KEEPING THE TRADITION: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ADVERSITY
PETER KOVEOS
The Journall of Development Entrepreneurship is indeed a unique publication. There are many outstanding scholarly joumals sewing the discipline. Each contributes to the advancement of the profession in it.s own valuable way. Through the years. the JDE has carved a niche for itself by featuring articles that deal with a somewhat simple but extre- mely important phenomenon: the adversity faced by entrepreneurs around the globe. We are therefore proud to present another compilation of articles exploring this phenomenon. The ?rst anicle in the issue. Microentreprise Growth at the Base of the Pyramid: A Resource-Based Perspective. is contributed by Justin Webb. Michael Morris and Rubin Pillay. ln this context. micro-entrepreneurs may use their limited resources to start a business. but encounter challenges in growing it. The authors investigate the role of resources in yielding competitive advantage in base-of-the-pyramid markets. arguing that the value of resources is a function of their ability to supplement formal institutional voids. They consider access to fonnal infrastructure. assets that provide stability and business skills as potential sources of competitive advantage. They also examine the effect of resource allocation tactics on microenterprise growth and test their theory using a sample of South African micro- enterprise owners. Implications are drawn for ongoing theory development and practice. Issues around health insurance have lilled the pages of both popular and academic press. In their timely work. Health Insurance Avibility and Entrepreneurship. RajAggarwal. Kristina Holly and Vivek Wadhwa report the characteristics and socioecon-omic backgrounds of entrepreneurs in their sample. they then document that the lack of health insurance has a signi?cant inhibiting impact on entrepreneurs. They also document that the importance of health insurance availability increases for entrepreneurs who are self-funded. married. have children. are from less privileged backgrounds and are in advanced stages of their lives as indicated by having advanced degrees or long work
CONTEXTUALIZING YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE CASE OF BOTSWANA'S YOUNG FARMERS FUND
MIKE WILLIAMS, ALICE J HOVORKA
Entrepreneurship is well established as a development strategy to facilitate youth empowerment in Africa. Existing scholarship on youth entrepreneurship, while informative, remains limited given its focus on either normative institutional structures or individual decision-making behaviors. Recent research offers a contextualist approach, featuring the dynamic relationship between individual behavior and structural context. Engaging and building upon a contextualist approach, this paper offers a place-based study of youth entrepreneurship in Botswana. The paper documents empirical findings revealing trends in youth circumstances and experiences, namely empowerment potential, financial strain and knowledge/skill gaps. It then explores the cultural, political and institutional contextual effects shaping youth entrepreneurship within the Young Farmers Fund (YFF). Drawing on elements of 'best practice,' the paper offers suggestions for enhancing practical entrepreneurship in Botswana through educational, technical and operational means. Although the paper contributes a case study of youth and entrepreneurship in Botswana, it also offers and demonstrates the conceptual framework of contextualism as a useful research tool for subsequent place-based studies.
Keywords: Youth; entrepreneurship; contextualism; Botswana; Africa
RESEARCHING BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP: EXPLORING THE CHALLENGE OF RESPONSE BIAS
MICHAEL N. OGBOLU, ROBERT P. SINGH
The reasons for the long term lagging rate of black entrepreneurship are not well understood. Although there has been growing research on black entrepreneurship, race related research can be challenging and may be susceptible to bias resulting from socially desirable responses. Using survey data collected on consumer perceptions of white and black entrepreneurs from 843 white and black respondents by white and black data collectors, we found evidence of response bias. The paper illuminates research methodology issues that should be factored into race-based entrepreneurship research. The important practical and academic implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.
Keywords: Black entrepreneurship; response bias; research methodologies
BOUNDARIES OF NETWORK TIES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: HOW LARGE IS TOO LARGE?
SHANSHAN QIAN, BRUCE H. KEMELGOR
External environments can require entrepreneurs to adjust and maintain network ties to cope with environmental changes and turbulence. Although network ties can help entrepreneurs gain resources and support, researchers are becoming aware of some negative aspects of networks, such as information redundancy. We used relative weight analysis and identified that environmental munificence and uncertainty influence the size of one's network. In addition, we surveyed 44 entrepreneurial founders of firms in the bio-technology industry regarding their network composition, including number of ties and firm performance. We found that environmental factors led to increases in both business and social network size. In addition, we identified an optimal number of network ties prior to tie-additions becoming negatively related to firm performance.
Keywords: Network ties; firm performance; environmental munificence; environmental uncertainty
HEALTH INSURANCE AVAILABILITY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
RAJ AGGARWAL, KRISZTINA 'Z' HOLLY, VIVEK WADHWA
Unlike prior studies of the impact of health insurance on entrepreneurship, this paper uses primary data from a representative recent survey of entrepreneurs. First, we report the characteristics and socio-economic backgrounds of entrepreneurs. Second, we document that the lack of health insurance has a significant inhibiting impact on entrepreneurs. This paper also documents that the importance of health insurance availability increases for entrepreneurs who are self-funded, married, have children, are from less privileged backgrounds and are in advanced stages of their lives as indicated by having advanced degrees or long work experience when they become entrepreneurs. These results should be of much interest to scholars, managers and policymakers.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; health insurance; self-funded; patient protection and affordable care act (PPACC)
MICROENTERPRISE GROWTH AT THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID: A RESOURCE-BASED PERSPECTIVE
JUSTIN W. WEBB, MICHAEL H. MORRIS, RUBIN PILLAY
In a base-of-the-pyramid context, the ability to start ventures is often quite robust because micro-entrepreneurs are able to start with few resources and can often sustain ventures for extended lengths of time in the absence of meaningful revenues. Yet, the ability to grow ventures tends to be much more problematic. This paper examines the role of resources in yielding competitive advantage for microenterprises in base-of-the-pyramid markets, arguing that the value of resources is a function of their ability to supplement formal institutional voids. We consider access to formal infrastructure, assets that provide stability and business skills as potential sources of competitive advantage. We also examine the effect of resource allocation tactics on microenterprise growth. We test our theory using a sample of South African microenterprise owners. Implications are drawn for ongoing theory development and practice.
Keywords: Base of the pyramid; growth; infrastructure; microenterprise; resource allocatio
BEYOND THE FORMAL ECONOMY: EVALUATING THE LEVEL OF EMPLOYMENT IN INFORMAL SECTOR ENTERPRISES IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
COLIN C. WILLIAMS
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the varying level of employment in informal sector enterprises across the globe and to undertake an exploratory analysis of the wider economic and social conditions associated with greater levels of informalization. Examining International Labor Organization surveys conducted in 43 countries, the finding is that the main job of just under one in three (31.5 percent) non-agricultural workers is in an informal sector enterprise. Conducting an exploratory analysis of the correlation between countries with higher levels of employment in informal sector enterprises and economic under-development ('modernization' thesis), higher taxes, corruption and state interference ('neo-liberal' thesis) and inadequate state intervention to protect workers from poverty ('structuralist' thesis), the finding is that there is a need to synthesize various tenets from all three perspectives. The outcome is a tentative call for a 'neo-modernization' perspective, which posits that higher levels of employment in informal sector enterprises are associated with economic under-development, public sector corruption and inadequate state intervention to protect workers from poverty.
Keywords: Informal economy; shadow economy; underground sector; entrepreneurship; enterprise development; economic development
UNORGANIZED SECTOR IN INDIA: EMPLOYMENT ELASTICITY AND WAGE-PRODUCTIVITY NEXUS
ARUP MITRA, AVIRAL PANDEY
In India the formal, or organized, sector is not able to generate employment opportunities for the unskilled or semi-skilled workers on a large scale, forcing them to get residually absorbed in the unorganized sector. At the same time, the unorganized sector is believed to have work consignments from the organized sector and this ancillarization process is contributing to employment creation. In the backdrop of these views the present study, using the unit level data of the National Sample Survey (NSS, 2010-11), makes an attempt to estimate the employment elasticity and wage-productivity nexus in the unorganized sector. Although the employment function estimated in the paper suggests employment can be raised through wage reduction, it can affect the wellbeing of the workers because the wage rate in the unorganized sector is already very low. Further, subcontracting or ancillarization does not seem to be contributing to employment generation in unorganized manufacturing or trade related activities. However, in the services sector it shows a positive impact. The equation representing determinants of wages shows units with assets are better-off compared to those that do not have them. This has an important policy implication, suggesting that through asset creation, government may bring in improvements in livelihood of the unorganized sector enterprises.
Keywords: Unorganized; labor; manufacturing; wage; employment elasticity; productivity