Motivations and Performance Conditions for Ethnic Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Ethnic entrepreneurship has become a popular concept in a modern multi-cultural society. This paper seeks to offer an overview of the potential of ethnic entrepreneurship for solving inter alia the structural unemployment problems of ethnic groups in cities. The present paper addresses in particular the critical success conditions for ethnic entrepreneurs. Based on a survey among ethnic entrepreneurs in the Amsterdam area, the paper sets out to identify empirically the driving forces for business success, such as education or the role of informal networks. The explanatory framework deployed for the identification of these qualitative success factors for distinct ethnic groups is based on a particular class of artificial intelligence methods, viz. rough set analysis. This multidimensional classification approach appears to be able to identify various important factors for the motivation and performance of ethnic enterprises.Pn954EMMTGV 1 New Horizons for Modern EntrepreneurshipIn the past decades we have witnessed an unprecedented dynamics in the functioning, organisation and location of business firms. We have seen the birth of global firms, but also the emergence of many promising small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Large-scale concentration was accompanied by outsourcing at a world-wide scale. And ICT developments have made the locations of industrial plants and offices increasingly footloose (see Audretsch 1991, Carroll and Hannan 2000and Hayter 1997. The behaviour of the modern firm can no longer be understood on the basis of monodisciplinary research angles, but needs, in general, elements from organisational sociology, management science, economics, geography, and demography. The study of entrepeneurship is not only concerned with survival strategies and success conditions, but also with the birth and death of firms and the linkage patterns of firms with their local and regional environment (see e.g. Beesly and Hamilton 1994, Krugman 1995and Van Wissen 2000.There is apparently in our modern world an abundance of business opportunities, and entrepreneurs appear to be very keen in responding -with more or less success-to such new challenges. The SME sector is booming, especially in the area of ICT and biosciences. But, next to the creation of many new jobs in high-tech sectors of our economies, there is another segment which also exhibits a rapid evolution in both the developed and the developing world, viz. ethnic entrepreneurship (see Waldinger 1989). The trend towards a multi-cultural society reflected in particular in urban areas, has created the seedbed conditions for new entrepreneurial activities which find their origin in the specific socio-cultural habits of an ethnic segment of the population. In many cases, ethnic entrepreneurship may also be seen as a new form of self-employment, be it in the formal or informal sector. It is noteworthy that this phenomenon used to be rather rare in Europe, but we observe nowadays an upswing in the growth of ethnic SME activities in the European ci...

Diversity in entrepreneurship: ethnic and female roles in urban economic life

“…This movement is generally referred to as ethnic entrepreneurship (see, e.g., Van Delft et al 2000, Masurel et al 2002, Min 1987, Waldinger et al 1990, Ward and Jenkins 1984. The latter phenomenon distinguishes itself from 'normal' entrepreneurship through its orientation towards ethnic products, ethnic markets and customers or indigenous ethnic business strategies (e.g., informal information channels, Islamic banking) (see Choenni 1997).…”

“…Although their focus was not on ethnic female entrepreneurship, the research conducted by Cowling and Taylor (2001') Although ethnic groups are not uniform and display much variation in their motives, attitudes and behaviour, there are sume similar characteristics of ethnic enterprises and ethnic entrepreneurs (CEEDR 2000, Deakins 1999, Kloosterman et al 1998, Lee et al 1997, Masurel et al 2002. The most important personal characteristics of ethnic entrepreneurs are considered in many studies to be their lower educational levels.…”

Dynamics of Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Romania

“…According to Masurel et al [5], in general, empirical research on immigrant entrepreneurship has been mainly based on survey questionnaires and interviews, and less on solid statistical modelling. Furthermore, from the literature research and review developed until present in the research frame, it was revealed that interviewing is a very used method for data collection in researching immigrant entrepreneurship.…”

What influences ethnic entrepreneurs’ decision to start-up

“…There is an abundance of generic entrepreneurship literature on why some individuals opt for starting their own business rather than working for a company (See Clark & Drinkwater 2000;Masurel et al 2002;Manev et al 2005;Caliendo & Kritikos 2007;Verheul et al 2010;Chan & Quah 2012;Zwan & Hessels 2013). A common consensus is that individuals 'dive in' when they have a strong belief that they can succeed against all the odds and have a vision of a better reward for themselves and those around them (Olson, Roese & Zanna 1996;Vroom 1964;Gatewood et al 2002).…”