How does enterprise assistance support Māori entrepreneurs? An identity approach

Abstract

Indigenous entrepreneurs represent a growing segment of the business community in many countries, but face sometimes stark challenges in starting and running enterprises. The success of indigenous entrepreneurs matters because they draw upon their indigeneity as sources of inspiration and innovation, contribute to the collective wellbeing of indigenous peoples, and some represent world class exemplars of sustainable ways of doing business. While enterprise assistance for entrepreneurs is widely accepted as a worthwhile use of public funds few guidelines exist to help policy makers and providers understand the needs of indigenous entrepreneurs and how best to respond. In this paper, we use the theoretical lens of entrepreneurial identity to provide insight into this challenging context. Taking an identity perspective may enable us to tease out how identifying as a Māori entrepreneur can enable and also hinder change in this community context. In doing so we lay foundations for future empirical work.

Māori Indigenous values and tourism business sustainability

“…The focus on Te Ao Māori, combined with holistic purposes and benefits, represents the two themes informing this research—the inextricable link between indigenous cultural values and sustainable practice which aims for even distribution of benefits. Indigenous businesses are claimed to experience tensions of balancing cultural values with economic viability (Dell et al, 2018; Warren et al, 2017) due to being placed within neoliberal policies “premised on the belief that the market is the best mechanism to regulate all forms of human behaviour as people are predominantly self-maximising and selfish” (Bargh, 2018, p. 294). This interpretation, of course, does not align with indigenous world views.…”

“…These themes, essentially centred around holistic well-being of people and land, highlight the inherent connection between Māori indigenous values and contemporary efforts in sustainable tourism management. Mika and O'Sullivan (2014), Warren et al (2017), Amoamo, Ruckstuhl, and Ruwhiu (2018) and Ruwhiu and Cone (2013), for example, all empasize that Māori entrepreneurship and the Māori way of doing business are inextricably linked with social and ecological well-being to the extent that this is part of what differentiates indigenous from non-indigenous organisations (Mika and O'Sullivan, 2014;Mika, Fahey, & Bensemann, 2019). This is also applicable to tourism-indigenous tourism operations were often identified to be built upon values that reflect a deep commitment to the needs of community and land (Bunten, 2010;Carr, 2020).…”

“…However, these tensions are not necessarily dichotomous and detrimental to the success of indigenous businesses (Bargh, 2011), especially in the context of increased awareness of the negative environmental, societal and cultural impacts of tourism and the alignment of indigenous values with the concept of sustainability (Mika, Smith, et al, 2019; Richardson, 2001; Spiller, Erakovic, et al, 2011; Warren et al, 2017). Indigenous cultures provide “insights into a worldview of relatedness where foundational values inform members of society on how to lead a wise life through serving others, including the environment” (Pio et al, 2012, p. 196).…”

Unfolding tensions within post-settlement governance and tribal economies in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…Entrepreneurship for indigenous peoples has become a valued means of potentially fulfilling aspirations for self-determination, sustainable economic development, preservation of traditional knowledge, improving socioeconomic and structural disadvantage and validating alternative conceptualisations of economy (Peredo et al , 2018; Dell et al , 2018; Ruwhiu and Amoamo, 2015). Indigenous entrepreneurship in this context is contingent upon capability building, particularly in education and access to entrepreneurial resources (Gries and Naude, 2011; Warren et al , 2018). Meanwhile, these generalised tenets of the indigenous entrepreneurship theory have given way to diverse perspectives on gender (Ratten and Dana, 2017), commercialisation of traditional knowledge (Dana and Hipango, 2011), indigenous food-based enterprise (Ratten and Dana, 2015), new forms of social enterprise (Peredo et al , 2018) and importance of culture, context and identity (Mika et al , 2018).…”

SMEs, innovation and human resource management

“…Our next paper takes an indigenous perspective on SMEs. The paper, ‘Indigenous entrepreneurial orientation: a Maori perspective’, adds to the conversation on entrepreneurial orientation as published in JMO (see Bojica, del Mar Fuentes, & Gómez-Gras, 2011; Huang & Chu, 2015; Şahin & Gürbüz, 2020; Mika & O'Sullivan, 2014; Mika, Warren, Foley, & Palmer, 2017). In the current article, Mrabure, Ruwhiu, and Gray suggest that despite growing interest in indigenous entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation, few studies have bridged these two domains empirically.…”