Over 10% of the minority business enterprises (MBE) operating nationwide sell goods or services to units of government. The government procurement market attracts larger-than-average MBEs, ...particularly firms in construction, wholesale, business services, and other skill-intensive service industries. A total of 4,412 MBE's that sold to state or local governments in 1987 are tracked. Along with small-business comparison groups, these firms were traced through late 1991 to test whether selling to government had strengthened the MBE's. Controlling statistically for firm and owner traits, MBE's heavily reliant upon a government clientele were found to be more likely to go out of business over the 1987-1991 period then were other firms. Selling to government clearly has its drawbacks.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972.
Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.
This study analyzes the relationship between entrepreneur human capital endowments and minority enterprise profitability. The better educated subset of entrepreneurs earns high profits relative to ...their minority business counterparts, and the lines of business in which they are concentrating lie outside the retail and personal service areas that have traditionally dominated minority business activity. In addition to fostering industrial diversity by creating and expanding firms in heavy construction, manufacturing, and skill-intensive services, the better educated entrepreneur group is found to be utilizing effectively both its financial and human capital inputs.
Past studies have claimed that minority business owners are collectively an insignificant group running marginal enterprises. Among the self-employed, however, the incidence of low-income earners is ...no greater among minorities than among nonminorities. Further, there is a clear trend toward more skill-intensive, higher-earning lines of minority self-employment. Incomes of self-employed minorities lag behind those reported by nonminorities, but this earnings gap narrowed substantially between 1960 and 1980.
