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Culture, entrepreneurial orientation, and global competitiveness

Increasing financial strains on family farms/ranches have put pressure on these businesses to look outside agriculture as a means to sustain the operation. One option has been to offer farm/ranch recreation to visitors (i.e., agritourism). Eleven reasons for diversifying were tested while controlling for various demographic variables. Principal components analysis resulted in three factors: social reasons, economic reasons, and external influences. A cluster analysis identified 61% of the respondents who diversified for economic reasons, 23% who diversified due to reasons external to the operation, and 16% who diversified for social, economic, and external reasons.

Agritourism: Motivations behind Farm/Ranch Business Diversification

Entrepreneurship: An Integrating Typology and Evaluation of the Empirical Research in the Field

Entrepreneurs have been traditionally epitomized as rugged individuals garnering creative forces of innovation and technology. Applying this traditional, limited, and narrow view of entrepreneurship to ethnic firm creation and growth is to ignore or discount core cultural values of the ethnic contexts in which these firms operate. It is no longer possible to depend solely on human capital theory and household characteristic descriptions to understand the complex and interdependent relationships between the ethnic-owning family, its firm, and the community context in which the firm operates. This paper addresses the complex dynamic of ethnic firms with three purposes: (a) to provide a cultural context for the three ethnic groups composing the National Minority Business Owner Study; (b) to extend the Sustainable Family Business Theory, a dynamic, behaviorally-based, multi-dimensional family firm theory, by clarifying how it accommodates ethnic firm complexities within their cultural context, and (c) to derive implications for research, education and consulting with worldwide applications.

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The effects of ethnicity, families and culture on entrepreneurial experience: an extension of sustainable family business theory

The relationship among national institutional structures, economic factors, and domestic entrepreneurial activity: a multicountry study

In the last three years, many centrally planned economies have given way to market economies. Private firms rather than state-owned enterprises are now seen as the key building block in economic development. This change has occurred over a wide spectrum of political and economic systems. One of the most recent and dramatic transitions is in Mexico, where President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has spearheaded a drive begun in the early 1980s to move Mexico into the mainstream of international business and finance. This vision of a modern Mexico is not based on bold promises, accompanied by cautious accomplishment, but rather on fundamental and far-reaching moves. For example, Sanderson and Hayes (1990, 40) noted the following: About 750 state enterprises have been sold, merged, or transferred to the private sector or to local governments since 1982; the banking and telephone industries were the latest to be privatized. There are now only about 400 state-owned companies left. However, to sustain the changes and expand them in ever-widening circles until there is a dominant and dynamic private sector, a strong and capable group of domestic entrepreneurs--the focal point of this study--is needed. On the basis of the assumption that the entrepreneur has a pivotal role in the development of Mexico, it is important to examine this research question: What are the major factors influencing entrepreneurial development in Mexico? In addressing this question, four factors were identified: two facilitating and two inhibiting. The two positive factors are entrepreneurial motivation and encouraging support groups. The negative factors are start-up obstacles and recurring problems. From a time perspective, the start-up process begins in the "venture feasibility" stage, during which the entrepreneur moves from an initial desire to go into business to identifying and evaluating the alternatives to writing a proposal and actually starting the business. "Support groups" become a critical factor in helping make the final "go ahead" decision. The entrepreneur still may encounter formidable "obstacles" that impede the actual start-up process. Once the business has been started, the entrepreneur continues to encounter problems in the process of growth. Each of these factors are examined in turn. Motivation for Starting a Business Entrepreneurs are motivated by a myriad of factors which include financial rewards, achievement, social, career, and personal fulfillment. These factors have been discussed in Hisrich and Peters (1992) and Kuratko and Hodgetts (1992). The purpose of this study was to document the strength of these motives among Mexican entrepreneurs. The question addressed is: Which of these motivations appear and how are they prioritized? Encouraging Support Groups The family is an important factor in the start-up decision. The family as a traditional force is not only the natural focus of individual emotion but also represents the strongest social unit in Mexico. In fact, the family enterprise plays a leading role in the development of the private sector. In addition to family members, other groups, such as business associates, professional associations, suppliers, customers, and social friends, are all in a position to provide encouragement (or discouragement), support, and resources. The question is: Which of these groups provides the most support to the entrepreneur starting his or her own business? Obstacles to Start-up The category of "obstacles" includes the set of inhibiting factors which the entrepreneur assesses as requiring significant resources to resolve. These factors were identified by in-depth field work in the United States and Mexico and a literature review. Three types of obstacles were constructed to reflect the primary categories in Mexico: (1) business, (2) individual, (3) family. Business: obtaining a loan, finding a good location, obtaining extension of credit from suppliers, lack of guidance and counsel, and lack of knowledge of information services. …

Major Elements in Entrepreneurial Development in Central Mexico

INFORMATION SEARCH PATTERNS AMONG HISPANIC ENTREPRENEURS The Hispanic population in the U.S. increased by 60.9 percent during the period from 1970 to 1980, as compared with 11.5 percent of the total U.S. population. In 1977, a Survey of Minority Business conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Censur shows that Hispanic businesses grew at an even more rapid rate than the Hispanic population. During the five years ending in 1977, the number of Hispanic-owned firms increased by 52.6 percent, and their receipts grew by almost 75 percent. In 1977, the sales receipts of Hispanic firms totaled $10.4 billion, in contrast to $8.6 billion for black-owned businesses. The foregoing information suggests that Hispanics may start increasing number of businesses in the future. Research on Hispanic-owned businesses, however, is limited. One area in need of investigation is information-seeking behavior among Hispanic business owners, since the success of almost any small business depends in large part on access to and intelligent use of business information. Two sets of independent variables are considered important when examining the information-seeking behavior of Hispanic small business owners. These are psychological characteristics and the types of business problems perceived to be significant. The results of a survey questionnaire designed to reveal relationships between personality traits, business problems and use of various information sources among Hispanic entrepreneurs are reported in this article. INFORMATION SOURCES It is important for owner/managers to have access to a variety of information sources in order to adapt their business strategies to prevailing conditions. The responsibility for seeking information typically lies with the owner/manager, whose inclinations, predispositions, and biases determine to a large extent what information will be found and/or used. Since the owner/manager must also assume many other roles in the management of a small business, there may not be much time available for information-seeking. It is important, therefore, to determine how entrepreneurs utilize the growing array of data sources available to them in order to develop more efficient means of seeking and using information. This is particularly true in the case of Hispanic business owners, 93 percent of whom operate as sole proprietors. Lack of contacts and knowledge about where to obtain information are problems that plague almost all new business owners. Hispanics, with a more limited tradition of establishing business activities in the United States, might be expected to find it even more difficult than domestic entrepreneurs to locate such information. University-based small business seminars constitute a particularly important information source for new or prospective entrepreneurs. The special importance of seminars, workshops, and courses sponsored by universities or the Small Business Administration lies in the fact that these sources specifically address the needs and interests of small business owners. Such gatherings also provide the opportunity to gather specialized information and to interact with other small business people. Many other possible sources exist, however. These may be classified broadly in five categories: professional, personal, written, institutional, and electronic. Professional sources offer services characterized by in-depth knowledge and expertise related to one or more aspects of small business operations. Some examples are bankers, lawyers, and accountants. Personal sources are usually based on social, family, community, and neighborhood ties, and most often involve persons with whom the business owner associates regularly. Written sources include newspaper, journals, catalogs, trade magazines, and other printed media. In the case of many Hispanic business owners, the language barrier and incomplete assimilation to the prevailing culture are likely to limit the usefulness or attractiveness of this group of sources. …

Information Search Patterns among Hispanic Entrepreneurs

One hundred ninety three entrepreneurs (193) were surveyed to determine the types of problems which were most frequently encountered and the types of information sources likely to be utilized. Gene...

Information Source Selection Patterns as Determined by Small Business Problems

Harold P. Welsch, Earl C. Young, and Armando R. Triana are all with DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA. This study compares Hispanic entrepreneurs with non-Hispanic entrepreneurs using t-tests. The dimensions studied included selected demographic characteristics, personality dimensions, perceptions of problems, information sources preferences and interest in attending small business seminars. The results showed that Hispanic entrepreneurs have significantly higher levels of 'Machiavellianism' and rigidity and that they perceived more operational problems. The study also showed that Hispanic entrepreneurs considered every form of information source category and 12 of the 13 seminars to be more important than did non-Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Earl C. Young

Papers

Major Elements in Entrepreneurial Development in Central Mexico

Information Search Patterns among Hispanic Entrepreneurs

Information Source Selection Patterns as Determined by Small Business Problems

Differences between U.S. Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Entrepreneurs