How should we measure indigenous entrepreneurship? A search for explanatory variables

In Canada and elsewhere around the world Indigenous Peoples are struggling to rebuild their &lsquo;nations&rsquo; and improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their people. We are embarking on a program of research in an effort to understand this phenomenon and to inform the process. In this paper we (i) explore the approach to development being adopted by Indigenous people in Canada; (ii) conduct a preliminary literature review; (iii) identify input indicators of entrepreneurship and business development capacity, process measures of development activity and an output indicator of development effectiveness and (v) identify the information available from secondary sources relating to these indicators and the gaps in information that will have to be filled by primary research.<br /

Understanding how Indigenous community factors affect Indigenous entrepreneurial process

Background: Indigenous people in colonized countries across the globe are attempting to attain equitable life circumstances on par with populations that form the majority. The manner in which Indigenous peoples seek to achieve this assumes many different forms, some confrontational and some involving reconciliation. One way Indigenous people hope to create higher living standards in their communities is by engaging in the acquisition, creation and management of new ventures. In Canada these entrepreneurial activities occur in a variety of settings. This thesis is focused upon entrepreneurial activities (principally those of new venture creation) within one specific type of Indigenous community – the reserve or ‘band’. The research problem. The research problem reported in this thesis is fundamentally concerned with the broad issue of how a wide range of entrepreneurial processes can be successfully conducted in the context of Canadian Indigenous band communities. It is a thesis about the role of context on entrepreneurial process in a particular setting. Put at its simplest, my core question, stated at its broadest level of generality is: what makes for successful as distinct from unsuccessful entrepreneurship in the Canadian band community context? To do this, I need to understand how Indigenous context at the community level influences entrepreneurial process. The thesis thus involves the quest to achieve two actionable objectives. Objective 1: perform a structured investigation. This research seeks to understand the entrepreneurship phenomenon and associated entrepreneurial processes as they occur in Indigenous communities (as represented by Canadian bands) by detailed, structured examination and comparison of How Indigenous Community Context Affects Indigenous Entrepreneurial Process iv communities that are performing entrepreneurship (both successfully and unsuccessfully) and communities that are not even attempting entrepreneurial performance. Objective 2: develop a theoretical/analytical framework directly germane to understanding the relationship between Indigenous community context and successful entrepreneurial process. Conceptual discovery Involved three literature reviews. (1) Development of an understanding of the context of the Indigenous band and entrepreneurship within the specific ‘band’ environment (chapter 2). (2) A review of multiple generic perspectives on Indigenous under-development and entrepreneurship (Chapter 3). (3) A search for existing wisdom and models purporting to be effective for understanding the entrepreneurial potential of a ‘community’ (chapter 4) Two empirical investigations A two-part empirical investigation was conducted. I first constructed a grounded theory of successful entrepreneurship from data obtained through semistructured interviews of members from three ‘exemplar’ Canadian Indigenous bands. Then, after comparing the emergent-grounded theory against existing frameworks a second empirical investigation involved three theoretically guided ‘case studies’ with the objective of formulating a model that could identify the salient features of ‘community’ that affect the entrepreneurial process. Results The first stage empirical investigation resulted in a grounded theory with significant comportment with the analytical framework posited by Hindle (2010). ‘Community factors’ that facilitated the entrepreneurial process in the exemplar communities were in five ‘categories’, (1) governance and institutions, (2) culture and tradition, (3) land, (4) human capital, (5) networks. These findings comported well with Hindle’s existing diagnostic framework which was then employed for further empirical study. A revised analytical framework called the Indigenous Community Venturing Model (ICVM) resulted from further case How Indigenous Community Context Affects Indigenous Entrepreneurial Process v studies. The ICVM is my principle finding and has significant implications for research, practice and policy. Implications In Canada there are many researchers studying entreprepreurship, but few focussed on Indigenous issues. Interested parties can find a variety of studies about Indigenous entrepreneurship but the majority of these are not empirically based. The literature is fragmented and eclectic. This left a gap (now filled) in the information available for future researchers, practitioners, Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments and policy makers. Researchers, practitioners and policy makers will find the ICVM to be both necessary and a useful tool

2015 Special Issue: The Natural Resource Sector, Partnerships and Indigenous Entrepreneurship: Theory, Policy and Practice

Indigenous communities are being impacted by the development of natural resources in a variety of ways. Some communities have chosen to pursue economic opportunities by forming alliances with governments and industry partners and/or through the formation of new ventures. Other communities choose to ‘opt out’ of natural resource development projects for reasons usually related to environmental impact concerns (Anderson 1997; Anderson et al. 2006). For this special issue we seek theoretical and empirical work that advances our understanding of the multiple ways in which strategic alliances and partnerships between natural resource corporations, governments and Indigenous communities can be negotiated, formed, sustained and leveraged for the purposes of creating win/win value propositions that may have either a direct or indirect impact on the creation of wholly owned or joint new ventures

An empirically justified theory of successful indigenous entrepreneurship : a case study of the Osoyoos Indian Band

The Osoyoos Indian Band case study signals the beginning of a PhD research project that will take approximately three years to complete. Taken in isolation, the objectives for the Osoyoos case study are modest. We want to refine our theoretical model and improve the case study protocol before embarking on a set of 5 case studies to explore Indigenous entrepreneurship; what it is, what communities do to succeed and a generalized definition of a successful venture from an Indigenous Canadian perspective.<br /

Strategic alliances, partnership, and joint ventures

International audienc

An empirically justified theory of successful Indigenous entrepreneurship: case study of the Osoyoo Indian Band

The Osoyoos Indian Band case study signals the beginning of a PhD research project that will take approximately three years to complete. Taken in isolation, the objectives for the Osoyoos case study are modest. We want to refine our theoretical model and improve the case study protocol before embarking on a set of 5 case studies to explore Indigenous entrepreneurship; what it is, what communities do to succeed and a generalized definition of a successful venture from an Indigenous Canadian perspective

Relating practice to theory in indigenous entrepreneurship : a pilot investigation of the Kitsaki partnership portfolio

In Canada and elsewhere around the world, Indigenous Peoples are struggling to rebuild their &quot;nations&quot; and improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their people. Many see economic development as the key to success. This is certainly true for Indigenous people in Canada (the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit, collectively called Aboriginal or Indigenous people). Among them, participation in the global economy through entrepreneurship and business development is widely accepted as the key to economy building and nation &quot;re-building.&quot; As elaborated in the next section, the demand is that this participation must be on their own terms for their own purposes, and traditional lands, history, culture, and values play a critical role. There is an intriguing symmetry between the modernity of the desire for global business competence and competitiveness and the insistence upon the distinctive importance of cultural heritage in developing new enterprise. The way that the two superficially contrasting concepts of innovation and heritage are combined in the field of Indigenous entrepreneurship has been expounded by Hindle and Lansdowne.1Recognizing the challenges they face in attempting to compete in the global economy on their own terms, Indigenous people are increasingly developing enterprises in the form of partnerships of all types among themselves and with non-Indigenous enterprises. As both a form and a context of business organization, the partnership or alliance model is particularly fraught with the need to blend the old with the new, heritage with innovation. This study is a preliminary investigation of the Kitsaki initiative of the Lac La Ronge Indian band. In it we: * explore several ventures involved in the partnership, asking key operatives for their opinions about the factors that explain success and failure; * distill the explanations into as few, all-embracing factors as possible; * relate the findings to the emerging theory of Indigenous entrepreneurship, with particular reference to the suggested paradigm of Indigenous entrepreneurship developed by Hindle and Lansdowne (2002); * project the results of the investigation into suggestions for a more structured program of future research.<br /

Toward a better understanding of Aboriginal / Indigenous rights and their impact on development: an application of regulation theory

International audienceThis paper explores the relationship between business, society and the developmental aspirations of Indigenous people, whose communities are among the poorest and most marginalized in the world; it explores the emergence, evolution and growing importance of the role that Indigenous rights play in the development of these communities. To do so, the authors examine the interrelationship between Indigenous rights, social capital and entrepreneurial activity. Using regulation theory, we develop several propositions to argue that these conceptual areas can come together to provide insight on how modes of social regulation may be crucial to understanding the pathways available for participation in the global regime of accumulation. The result can be the emergence of a particular mode of development that is aligned with the outcomes sought by the community. From these propositions, the authors argue that the modes of development available are dependent upon multiple levels of societal structures where the degree of localization in the modes of social regulation is central in determining the objectives as well as significant to achieving them