France

This chapter consists of sections on Introduction, Historical Overview, The Environment for Entrepreneurship and Toward the Future. Introduction, as follows:Neighbouring Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland, the French Republic covers 543,965 square kilometres, with distinctive regional, cultural, and linguistic differences. In much of France, the French word for cherry, cerise, is normally pronounced with two distinct syllables audible. In Normandy, it is often pronounced quickly as if it were a one-syllable word. In the southwest, it can be stretched as if it had three syllables, pronouncing clearly even the silent e at the end — as if it were ce rise eux.Dana (1996) investigated a sample of 296 owner-managers in Alsace, finding that motivations for self-employment varied along religious lines; for a historical study of entrepreneurial families in Alsace, see Hau and Stoskopf (2005). The Basques were discussed by Laxalt (1968) and by Dana (1995b), the latter suggesting that entrepreneurs in the Basque Country are culturally predisposed toward self-employment; for a discussion of Basque entrepreneurs in the United States, see Laxalt (1966). The Bordelais is the focus of Davenport (1980); Brittany the focus of Walker (1965); Languedoc of Edwards (1951); the Loire of MacLeish (1966); Provence of Bryson (1995); and the Pyrenees of Laxalt (1974). Laxalt (1968) focused on self-employed sheepherders in the Pyrenees. Dana (2005) gave an account of a typical small business in the Pyrenees. Selfemployed goat herders and shepherds form the heart of the local economy in Aregno, on the island of Corsica; Range noted that while this island was annexed by France in 1769, some residents “remain defiantly un-French” (2003, p. 57). Meanwhile, Toulouse is home to a global aerospace industry…