IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v15y2003i2p151-166.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Policies to support ethnic minority enterprise: the English experience

Author

Listed:
  • Monder Ram
  • David Smallbone

Abstract

Continued political enthusiasm for encouraging entrepreneurship in the UK is beginning to influence business support policy towards black and minority ethnic businesses (BMEBs). The Small Business Service (SBS; the government agency charged with providing business support to small firms in England) has an explicit remit to cater for entrepreneurs from all sections of society. This is an important development given the widely noted reluctance of BMEBs to avail themselves of the services of mainstream business support agencies. This paper aims to assess the extent to which policy aspirations in relation to BMEBs have been realized. A survey of Business Links (the agencies contracted to deliver SBS services in England) and interviews with key informants are drawn upon to address three questions: To what extent do Business Links have a policy to support BMEBs? What form are initiatives to support BMEBs taking? How can these experiences inform a policy agenda towards BMEBs? The findings suggest that uneven and under-developed approaches to the support of BMEBS are commonplace. However, some encouraging examples of potentially fruitful initiatives are in evidence, which may reflect a growing awareness of the particular needs of BMEBs. A number of guidelines for future policy are presented, including the importance of diversity within mainstream provision; the need for an engagement strategy; improved access to finance; the promotion of sectoral diversity; and better evaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Monder Ram & David Smallbone, 2003. "Policies to support ethnic minority enterprise: the English experience," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 151-166, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:15:y:2003:i:2:p:151-166
    DOI: 10.1080/0898562032000075177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0898562032000075177
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0898562032000075177?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oecd, 2002. "Access for Business," OECD Digital Economy Papers 67, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fergus Lyon & Leandro Sepulveda & Stephen Syrett, 2007. "Enterprising Refugees: Contributions and Challenges in Deprived Urban Areas," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 22(4), pages 362-375, November.
    2. Max Nathan & Neil Lee, 2013. "Cultural Diversity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Firm-level Evidence from London," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 367-394, October.
    3. Trevor Jones & Monder Ram & Paul Edwards & Alexander Kiselinchev & Lovemore Muchenje, 2012. "New Migrant Enterprise: Novelty or Historical Continuity?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(14), pages 3159-3176, November.
    4. B. Mathias & Sean Lux & T. Russell Crook & Chad Autry & Russell Zaretzki, 2015. "Competing Against the Unknown: The Impact of Enabling and Constraining Institutions on the Informal Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 251-264, March.
    5. A. Arrighetti & D. Bolzani & A. Lasagni, 2013. "Motivazioni Imprenditoriali E Percorsi Evolutivi Dell’Impresa Etnica," Economics Department Working Papers 2013-EP03, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    6. Ratinho, Tiago & Amezcua, Alejandro & Honig, Benson & Zeng, Zhaocheng, 2020. "Supporting entrepreneurs: A systematic review of literature and an agenda for research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Isidoro Romero & Zhikun Yu, 2015. "Analyzing the influence of social capital on self-employment: a study of Chinese immigrants," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(3), pages 877-899, May.
    8. Monder Ram & Trevor Jones, 2008. "Ethnic-Minority Businesses in the UK: A Review of Research and Policy Developments," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(2), pages 352-374, April.
    9. Monder Ram & Kiran Trehan & John Rouse & Kassa Woldesenbet & Trevor Jones, 2012. "Ethnic Minority Business Support in the West Midlands: Challenges and Developments," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(3), pages 504-519, June.
    10. Mengdie Ruan & Angathevar Baskaran & Shanshan Zhou, 2022. "Mainland Chinese Immigrant-owned SMEs in Malaysia: Case Studies," Millennial Asia, , vol. 13(1), pages 5-34, April.
    11. Martin Beckinsale & Monder Ram, 2006. "Delivering ICT to Ethnic Minority Businesses: An Action-Research Approach," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 24(6), pages 847-867, December.
    12. Kevin Mole & Joan-Lluís Capelleras, 2018. "Take-up and variation of advice for new firm founders in different local contexts," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(1), pages 3-27, February.
    13. Martin K. Hingley & Adam Lindgreen & Michael B. Beverland, 2010. "Barriers to network innovation in UK ethnic fresh produce supply," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 77-96, January.
    14. Mark Freel & Sara Carter & Stephen Tagg & Colin Mason, 2012. "The latent demand for bank debt: characterizing “discouraged borrowers”," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 399-418, May.
    15. Susan Bagwell, 2006. "UK Vietnamese Businesses: Cultural Influences and Intracultural Differences," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 24(1), pages 51-69, February.
    16. Neville, François & Orser, Barbara & Riding, Allan & Jung, Owen, 2014. "Do young firms owned by recent immigrants outperform other young firms?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 55-71.
    17. José A. Belso Martínez, 2005. "Equilibrium entrepreneurship rate, economic development and growth. Evidence from Spanish regions," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 145-161, March.
    18. Trevor Jones & Monder Ram, 2012. "Revisiting … Ethnic-Minority Businesses in the United Kingdom: A Review of Research and Policy Developments," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(6), pages 944-950, December.
    19. Jock Collins & Angeline Low, 2010. "Asian female immigrant entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized businesses in Australia," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 97-111, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pereira, Pedro & Ribeiro, Tiago, 2011. "The impact on broadband access to the Internet of the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 283-293, March.
    2. Vitor Braga, 2004. "Business networking for SMEs as a means to promote regional competitiveness: A Theoretical Framework," ERSA conference papers ersa04p455, European Regional Science Association.
    3. M. Kamil Kozan & Levent Akdeniz, 2014. "Role of Strong versus Weak Networks in Small Business Growth in an Emerging Economy," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Junfu Zhang, 2011. "The advantage of experienced start-up founders in venture capital acquisition: evidence from serial entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 187-208, February.
    5. Ágnes Nemcsicsné Zsóka, 2007. "The role of organisational culture in the environmental awareness of companies," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 12(2), pages 109-131.
    6. Palmero, Alfredo Jiménez & Herrera, Juan José Durán & Sabaté, Juan Manuel de la Fuente, 2013. "The role of psychic distance stimuli on the East-West FDI location structure in the EU. Evidence from Spanish MNEs," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 18(1), pages 36-65.
    7. App, Stefanie & Merk, Janina & Buettgen, Marion, 2012. "Employer Branding: Sustainable HRM as a Competitive Advantage in the Market for High-Quality Employees," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(3), pages 262-278.
    8. Galina Hale & João A. C. Santos, 2006. "Evidence on the costs and benefits of bond IPOs," Working Paper Series 2006-42, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    9. Meng Wang & Lining Gan, 2018. "Religion and Corporate Innovation," Business and Management Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(1), pages 81-95, March.
    10. Kym Anderson, 2003. "Trade Liberalization, Agriculture, and Poverty in Low-income Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-25, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Krug, B. & Hendrischke, H., 2006. "Framing China: Transformation and Institutional Change," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-025-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    12. Adam, Klaus & Merkel, Sebastian, 2019. "Stock price cycles and business cycles," Working Paper Series 2316, European Central Bank.
    13. Cervero, Robert, 2005. "Accessible Cities and Regions: A Framework for Sustainable Transport and Urbanism in the 21st Century," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt27g2q0cx, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    14. Anders, Sven M. & Caswell, Julie A., 2006. "Assessing the Impact of Stricter Food Safety Standards on Trade: HACCP in U.S. Seafood Trade with the Developing World," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21338, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Julia Rouse & Dilani Jayawarna, 2011. "Structures of Exclusion from Enterprise Finance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(4), pages 659-676, August.
    16. Li, Haiyan, 2020. "Role of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties and firm activity in the home country in the internationalization of returnee entrepreneurial firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(1).
    17. Fornoni, Mariel & Arribas, Iván & Vila, José E., 2012. "An entrepreneur's social capital and performance: the role of access to information in the Argentinean case," Nülan. Deposited Documents 1881, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    18. Lone Kronbak & Marko Lindroos, 2006. "An Enforcement-Coalition Model: Fishermen and Authorities Forming Coalitions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 35(3), pages 169-194, November.
    19. Sagren Moodley, 2002. "Competing in the Digital Economy?: The Dynamics and Impacts of B2B E-commerce on the South African Manufacturing Sector," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-79, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Howell, Bronwyn & Obren, Mark, 2003. "Telecommunications Usage in New Zealand: 1993-2003," Working Paper Series 3886, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:15:y:2003:i:2:p:151-166. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.