The impact of trust on social and financial capital acquisition: A resource integration perspective in minority-owned entrepreneurial organisations

Although effective resource integration is a critical requisite for entrepreneurial success, the literature suggests there are crucial gaps for minority entrepreneurs. We examine how interracial distrust (ID), an indicator of the extent to which minority entrepreneurs distrust other races, is related to internal and social capital. We examine the relationships of such capitals on the willingness to borrow from banks and friends, and explore the link with firm performance. Using a sample of 276 primarily African American entrepreneurs, we find support for most of our hypotheses. We find that ID is negatively associated with external social capital and a willingness to borrow from banks. Surprisingly, we found that ID had a negative effect on internal social capital and a willingness to borrow from friends. We also found that internal and external social capital was positively related to firm performance. We discuss the implications of some of these surprising research findings as well as the policy implications.

Venturing into retail: SoGal and cherry blossom intimates

Study level/applicability Graduate or Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Majors Subject area Entrepreneurship/Venture Capital (VC) Investing Case overview The case highlights a women-founded venture capital firm that values investments in diverse entrepreneurs and an innovative retail business started by two minority entrepreneurs. Students will be asked whether the firm should invest in the venture and will also be asked to discuss models that may help transform the retail business into a VC-backed scalable technology business. Expected learning outcomes By the end of the discussion, students will be able to evaluate the feasibility and scalability of a new business venture; and evaluate the alignment between a venture capital company and a new venture. Supplementary Materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Social Implications This case highlights the lack of resources for women and minority entrepreneurs as well as the underrepresentation of minority women in the VC industry. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Against all odds: refugees bricoleuring in the void

Purpose In an extreme and intentional institutional void, African refugees in Israel are bricoleuring by building an entrepreneurship market next to an “open” detention camp. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how refugee entrepreneurs overcome institutional voids through bricolage in an illegal marketplace outside the detention camp. Design/methodology/approach In order to deal with the question of why and how people act entrepreneurial under extreme circumstances, the interpretive/social constructionist paradigm is applied in form of the multiple stories milieu case study pattern. Data were gathered via official reports, interviews and observations. Findings Outside the detention camp it is via bricolage that entrepreneurs address the economic detour in the intentional institutional void. At a place which is meant to make asylum seekers leave Israel by coining them “infiltrators” and by “making their lives miserable,” bricoleurs attend their own and the needs of fellow detainees providing goods and service and community space. Originality/value By contextualizing entrepreneurial practices, the paper contributes to the understanding of refugee entrepreneurship by demonstrating how refugees – within the pressure and constraints of context – initiate entrepreneurial activities. Theoretically the paper extends knowledge of minority entrepreneurs who are acting as bricoleurs, explaining how their entrepreneuring can be a kind of space creation process.