Exploring the Impact of Education on Korean-American Entrepreneurs

Education has been shown to have myriad effects on people, from increasing their incomes to changing their views of the world. In the area of entrepreneurship, education creates opportunities and increases the rate of entrepreneurial activity. This study explores education’s effects on the immigrant entrepreneurship development processes and outcomes in the context of Korean-Americans by comparing a national sample of Korean-Americans with differing amounts of education. The sample is part of the National Minority Business Owners Surveys (NMBOS) carried out by the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch College between 2003 and 2005. The authors hypothesize that high-education Korean-Americans will have larger and more successful businesses, have more varying types of businesses, and follow differing paths to business formation. In addition, the authors hypothesize that motivations, goals, and attitudes toward their businesses, families, and their lives generally will be different. Among other things, confidence and level of satisfaction with their business will be higher for the high-education group. The study finds that while the low- and high-education groups vary in their types of businesses, the paths followed into those businesses, and the size of their businesses, they are very similar as to their attitudes, motivations, and family interactions. Implications for future research are discussed

Is What’s Good for the Business, Good for the Family: A Financial Assessment

Small business prosperity doesn’t necessarily translate into family prosperity. This study utilizes the first and second waves of the National Family Business Survey to explore the influence of changes in key business financial measures on objective and subjective measures of family success. Increases in the available cash in the business from higher gross sales or net profits brings more cash into the household, while increases in the market value of the business increases the amount of money spent on other household assets. A more subjective assessment suggests that positive changes in the business financial measures create a more positive perception of the business’ success; however, these positive changes have no influence on a more positive perception of the family’s success. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Business, Family, Financial, Success,