| Agnes,
The focus of my discussion was that descriptions of entrepreneurs need to be understood in the context from which they emerge. My comment that 'blacks and hispanics tend to underperform' can be readily transalated to mean that minorities tend to underperform -- the substantive conclustion that the information I presented actually indicated. Again, I realise I wasn't sufficiently clear in my original comments, but in the context of the bulk of the discussion, I felt the context was fairly self-evident.
The point of my argument was essentially that understanding entrepreneurship as a monolithic 'this is entrepreneurship' idea is never going to lead you to accurate or useful conclusions. If you are unable to grasp that (something I conclude from your comments), then I would agree that you lack felxibility of mind. Unfortunately, I would also suggest that approaching a topic as complex as entepreneurship demands a highly flexible mind. C'est la vie.
Not all of the information I provided was limited to WASP countries. There are replications of motivations to entrepreneurship from other countries (including, but not limited to, China, Singapore, Indonesia and several african countries). The replications do show some variation in the detail, but they all support the principle conclusion: that there are different motivations driving entrepreneurial activity. Claiming that all entrepreneurs are motivated by the same motive is incorrect.
The final point I made was that success in entrepreneurship was based on the co-operative actions of several people (the founding team). There is very little research on founding teams outside of the US/UK -- but the evidence there suggests that it is a substantive basis to these conclusions that transcends local cultural conditions. I suppose the idea that lessons from the US and UK cannot be applied to your market are one example of your self-proclaimed inflexible mind.
If you would like to explain to me the differences between these conclusions and the situation in your country, I would love to hear it. If you can actually give some data on that, then that would be wonderful.
Rebel,
One of the primary reasons that blacks and hispanics tend to have less successful start-up businesses in the US is due to the structure of the founding team. Generally, there is less diversity (in terms of both skills and ethnicity), which is often a factor in failure. The best study I can find on this blames this on 'ecological proximity' -- that is there are relatively fewer lawyers, accountants and other professionals in the 'average' black or hispanic community (irrespective of the professional's ethnicity), meaning that entrepreneurs are less likely to know these people and therefore less likely to include them in their founding team. It is not a direct product of education or the individual's socio-economic status, but a product of broader social dynamics. |