Beyond necessity versus opportunity entrepreneurship: some lessons from English deprived urban neighbourhoods

When discussing the motivations of entrepreneurs, it has become commonplace to represent them dichotomously as either necessity or opportunity driven. This paper evaluates critically this dualistic depiction of entrepreneurs’ motives through an examination of the rationales of entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs living in a deprived urban neighbourhood of an English city, a group of entrepreneurs who have been conventionally depicted as largely driven by necessity into entrepreneurship in the absence of alternative means of livelihood. Reporting the results of a face-to-face questionnaire conducted in 2008 with 459 respondents and a further 18 follow-up in-depth interviews, the finding is that forcing individual entrepreneurs’ motives into one or other of these categories grossly over-simplifies their rationales which in lived practice are not only a mixture of both opportunity and necessity but also temporally fluid shifting most often from more necessity- to more opportunity-oriented rationales. The outcome is to reveal that the opportunity versus necessity dichotomy, which uses the perceptions of an entrepreneur’s originating condition as the defining feature of their motivations, is a misleading way of categorising types of entrepreneurship not only because motivations change over time but also because entrepreneurs are frequently driven by both necessity as well as opportunity factors. The result is a call to move beyond the conventional either/or depiction of opportunity versus necessity entrepreneurship and towards a richer, more nuanced and dynamic appreciation of entrepreneurs’ motivations.     

Economic resilience and entrepreneurship: lessons from the Sheffield City Region

This article examines the relationship between economic resilience and entrepreneurship in city regions. Resilience is an emerging concept which has been employed to examine economic performance and responsiveness to exogenous shocks such as financial crisis and recession. Drawing on a literature review of academic articles in this emerging field and interviews with policy-makers in the Sheffield City Region of England, the article examines how entrepreneurship is central to sustain a dynamic economy and demonstrates that it is being fore-fronted in policy debates as a key aspect in creating more resilient economies. The article finds that entrepreneurship is integral to promoting the diversification and capacity building of regional economies, traits which are characteristic of (more) resilient economies. We advance the emerging literature through the development of a conceptual framework to highlight the links between economic resilience and entrepreneurship. In doing so, the article argues that entrepreneurship is critical to the restructuring and adaptation of local (city region) economies and draws out a series of recommendations concerning the wider policy implications of the study.     

Evaluating competing theories of street entrepreneurship: some lessons from a study of street vendors in Bangalore, India

Conventionally, street entrepreneurs were either seen as a residue from a pre-modern era that is gradually disappearing (modernisation theory), or an endeavour into which marginalised populations are driven out of necessity in the absence of alternative ways of securing a livelihood (structuralist theory). In recent years, however, participation in street entrepreneurship has been re-read either as a rational economic choice (neo-liberal theory) or as conducted for cultural reasons (post-modern theory). The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these competing explanations for participation in street entrepreneurship. To do this, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 871 street entrepreneurs in the Indian city of Bangalore during 2010 concerning their reasons for participation in street entrepreneurship. The finding is that no one explanation suffices. Some 12?% explain their participation in street entrepreneurship as necessity-driven, 15?% as traditional ancestral activity, 56?% as a rational economic choice and 17?% as pursued for social or lifestyle reasons. The outcome is a call to combine these previously rival explanations in order to develop a richer and more nuanced theorisation of the multifarious motives for street entrepreneurship in emerging market economies.     

New entrepreneurship: lessons from the past,perspectives for the future

A general theoretical framework for studying new entrepreneurship is presented. The four dimensions of the framework are: the starter and the new venture, the external environment, the dynamics of the process, and the managerial behavior. For making the transition from the past to the future, a three-step model has been elaborated: analytical approach, policy approach, and adjustment pattern. The first approach deals with causal relationships and interactions between the different actors involved within the system. In the second step basic characteristics of an optimal start-up situation are to be identified. The adjustment pattern describes the specific measures to be taken to bridge the gap between actual and optimal situations. The perspectives for the future are formulated as a dozen suggestions. A distinction is made between four different target groups. The corresponding headings are: what researchers should do, what starters should do, what supporting infrastructure should do, what public authorities should do.     

Representing workers on occupational safety and health: some lessons from a largely ignored history

The decade from 1970 witnessed major reforms of occupational health and safety (OSH) laws in Western Europe, North America and Australasia. The establishment of worker representation in OSH was one of their most significant features. Largely overlooked in commentary then or since however was the fact that worker representation in safety had a far longer history, having operated in coal mining from a century earlier in some countries. The purpose of this paper is not so much to fill this historical gap as to examine this earlier development in terms of its contribution to better understand worker representation in OSH at the present time.     

Explaining cross‐national variations in the prevalence of envelope wages: some lessons from a 2013 Eurobarometer survey

The aim of this article is to evaluate competing theories that variously explain the greater prevalence of envelope wages in some countries either as: a legacy of under‐development (modernisation thesis); due to high taxes, state corruption and burdensome regulations and controls (neo‐liberal thesis), or a result of inadequate state intervention in work and welfare arrangements, which leaves workers less than fully protected (political economy thesis). Reporting a 2013 survey of cross‐national variations in the prevalence of envelope wages, the finding is that the results refute the neo‐liberal thesis but support both the modernisation and political economy theses, revealing that this illegitimate wage practice is more common in poorer, less equal countries with lower taxation and social protection levels and less effective redistribution via social transfers. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.     

Evaluating the prevalence and distribution of dependent self‐employment: some lessons from the European Working Conditions Survey

This article advances understanding of the prevalence and distribution of dependent self‐employment. Analysing the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey of 35,765 employees in 28 European countries, the dependent self‐employed are found to comprise 4.3% (1 in 23) of the EU workforce, 47% of all those reporting themselves as self‐employed without employees and 31% of all self‐employed. The prevalence of dependent self‐employment, however, is found to have decreased since the previous 2010 survey, is not found to be concentrated among marginalised population groups and is significantly more likely in agriculture, forestry and fishing, arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities, and the household services sector. The implications for theorising and tackling dependent self‐employment are discussed.