Contemporary ethnic minority entrepreneurship in the UK

Abstract

Purpose Ethnic minority entrepreneurs (EMEs) are traditionally associated with lower growth industry sectors. The purpose of this paper is to draw on the theory of mixed embeddedness to determine if more recent EMEs have been able to break out of lower growth sectors and if break out varies across ethnic minority groups. It also compares entrepreneurial quality in terms of weekly hours worked, weekly earnings and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative inferential statistical analysis is undertaken on data drawn from the large scale, social sciences data set for the UK, Understanding Society. Findings The study finds that break out is not associated with being a recent EME but does vary across ethnic minority groups. Break out is found to be associated with gender, education, English language proficiency and occupational status. Some variation in entrepreneurial quality is found for both recent EMEs and across ethnic minority groups. Practical implications Understanding the nature and quality of ethnic minority entrepreneurship is important since it informs public debate about migration, informs policy and shapes activities of future EMEs. Originality/value The study provides a theoretically grounded interpretation of the explanatory variables associated with EME break out and entrepreneurial quality. Second, it provides a large confirmatory study of break out and finally, it also finds an important empirical nuance to the concept of opportunity structure by identifying a variation over time in both external and socio-demographic factors.

Windows of opportunity, strategic cognition and enterprise digital transformation

“…Despite the absence of a unified conceptual definition, there is consensus on certain key characteristics of entrepreneurship, specifically, the spirit of innovation and risk-taking (Covin et al, 2006;Kreiser et al, 2010). Furthermore, it has been noted that entrepreneurship, representing a synthesis of entrepreneurial management thinking and wisdom, varies in connotations across different institutional environments and contexts (Daniel et al, 2019). Notably, the sense of mission and career-mindedness emphasized in Chinese culture imparts unique characteristics to entrepreneurship in the Chinese context (Morris et al, 2005).…”

I'll be there for you: coopetition and competitor-oriented activities among South Asian restaurants in two UK regional clusters

“…Conversely, depending on the nature of respective firms' business models that are typically aligned to owners' objectives, a potential disadvantage stems from the closeness of ties and the unwillingness or even inability to adopt strategies targeting customers outside the local ethnic cluster. Hence, to achieve growth (if an entrepreneurial objective), decision-makers need to “break out” of limited cultural niche markets (Ram and Hillin, 1994; Basu, 2011; Daniel et al., 2019). However, in the context of restaurants in this current investigation, assuming entrepreneurs largely target customers in the local proximity or those prepared to commute to a cluster, a breakout strategy is less applicable in comparison to counterparts in other sectors that may aspire to achieve greater scalability.…”

The impact of Covid-19 on struggling ethnic minority entrepreneurs' business strategy: the case of Bangladeshi curry houses in the United Kingdom

“…It has long been argued that ethnic minority groups (EMBs) are more likely to face limited capabilities to compete with their counterparts in high-growth and tech sectors (Verver et al ., 2019), and hence, they tend to enter sectors with low barriers and low economic returns, and that require low-skilled characteristics and high labour intensity, such as catering. This makes them in a moderately small position in the economic spectrum (Daniel et al ., 2019; Verver et al ., 2019). The low entry barriers into sectors in which EMBs tend to operate created limited market potential, aggressive competition among EMBs themselves, and hence, survival has become a struggle for most of them (Jones and Ram, 2012).…”