as was Cincinnati's largest provisions dealer in 1850. All might have progressed nicely had not the Supreme Court ruled for racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.
Articles
Robert L. Boyd, The Northern ‘Black Metropolis’ of the Early Twentieth Century: A Reappraisal, 81 Soc. Inquiry 88 (2011).
Abstract: The new perspective of the 'Black Metropolis' implies that conditions created by the Great Migration helped blacks in northern cities to establish themselves in professional, entrepreneurial, and artistic, entertainment and mass media occupations. The present study evaluates this argument with Census data, focusing on the nation's largest black communities, Harlem (New York) and Bronzeville (Chicago), at time points that capture the first wave of the Great Migration. Contrary to expectations, the odds of black employment in the aforesaid occupations declined or remained essentially unchanged in both communities over the study period. Harlem and Bronzeville were surprisingly limited in their potential to offer opportunities for blacks to become professionals, entrepreneurs, and artists, entertainers and writers, perhaps because these communities were saturated by the tremendous influx from the South. Accordingly, it is recommended that the Black Metropolis perspective be modified, to provide a more accurate view of the consequences of the Great Migration.
Aaron Chatterji, Kenneth Y. Chay & Robert W. Fairlie, The Impact of City Contracting Set-Asides on Black Self-Employment and Employment (CESifo Working Paper Series, No. 4182, 2013), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2251777.
Abstract (by authors): In the 1980s, many U.S. cities initiated programs reserving a proportion of government contracts for minority-owned businesses. The staggered introduction of these set-aside programs is used to estimate their impacts on the self-employment and employment rates of African-American men. Black business ownership rates increased significantly after program initiation, with the black-white gap falling three percentage points. The evidence that the racial gap in employment also fell is less clear as it is depends on assumptions about the continuation of pre-existing trends. The black gains were concentrated in industries heavily affected by set-asides and mostly benefited the better educated.
Frances Chiang, Angeline Low & Jock Collins, Two Sets of Business Cards: Responses of Chinese Immigrant Women Entrepreneurs in Canada and Australia to Sexism and Racism, 5 Cosmopolitan Civ. Societies 63 (2013).
Abstract (by authors): Existing entrepreneurial discourses have been dominated by white middle-class androcentric approach, giving little space to the discussions of racism and sexism experienced by minority women entrepreneurs. This paper aims to fill this gap through an examination of the experiences of Asian immigrant women entrepreneurs in Canada and Australia using an intersectional approach. The key research question addressed in the paper is to what extent, and in what ways, do racism and sexism impact on the entrepreneurial experiences of Asian immigrant women entrepreneurs and what strategies do they use in managing discrimination to protect themselves and their businesses? Four main strategies were derived from our findings, namely, creating a comfortable niche, playing the mainstream card, swallowing the pain, and resisting.
Flournoy A. Coles, Financial Institutions and Black Entrepreneurship, 3 J. Black Stud. 329 (1973).
Scott Cummings, African American Entrepreneurship in the Suburbs: Protected Markets and Enclave Business Development, 65(1) J. Am. Plan. Ass’n 50 (1999).
Abstract (from EBSCO): Presents a study which compared the results of business performance among African American entrepreneurs located in cities and in suburbs in United States. Methodology of the study; Results and discussion; Conclusion.
Frank P. DeCaro, Nicole DeCaro & Frances O. Bowen Thompson, An Examination of Leadership Styles of Minority Business Entrepreneurs: A Case Study of Public Contracts, 16 J. Bus. & Econ. Stud. 72 (2011).
Abstract: The research on gender and entrepreneurship has been conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries; therefore research findings may not be valid for other countries and contexts due to differences in economic, institutional and cultural characteristics. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of gender effects on entrepreneurship and factors underlying possible gender differences in entrepreneurship in a sample of 501 Bulgarian entrepreneurs. Data was collected by structured interviews and analyzed by means of regression in which a number of independent variables are controlled for. As in other countries and contexts, Bulgarian female entrepreneurs are less likely to exhibit entrepreneurial intentions than their male counterparts even after controlling for a number of characteristics of the entrepreneur, firm, and environment. Gender differences in firm size, legal form, personnel, and sector account for gender differences in entrepreneurship. The paper provides some policy implications and places the current results in respect to future research.
Jamie Dimon, Minority Entrepreneurs Are a Big Part of Detroit’s Comeback, Black Enterprise, (May 23, 2016, http://www.blackenterprise.com/small-business/minority-entrepreneurs-a-big-part-of-detroits-comeback.
Abstract (from publisher): This article provides information regarding the key role played by small and black business enterprises in uplifting the economic condition in Detroit, Michigan. It discusses several critical factors including millennials and immigrants in the area as well as JPMorgan Chase's $100 million investment to help businesses grow in Detroit.
José Ernesto Amorós, Cristobal Fernández & Juan Tapia, Quantifying the Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness Development Stages in Latin America, 8 Int’l Entrepren. & Mgmt. J. 249 (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2121978.
Abstract (adapted from authors): This research aims to quantify the importance of a country’s entrepreneurship level in terms of its competitiveness rates. The authors' hypothesis is that those countries entrepreneurship growth rates increase their competitiveness indicators and that this entrepreneurial improvement could be a key factor in reaching the next stage of development. The authors establish this relationship using a longitudinal database of Latin American countries that participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Global Competitiveness Reports of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2001 to 2006. GEM and WEF construct aggregated indexes using several variables to rate each country’s entrepreneurship activity and competitiveness development. The authors use a discriminant analysis to identify various countries’ competitiveness subgroups and show how each country’s entrepreneurship rates have weight in different stages of competitiveness, placing a special emphasis on Latin America. The results suggest that Latin American countries need to gain entrepreneurial dynamics and economic (and competitiveness) development by transforming their typical self-employment or low value-added new ventures for local markets into strong, innovative networked firms competing globally. Some management and policy implications are also discussed.
Robert W. Fairlie, Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity 1996-2010(University of California Institute for the Study of Labor, 2011), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1780284.
Abstract (adapted from author): The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity is a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States. Capturing new business owners in their first month of significant business activity, this measure provides the earliest documentation of new business development across the country. The percentage of the adult, non-business-owner population that starts a business each month is measured using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). In addition to this overall rate of entrepreneurial activity, separate estimates for specific demographic groups, states, and select metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are presented. The Index provides the only national measure of business creation by specific demographic groups. New 2010 data allow for an update to previous reports, with consideration of trends in the rates of entrepreneurial activity over the fifteen-year period between 1996 and 2010. The Kauffman Index reveals important shifts in the national level of entrepreneurial activity, and shifts in the demographic and geographic composition of new entrepreneurs across the country.
David M. Hart, Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Internalization and Globalization of Successful High-Tech U.S. Start-Ups (George Mason University School of Public Policy Research Paper, No. 15, 2011), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1801324.
Abstract (from author): Immigrant entrepreneurs play an important role in the U.S. high-tech sector and may advance the country’s collaborative advantage through internationalization and globalization of start-ups. This study explores whether immigrant founding of U.S. high-tech firms, conditional on survival and sustained growth, contributes to their pursuing internationalized or globalized strategies. The strategies are defined with regard to their acquisition and deployment of financial, human, and social capital across a single border (for international strategies) or multiple borders spanning geographically-dispersed and culturally-diverse countries (for globalized strategies). A set of twelve matched-firm case studies across four high-tech sectors form the main data source along with a survey sample of approximately 1300 successful high-tech firms. The authors find that native-founded firms in our case study group were as likely as immigrant-founded firms to pursue internationalized strategies, but the immigrant-founded firms appeared more likely to adopt such strategies earlier in their history and were more likely to set up substantial operations outside the U.S., rather than partnerships or marketing arrangements.
Maj. Thomas Jefferson Hasty III, Minority Business Enterprise Development and the Small Business Administration's 8(a) Program: Past, Present, and (Is there a) Future?, 145 Mil. L. Rev. 1 (1994).
Abstract: The 8(a) program has provided many benefits to minority entrepreneurs. For example, as a result of 8(a) program participation, many firms have been created that would not otherwise have had the resources to go into business. Additionally, many firms have stayed in business because of 8(a) program support, while others have increased sales and income, resolved bonding problems, and improved credit capabilities. However, almost from its inception, the 8(a) program has been plagued with major problems and controversy concerning its administration. These problems prompted the often-cited phrase that "the 8(a) program has done too much for too few for too long."
Melanie Knight, “New Markets Must be Conquered”: Race, Gender, and the Embodiment of Entrepreneurship within Texts, 57 Can. Geographer 345 (2013).
Abstract (by author): The past decade has seen an exponential growth of postsecondary entrepreneurship programs. This article focuses on curriculum and training materials as they enable an analysis of the nuanced ways in which entrepreneurship and “the enterprising” are conceptualized, and how texts inform future entrepreneurs to embody the language of entrepreneurship. The author situates this article within the fields of sociology, entrepreneurship education, and geography and bring a spatial analysis of race, gender, and class to a normally non-spatial area of study. Although the enterprising discourse is perceived as race, gender, and class neutral, the management and self-discipline required serve to legitimize a White, male, liberal, able-bodied subject. Whiteness is also upheld through the privileging of abstract thinking, mobility, and the mapping of Other space. Meanwhile, entrepreneurship defined as the art of exploiting opportunities and as a creative destruction of space presents a very linear understanding of place, space, and community, de-historicizing and decontextualizing entrepreneurship; and perpetuating a colonial, imperialist view of entrepreneurship which serves to uphold a universal, unmarked, white subject. This critique aims to allow for an understanding of the complexity of entrepreneurship, space, community, and subjectivity.
Vernon Johnson, Coloureds and Indians in South Africa: Two Kinds of Middleman Minorities (Western Political Science Association 2011 Annual Meeting Paper), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1766639.
Abstract: There is a broad literature on middleman minorities, beginning in the 1940s to demystify the intermediary economic niche that Jews had occupied in medieval Europe (Becker,1940; Rinder, 1958). In the 1960s scholars began to systematically apply the middleman minority theory to colonial societies (Blaylock, 1967; Hamilton, 1972); and to American society (Bonacich, 1973; Kitano, 1974). South African Indians and Coloureds are also middleman minorities. In previous research I have argued that there are certain characteristics of the economic and also, cultural location of Coloureds in South Africa that differ from the classical middleman norm. Instead of the classical ethnic entrepreneur prominent in the literature, I found Coloured South Africans to be a semi-privileged proletariat (Johnson, 2009). A typology contrasting ethnic entrepreneurs to semi-privileged proletarians as different types of middleman minorities was also offered. This paper seeks to demonstrate that the earlier identification of these two types of middlemen was too simplistic. Using the ideal types of ethnic entrepreneur and semi-privileged proletariat heuristically, the paper seeks to move away from essentialist categories and add sophistication to our understanding of minorities in the middle, particularly in the post-settler colonial world. In doing so, it will compare and contrast the experiences of Coloureds and Indians in South Africa
Pou Khosii, Institutional Shackles to Entrepreneurial Development Among the Ethnic Groups in Northeast India: A Study on Entrepreneurial Environment in Poumai Naga Ethnic Group (North-Eastern Hill University – Department of Economics, 2010), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1728028.
Abstract: The continuing underdevelopment of the Ethnic Groups in North East India in the face of fast growing Indian economy needs a critical study on various aspects of the Ethnic economic behavior in relation to socio-cultural environment, which not only envelops them but also determines their economic decision choice. The question of why the Ethnic Groups of North East India continue to remain underdeveloped has been at the center of recent debates but they are mostly centered around insurgency, government’s failures, physical and monetary factors, and other economic factors. Entrepreneurship is something new or alien to these ethnic groups and its issues are hardly studied at ethnic level, though entrepreneur is widely agreed as the prime driver of economic progress and development. The study attempts to identify and examine those social-cultural and attitudinal elements of the Poumai Naga Ethnic Group which inhibit them from seizing opportunities available to them and successfully go through various self-employment activities or manage the ongoing small retail businesses. The over all institutional environment indicates the following characteristic features; (1) persistent, complacent and contended economic behavior, (2) lack of basic business skills, (3) indifferent social attitude towards entrepreneurs and social stigmatization of unsuccessful businessmen, (4) lack of social support to and encouragement for entrepreneurship, (5) very high cost village financing and (6) lack of successful entrepreneurial role model in village.
John Luiz & Martine Mariotti, Entrepreneurship in an Emerging and Culturally Diverse Economy: A South African Perspective, 14 S. African J. Econ. & Mgmt. Sci. (2011).
Abstract: Of all the developing countries that participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey, South Africa was ranked the lowest, in terms of entrepreneurial activity. It is clear that South Africa is not producing a sufficiently entrepreneurial economy and this needs to be addressed so as to create employment, expand markets, increase production and revitalize communities. This paper examines the entrepreneurial traits of a diverse group of young adults in South Africa. It looks at their attitudes towards and perceptions of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial opportunities and the broader environment in an attempt to clarify how South Africans view entrepreneurship.
Zola K. Moon et al., Human Capital Attributes of Hispanic Immigrant Entrepreneurs in a New Destination State, 12 J. Hisp. Higher Educ. 369 (2013).
Abstract (by authors): This article describes a survey of Hispanic immigrant entrepreneurs in a New Destination state. Results focus on the human capital, educational aspirations, and motivations. Findings challenge the idea that most Hispanic immigrants start-up businesses because of limited human capital, discrimination, or blocked opportunities in the workforce. Rather, these entrepreneurs leverage accumulated human capital in the form of education, experience, and personal initiative, and express strong interest in continuing education though not necessarily formal higher education.
Isabel Morais, African Female Nascent Entrepreneurship in the Macao S.A.R, 43 Urb. Anthropology & Stud. Cultural Sys. & World Econ. Dev. 57 (2014).
Abstract (by author): African women from different countries and social classes, from those seeking refugee status to diplomats and peasants’ daughters, have been arriving in increasing numbers on Chinese shores since the 1980s. The amazing stories of some of these “invisible” but dynamic women have been ignored, yet they reveal great diversity and deserve scholarly attention, as they provide rich material for studies on the African diaspora in China. This article focuses on African migration to Macao, a former Portuguese colony and primary migration destination in the Pearl Delta River Region, which currently hosts the densest African population in China. It explores both the more recent and the relatively longer-term migration of African women and university students to Macao, and examines the intersection of these communities resulting from the overlap between the ongoing global movements of African diasporas and new African migratory trends to China. The article draws on the life stories as well as the educational and entrepreneurial experiences of African women in Macao, and investigates the relevance of ethnic networks of trust and reciprocity for their communities’ survival. This article places specific emphasis on the experiences of African women, recognizing their achievements in the face of multiple intersections of racism and sexism on the part of both state and society, and reveals how the women employ a resistance strategy by reinforcing ethnic migrant networks.
Alain Aime Ndedi, Addressing Unemployment Among Young Graduates in South Africa: The Role of Entrepreneurship Education (2011), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1799186.
Abstract (from author): The problem of poverty alleviation and unemployment remain the primary concerns of the government of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994. This article aims to profile some official government initiatives to tackling unemployment among young black graduates. It also highlights the role of higher learning institutions in the process. The article also discusses the fact that universities have not done enough towards the implementation of government policies on job creation. The article posits a strategic framework for effective and efficient programs on job creation among young graduates especially those from the previously disadvantaged black communities. The article explains the concept of entrepreneurship, characteristics of entrepreneurs, and the development of the discipline during the last decades. It also provides a peer-learning opportunity of the role of entrepreneurship in job creation in the United States of America (USA). An entrepreneurial-driven strategic framework for an effective and efficient job creation which may address unemployment challenges in South Africa is suggested as a way forward.
Alain A. Ndedi Yenepad, Linkages between Entrepreneurship and Black Economic Empowerment in the South African Context (2013), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=877869.
Abstract (by author): Entrepreneurship is sometimes seen as a process of few peoples. Although some persons have innate abilities as entrepreneurs, many can also develop this capacity in their life through a learning process. According to Timmons (1999:27), entrepreneurship is a way of thinking and reasoning. At the heart of entrepreneurship are the creation and/or recognition of opportunities. What is the link between entrepreneurship and BEE? What is BEE? The term Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) started slipping into vocabulary of black activists at just about the same time that "black advancement" was the term in vogue in the late 1970s. But it was only in the late 1980s, that it began to be used strongly as a counterpoint to the meaningless "equal opportunity" that had been given prominence by the corporate sector. Since the first democratic elections in South Africa, the term BEE has evolved. The BEE Commission defined BEE as a strategy aimed at substantially increasing black participation at all levels in the economy. BEE is aimed at redressing the imbalances of the past by seeking to substantially and equitably transfer ownership, management and proportionate control of South Africa's financial and economic resources to the majority of its citizens … The present paper explores the entrepreneurship as an alternative way that can be undertaken to alleviate poverty among this group of the population. The question surrounding this paper is what to focus on entrepreneurship as a remedy to improving black's lives and reduces poverty? The history of the Unites States is an example that needs further examination. More than twenty years ago MIT researcher David Birch finds that the new and growing smaller firms created 81.5 percent of the net new jobs in America from 1969 till 1976. During 1993-1996, eight million jobs were created in US, with 77% of these by small enterprises. The conclusion that arises from Birch's findings is that job creation is driven by the birth and growth of companies. Fighting poverty among black peoples through BEE can be effectively achieved through job creation. Job creation is achieved mostly by small and medium size organizations. Entrepreneurs create small and medium enterprises. Therefore, entrepreneurship as a way of thinking or reasoning help disposed people to change their social life, from poverty to wealth: a direct link between BEE and entrepreneurship. How this can be achieved? How can entrepreneurial mindset be implemented among black population? This paper develops entrepreneurship as an alternative way of implementing BEE in an entrepreneurial context.
Pal Nyiri, Chinese Entrepreneurs in Poor Countries: A Transnational ‘Middleman Minority’ and Its Futures, 12 Inter-Asia Cultural Stud. 145 (2011).
Abstract: The article focuses on an ethnographic research between Chinese migrants in Hungary. It informs that these migrants were and are entrepreneurs who left China after 1989. It states that entrepreneurial migration before 1989 largely limited to shuttle trade across the Soviet Union border which took on large scale. As per the research, the position of Chinese migrants in Eastern Europe showed some notable similarities to that of the colonial middleman minorities.
Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin, Commodifying Asian-ness: Entrepreneurship and the Making of East Asian Popular Culture, 33 Media, Culture & Soc. 259 (2011).
Abstract: This article examines the linkage between entrepreneurship and the making of popular culture in East Asia. The central argument presented here is that the notion of entrepreneurship is central for understanding and conceptualizing the process of constructing trans-national markets for popular culture and for building new circles of ‘Asian’ recognition. In other words, entrepreneurial vision is not only transforming the local cultural markets by underpinning a region-wide cultural production system but also un-intentionally spurring feelings of ‘Asian’ sameness. The study itself focuses on four cases of entrepreneurship which exemplify the driving forces and the intended and unintended consequences of entrepreneurship, and outlines the wider theoretical and methodological implications for this concept by defining the relations between structural determinism and human agency in popular culture.
Rocio del Pilar Aliaga-Isla & Alex Rialp, Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Which Fits Better Alertness or Systematic Search? The Case of Latin-American Immigrants in Barcelona(2010), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1804990.
Abstract (from author): In the vast literature of immigrant entrepreneurship, there are some approaches trying to explain this phenomenon. Therefore, little attention has been paid to the discovery process of entrepreneurial opportunities among immigrants; which represent an important milestone in the process of entrepreneurship. In this sense, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge related to immigrant entrepreneurship, through a qualitative study on the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities by immigrants. An exploration is performed based on the pattern matching analysis, taking into account the two major approaches to explain the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities, “Alertness” and “Systematical Search.” Our sample consisted of eight cases of Latin-American immigrants; five are entrepreneurs and three are potential entrepreneurs. The results show Latin-American immigrants of our sample tend to search systematically for entrepreneurial opportunities, considering their prior knowledge such as experiences and information acquired in migrations periods.
Rachel S. Shinnar et al., Entrepreneurial Perceptions and Intentions: The Role of Gender and Culture, 36 Entrepren. Theory & Prac.465 (2012).
Abstract (adapted from journal): This paper examines how culture and gender shape entrepreneurial perceptions and intentions within Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework and gender role theory. The authors test whether gender differences exist in the way university students in three nations perceive barriers to entrepreneurship and whether gender has a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived barriers and entrepreneurial intentions across nations. Findings indicate significant gender differences in barrier perceptions. However, this gap is not consistent across cultures. Also, a moderating effect of gender on the relationship between barriers and entrepreneurial intentions is identified. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Russell S. Sobel, Nabamita Dutta & Sanjukta Roy, Does Cultural Diversity Increase the Rate of Entrepreneurship? 23 Rev. of Austrian Econ. 269 (2010).
Abstract (from author): In the economic development literature, cultural diversity has been shown to have a positive impact on economic outcomes. A culturally diverse society or interaction among different cultures encourages exchange and competition and generates efficient outcome. This paper hypothesizes that a culturally diverse society has a positive impact on the rate of entrepreneurship. The authors show that in the United States, a country with good institutions, that cultural diversity or greater cultural capital has clear economic benefits - it increases the rate of entrepreneurship.
Jane Swinney, Sponsorship, Community, and Social Capital Resources in Indigenous Communities, 13(3) J. Dev. Entrepreneurship 363 (2008).
Abstract (from author): This exploratory study conducted in heavily indigenous communities was undertaken to investigate entrepreneurial perceptions of community (sense of place, image, and positioning) and social capital (reciprocity, shared vision, and density of networks) resources present in rural communities, and the sponsorship involvement of the entrepreneurs in community activities. The uniqueness of the study was its focus on indigenous communities with a higher than state average Native-American population. Previous work highlighting the collective nature and attitudes of Native Americans was not supported for the entrepreneurs in this study. Indigenous entrepreneurs were those who identified their ethnicity as Native American and majority entrepreneurs were those who identified their ethnicity as white. For indigenous entrepreneurs, there were no significant correlations among social capital resources or community resources and sponsorship. For majority entrepreneurs, all three social capital resources correlated significantly with sponsorship, and none of the community resources correlated significantly with sponsorship. The correlation between image and sponsorship was statistically significant for the total sample (n = 149). Mean scores to each of the social capital and community resources were calculated. Positioning was the resource with the lowest mean score. The positioning statement differentiates one downtown from a competing downtown and is indicative of how the downtown wants to be perceived. The findings point to the need for economic development officials to strengthen community positioning through an improved understanding and acceptance of the community's position statement by business owners in the community.
John Teller, Barriers to Entrepreneurship in Native America (2010), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1791601.
Abstract (from author): This project is directed at researching barriers to entrepreneurship which are preventing the development of successful business on Native American reservation communities. The vast majority of research pertaining to Native entrepreneurship focuses on the lack of success while there is little research in academia detailing the barriers and obstacles facing tribes. The four key objectives of this project were to specify Native business barriers, define success for Native businesses, address the current state of entrepreneurial development on reservations, and finally to analyze recommendations for improvement. For this project data was obtained through interviews with prominent leaders and entrepreneurs in the Native communities of northeast Wisconsin. Findings were compared to tribes nationally through the use of literary research.
Daniel Temesgen Gelan & Getachew Tadesse Wedajo, Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Orientation Level of Business Women: The Case of GambelaRegion of Ethiopia (2013), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2261488.
Abstract (by authors): It is widely accepted that the Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) sectors have the potential to provide a livelihood for a considerably large number of people in least developed countries such as Ethiopia. African women entrepreneurship development is generally inadequate and beset with numerous constraints and challenges, which have to do with culture, entrepreneurial orientations and their total perceptions in entrepreneurship. This study is therefore to examine women entrepreneurial orientation, determine factors affecting entrepreneurial orientation level of business women. The result indicated that the levels of EO of business women were in low to medium level of category. The result also showed that number of business, age, level of education, prior experience, the size of the business, business age since its establishment, need of independence motivational factors, self-achievement, social network, and market availability (compete) are significantly associated with entrepreneurial orientation. Among the socio-economic variables, diversification of businesses or the tendency to own more than one business has been found to be positively related with the entrepreneurial orientation of women.
David Urbano, Nuria Toledano & Domingo Ribeiro, Socio-Cultural Factors and Transnational Entrepreneurship: A Multiple Case Study in Spain, 29 Int’l Small Bus. J. 119 (2011).
Abstract (from author): This article addresses theoretical and empirical issues concerning the emergent field of transnational entrepreneurship (TE). We discuss issues regarding the antecedents of TE, focusing specifically on the socio-cultural factors affecting this phenomenon in the Spanish context. Entrepreneurship, ethnic and TE literature is combined with institutional approach to explain what and how different socio-cultural factors influence the emergence and development of TE in Catalonia (in the north-east of Spain). We do this by looking at four case studies of transnational entrepreneurs with different ethnicity (Ecuadorian, Latin American; Moroccan, North African; Chinese, Asian; and Romanian, Eastern European). Important differences between socio-cultural factors that affect the emergence of TE (role models, immigrants’ entrepreneurial attitudes) and those that facilitate the development of transnational entrepreneurial activities (transnational networks and immigrants’ perceptions of the culture and opportunities of the host society) are found.
Cheryl L. Wade, African-American Entrepreneurs: Integration, Education, and Exclusion, 32 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 483 (2010).
Abstract: In this Article, the author describes some of the subtle, obscure, and hidden challenges that African-American entrepreneurs face by providing the narratives of three African-American businesspeople. Two of the narratives are about African Americans who started businesses in the first half of the twentieth century. Theirs is a success story. Their businesses thrived. Yet, for a variety of reasons, the success these two entrepreneurs enjoyed would be unlikely today, even with the legislation and policy initiatives enacted in the latter half of the twentieth century and aimed at providing access to opportunities for people of color. The third narrative is about a twenty-first-century businesswoman, Ernesta Procope, an African-American woman who has headed Wall Street's largest minority-owned firm for decades. Her story is also a success story, but it is a story about success achieved in spite of subtle and perhaps unconscious decision making that impedes the entrepreneurial achievement of twenty-first-century African Americans. This twenty-first-century narrative reveals the intractability of the problem of lack of access to opportunity for black entrepreneurs.
In the twenty-first century, black entrepreneurs encounter more difficulties in establishing businesses and obtaining credit than their white counterparts. African-American entrepreneurs frequently pay higher interest rates than similarly situated white businesspeople. It is more difficult for businesses owned by African Americans to remain viable. Sales and profits for African-American-owned businesses are typically less than those of their white counterparts.
Vivek Wadhwa, AnnaLee Saxenian & Francis Daniel Siciliano, Then and Now: America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Part VII (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Research Paper; Stanford Public Law Working Paper, No. 2159875, 2012), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2159875.
Abstract (by authors): The period of unprecedented expansion of immigrant-led entrepreneurship that characterized the 1980s and 1990s has come to a close. Today, the growth rate of immigrant-founded companies nationwide, at 24.3 percent, has plateaued. In the high-tech hub of Silicon Valley, the proportion of immigrant-founded companies has dropped from 52.4 percent during 1995-2005 to 43.9 percent during 2006-2012. Immigrant founders of engineering and technology companies have employed roughly 560,000 workers and generated an estimated $63 billion dollars in sales during this time. While the rate of growth of immigrant entrepreneurship has stagnated, these numbers nonetheless underscore the continuing importance of high-skilled immigrants to the maintenance and expansion of the national economy. These findings are interestingly complex, since the two major skilled-immigrant groups — Indian and Chinese — are starting companies at higher rates than they did previously. Historically and today, the United States continues to benefit directly from the contributions of such immigrants. Far from expendable, high-skilled immigrants will remain a critical asset for maintaining U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.
Joanna M. Wagner, Improving Native American Access to Federal Funding for Economic Development Through Partnerships with Rural Communities 32 Am. Indian L. Rev. 525 (2008).
Abstract: This article explores the common interests of Indian reservations and small rural communities, especially geographic isolation, lack of financial and human capital, resource dependency, and lack of political power. The article also provides background information on federal rural development programming, and summarizes the economic development programming available to Indian communities. After discussing the relative accessibility and utilization of federal programs, the article suggests that non-Indian rural communities and Indian communities should work together on local and regional economic development efforts in order to fully take advantage of rural development federal funding available. The article concludes with an Appendix detailing Native American eligibility for every federal program currently available for economic development, and reports the few statistics regarding their utilization that are currently available.
Margaret Walton-Roberts, Immigration, Trade and ‘Ethnic Surplus Value’: A Critique of Indo-Canadian Transnational Networks, 11 Global Networks 203 (2011).
Abstract: It is often argued that countries hosting large populations of skilled immigrants might benefit from their cultural and economic competencies in the development of international trade networks. Yet, in so doing, the state can be criticized for fetishizing the ethnic immigrant in market terms in order to extract 'ethnic surplus value'. In this article, I examine these debates empirically in the case of India-Canada immigration and trade using interviews with traders, officials and immigrant entrepreneurs in British Columbia, Canada. Findings suggest that the supposedly positive relationship between trade and immigration is not obvious in the India-Canada case and there is no convincing evidence of the state managing successfully to extract 'ethnic surplus value'. Rather, what appears most compelling is evidence of what can be termed a discourse of regional disadvantage circulated by immigrant and non-immigrant business actors alike regarding the nature of India-Canada relations. Interview respondents link this discourse of disadvantage to the regional history of Indian immigration to Canada, which has traditionally comprised Sikhs from rural Punjab, and it functions to essentialize Indian immigrant ethnicity spatially within both the Indian and Canadian contexts. I focus on the theme of the extraction of 'ethnic surplus value' and regional disadvantage to reveal the limitations of both arguments about the economic nature of immigrant-led network development. In both cases, I challenge these ideas with a critical emphasis on the role of immigrant agency and offer a more nuanced and complicated reading of the role of the state. As a result, I offer a detailed reading of how socio-spatial immigrant networks are formed and operate at the regional scale, and how this complicates more abstract theoretical formulations regarding the trade and immigration nexus.
Qingfang Wang, Industrial Concentration of Ethnic Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses in the United States (US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies, Paper No. CES-WP- 13-34, 2013), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2286372.
Abstract (by author): The number of ethnic minority and women-owned businesses has increased rapidly during the past few decades. However, the characteristics of these businesses and their owners differ by race, ethnicity, and gender. Using a confidential national survey of ethnic minority and women-owned businesses in the United States, this study examines ethnic minority- and women-owned businesses segmented by industrial sectors. Consistent with gender occupational segregation, male- and female- owned businesses have distinctive sectoral concentration patterns, with ethnic minority women-owned businesses highly concentrated in a limited number of industrial sectors. However, the relationship between business sectoral concentration and business performance is not uniform across ethnic and gender groups. Concentration in specific industrial sectors does not necessarily mean poor performance when measured by sales, size of employment or payrolls. However, for women-owned businesses, those sectors obviously pay less and have marginal profits, especially if considering the size of the firms.
Victor Zheng & Siu-Lun Wong, The Mystery of Capital: Eurasian Entrepreneurs Socio-Cultural Strategies for Commercial Success in Early 20th-Century Hong Kong, 34 Asian Stud. Rev. 467 (2010).
Abstract: Unlike economic capital, which is visible and easy to calculate, social capital is intangible and difficult to assess. Although both types of capital are crucial in determining social relations and social behavior, little solid research has been done on the latter. This paper attempts to use the rags-to-riches story of Sir Robert Ho Tung, a first-generation Hong Kong Eurasian entrepreneur who commenced life without traditional social/cultural capital as the illegitimate son of a Chinese woman and a Dutchman, to illustrate the processes involved in cultivating and accumulating social capital. With special reference to economic development in early colonial Hong Kong and major social transformations in the Chinese mainland, this paper also demonstrates how a group of so-called social/racial 'half-caste bastards' (Eurasians) were able to form their own social networks of mutual help and protection. It also considers how they worked to consolidate, mobilize, aggrandize and transmit their social capital. In conclusion, it is argued that Eurasians in early twentieth-century Hong Kong constructed their personal networks like a web, with different interconnecting layers that functioned at different socio-economic-political levels to serve different purposes
Online Resources
Black Enterprise, Small Business
http://www.blackenterprise.com/small-business/
Earl G. Graves, Sr., A Picture of Black Entrepreneurship?, 34 Black Enterprise (2004).
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_1_35/ai_n6146824/
Oweesta, Document Library.
http://www.oweesta.org/library
Mission (from website): Our mission is to provide opportunities for Native people to develop assets and create wealth by assisting in the establishment of strong, permanent institutions and programs, contributing to economic independence and strengthening sovereignty for all Native communities
Other Materials
Farah Ahmad, How Women of Color Are Driving Entrepreneurship, Center for American Progress (June 10, 2014),http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2014/06/10/91241/how-women-of-color-are-driving-entrepreneurship/.
Naveed Yasin, A Conceptual Review of Ethnic and Immigrant Pakistani Entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom (University of Huddersfield Repository, 2011), available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/9702/.
Abstract (from author): Based on existing literature, this paper provides a conceptual review of ethnic entrepreneurship with a specific focus on ethnic Pakistani start-up motives and so will provide an update of the advancements made in the area of ethnic minority entrepreneurship (EMEs). Ethnic Pakistanis are leading the entrepreneurship and self-employment trends in Britain and so there is the need to develop an in-depth study of this ethnic group, to understand the propensity, key drivers and theory supporting their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. An exploration will be made towards highlighting two key areas: 1) Cultural Factors and 2) External Factors. This paper is part of a doctoral research project and will specifically focus on a variety of Push and Pull factors such as culture/religion, social networks and capital, racism and discrimination, sojourners and settlers, ethnic enclaves, and regulations of the host-nation . An exploration of these will provide a general overview of key elements which are being discussed in the area of ethnic entrepreneurship. For example, the Push and Pull theory highlighting positive factors such as: independence, financial freedom, and flexibility of work will be explored alongside negative factors such as: discrimination, inability to find suitable employment, blocked upward mobility, unemployment etc.