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Determinants of Business Success: An Examination of Asian-Owned Businesses in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Robb, Alicia

    (Kauffman Foundation)

  • Fairlie, Robert W.

    (University of California, Los Angeles)

Abstract

Using confidential and restricted-access microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau, we find that Asian-owned businesses are 16.9 percent less likely to close, 20.6 percent more likely to have profits of at least $10,000, and 27.2 percent more likely to hire employees than white-owned businesses in the United States. Asian firms also have mean annual sales that are roughly 60 percent higher than the mean sales of white firms. Using regression estimates and a special non-linear decomposition technique, we explore the role that class resources, such as financial capital and human capital, play in contributing to the relative success of Asian businesses. We find that Asian-owned businesses are more successful than white-owned businesses for two main reasons – Asian owners have high levels of human capital and their businesses have substantial startup capital. Startup capital and education alone explain from 65 percent to the entire gap in business outcomes between Asians and whites. Using the detailed information on both the owner and the firm available in the CBO, we estimate the explanatory power of several additional factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Robb, Alicia & Fairlie, Robert W., 2007. "Determinants of Business Success: An Examination of Asian-Owned Businesses in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 2566, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2566
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    Cited by:

    1. Evgueni Vinogradov & Espen J. Isaksen, 2008. "Survival Of New Firms Owned By Natives And Immigrants In Norway," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(01), pages 21-38.
    2. Ron Jarmin & CJ Krizan & Adela Luque, 2016. "Small Business Growth and Failure during the Great Recession: The Role of House Prices, Race & Gender," CARRA Working Papers 2016-08, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Robert W. Fairlie & Julie Zissimopoulos & Harry Krashinsky, 2010. "The International Asian Business Success Story? A Comparison of Chinese, Indian and Other Asian Businesses in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: International Differences in Entrepreneurship, pages 179-208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Widad Pitrus*, 2015. "Not all smooth sailing: Barriers to small business success for owner/managers from Middle Eastern communities in Melbourne," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 49(6), pages 293-304, Special I.
    5. Getahun Fenta Kebede, 2020. "Network Locations or Embedded Resources? The Effects of Entrepreneurs’ Social Networks on Informal Enterprise Performance in Ethiopia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(2), pages 630-659, June.
    6. Sana Ullah & Muhammad Tariq Majeed & Babur Wasim Arif, 2021. "Social capital and firms’ choice of financing under credit constraints: microeconomic evidence from Pakistan," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 48(1), pages 3-13, March.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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