South Asian entrepreneurship in Great Britain: factors influencing growth

Anuradha Basu, Arati Goswami

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research · 1999 · 109 citations · 27 references

Concepts

TL;DR

The study examines factors driving South Asian entrepreneurial growth in Great Britain and tests the idea that cultural factors alone explain this success. Growth depends on education, startup savings, hard work, delegation to non‑family, prior work experience, targeting non‑Asian customers, continuous product and technology improvement, employee training, and larger firms’ international linkages and single‑focus strategy.

Abstract

Analyses the factors influencing South Asian entrepreneurial expansion in Great Britain and the validity of conventional wisdom which attributes its success to cultural factors. It suggests that entrepreneurial growth depends positively on educational attainment, personal savings invested at start‐up, hard work in the initial stages, and the delegation of responsibilities to non‐family members. Further analysis indicates that later entrants into business gained relevant prior work experience and focused on serving non‐Asian customers, which may have contributed towards their success. The pursuit of constant product and technological improvement and employee training have also influenced growth. There is strong evidence that entrepreneurs with larger‐sized businesses have developed international linkages and focused on one key business area.

References

27