Your Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Your Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

New Research on Latino-owned Business Growth

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Here is some new research authored by me. The article uses over 100,000 observations from limited-access and nationally representative US Census Bureau microdata sets to test determinants of employment growth among Latino-owned businesses (LOBs) in the Unites States. We draw variables from prior studies on determinants business growth in the general population and uniquely apply them to LOB using the robust data. Specifically, we examine the impact of numerous business owner, business, and regional characteristics on employment growth. We include industry and state-level fixed effects and test the robustness of results to various employment growth timespans. Some findings include (1) Latina-owned businesses grow faster than LOB, (2) formal education has a positive effect on employment growth and this effect is larger with education level and time, (3) Puerto Rican-owned businesses grow 2 percent slower than Mexican-owned establishments, (4) having multiple establishments reduces employment growth, (5) relying on personal savings for start-up capital impedes growth, and (6) nonmetro adjacency has a significant and negative effect, while population density does not. Our findings show that LOB may grow differently than other businesses and help advance the understanding of factors related to success of LOB. Implementing straightforward and low-cost policies aimed at better support for LOB could help bolster regional growth.

 

Read more at: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0160017619826278

Results of Virtual Focus Groups on Small Businesses and Rural Communities

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The NCRCRD hosted virtual focus groups of professionals working with rural businesses (home based, retail, and manufacturing). The virtual interactions included polls and open-ended questions with participants from around the nation. Open-ended responses were analyzed with qualitative software using the community capitals as an organizing framework. Responses indicate substantial differences in business needs and challenges across sectors. The project was supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Award number 2017-67023-26242.

March 5, 2019 – 1:00 PM (ET)
http://ncrcrd.adobeconnect.com/ncrcrd1

See the below PDF for details!

Rural Enterprise Webinar 3-5-19

New Research Article on Differences Between Latino-Owned Businesses and White-, Black-, or Asian-Owned Businesses

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Growth of the U.S. Latino population translates into policy interest of how business owner, firm, and local characteristics may be different for Latinos. To explore ethnicity and business ownership, this study merges restricted-access data from 11 million businesses. Multinomial logistic regression estimates how characteristics associate with the probability of the business being Latino-owned relative to White-owned, Black-owned, or Asian-owned. There are differences in the source and amount of start-up funds, gender, and the sector of the business. The differences depend on the group to which Latinos are being compared; for example, manufacturing firms are less likely to be Latino owned than White owned, but more likely to be Latino owned than Black owned. An exception is college education and rurality; Latino owners are consistently less likely to be college educated and more likely to locate in rural areas than the other ethnic minorities. The results should be helpful to groups attempting to improve Latino business outcomes.

To read more, read the full article here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891242418785466

AgriLife Extension economist (yours truly) leads rural military entrepreneurship study

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A team of researchers have received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create guidelines to better assist rural military veteran business owners.

Dr. Craig Carpenter, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist in College Station, is leading a group looking to identify business entrepreneurship opportunities for rural U.S. military veterans.

Read the full article here: https://today.agrilife.org/2018/08/17/agrilife-extension-economist-leads-rural-military-entrepreneurship-study/

New Research on Latino Self-Employment

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My colleague and I employ U.S. Census Bureau data from cities of 10,000 or more to examine the impact of immigrants in American cities on self-employment and median income. The results show that self-employment has a statistically significant and positive impact on median income and immigrant population. When controlling for race populations, lagged immigrant population has a negative impact on self-employment, but removing the Hispanic control causes this relationship to become statistically insignificant. In other words, Hispanics, not other ethnicities, drive much of the self-employment in U.S. cities. An implication is that more attention to helping Hispanic business owners succeed and expand their businesses could benefit the general population of a city.

For more, the full academic journal article is here: http://www.jrap-journal.org/pastvolumes/2010/v47/jrap_v47_n2_a1_carpenter_loveridge.pdf

Recruiting Participants for National Project!

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Do you work with retail businesses, for example providing training or consulting services related to business or financial planning, marketing, customer service, or other support services?

We are excited to announce a web-discussion on “Retail Businesses: Resources, Challenges, and Factors Influencing Success.” Your experiences and perspective will provide valuable information as we assess different approaches to help communities identify local industries with strong opportunities and better support those businesses.

Because the webinar will be structured as a discussion, you will learn about what your colleagues nationally are doing and we will share some of the latest statistics and research on local factors that contribute to business success. We hope to learn from your experiences and share that information with others.

Please let us know if you are interested in joining us for this exciting opportunity by completing the information below including the section, “Please tell us about yourself.”  Because we desire a two-way exchange, space is limited. Once we hear from everyone, you will receive a confirmation on the date and time of your scheduled webinar.

This web discussion is part of a larger project “Mapping Economic Opportunity in Rural America: Mining Big Data for Decision Making in Business Development.” This project is supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), grant number 2016-10918. The research was reviewed by the Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board (IRB2017-0056).

To learn more about the larger research and Extension project, visit the announcement at ow.ly/JmNz30cz94I.

If you are interested in volunteering to participate, please reply to Dr. Craig Carpenter (ccarpenter@tamu.edu) with the following information by May 7, 2018. We will select among the common availability to place you into a focus group.

PLEASE INDICATE ALL DATES AND TIMES YOU ARE AVAILABLE. Based on the responses, we will select one date and time for your participation.

May 14, 2018

___ 11am-12pm (EDT); 10-11am (CDT); 9-10am (MDT); 8am-9am (PDT)

___ 1-2pm (EDT); 12-1pm (CDT); 11am-12pm (MDT); 10am-11am (PDT)

___ 3-4pm (EDT); 2-3pm (CDT); 1-2pm (MDT); 12am-1pm (PDT)

 

May 15, 2018

___ 12-1pm (EDT); 11am-12pm (CDT); 10-11am (MDT); 9-10am (PDT)

___ 2-3pm (EDT); 1-2pm (CDT); 12-1pm (MDT); 11am-12pm (PDT)

___ 4pm-5pm (EDT); 3-4pm (CDT); 2-3pm (MDT); 1-2pm (PDT)

 

May 18, 2018

___ 11am-12pm (EDT); 10-11am (CDT); 9-10am (MDT); 8am-9am (PDT)

___ 1-2pm (EDT); 12-1pm (CDT); 11am-12pm (MDT); 10am-11am (PDT)

___ 3-4pm (EDT); 2-3pm (CDT); 1-2pm (MDT); 12am-1pm (PDT)

 

June 18, 2018

___ 11am-12pm (EDT); 10-11am (CDT); 9-10am (MDT); 8am-9am (PDT)

___ 1-2pm (EDT); 12-1pm (CDT); 11am-12pm (MDT); 10am-11am (PDT)

___ 3-4pm (EDT); 2-3pm (CDT); 1-2pm (MDT); 12am-1pm (PDT)

 

June 21, 2018

___ 12-1pm (EDT); 11am-12pm (CDT); 10-11am (MDT); 9-10am (PDT)

___ 2-3pm (EDT); 1-2pm (CDT); 12-1pm (MDT); 11am-12pm (PDT)

___ 4pm-5pm (EDT); 3-4pm (CDT); 2-3pm (MDT); 1-2pm (PDT)

 

June 27, 2018

___ 11am-12pm (EDT); 10-11am (CDT); 9-10am (MDT); 8am-9am (PDT)

___ 1-2pm (EDT); 12-1pm (CDT); 11am-12pm (MDT); 10am-11am (PDT)

___ 3-4pm (EDT); 2-3pm (CDT); 1-2pm (MDT); 12am-1pm (PDT)

 

June 29, 2018

___ 11am-12pm (EDT); 10-11am (CDT); 9-10am (MDT); 8am-9am (PDT)

___ 1-2pm (EDT); 12-1pm (CDT); 11am-12pm (MDT); 10am-11am (PDT)

___ 3-4pm (EDT); 2-3pm (CDT); 1-2pm (MDT); 12am-1pm (PDT)

 

PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF:

State: ________________________

Primary Business Type Supported: __________________________________________

Primary area of work (check all that apply): Urban______ Suburban______ Rural______

Website: _______________________________________________________________

 

Sincerely,

Craig Carpenter, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist – Community Economics and Business Development

Texas A&M University | Department of Agricultural Economics

AgriLife Extension Service

ccarpenter@tamu.edu

 

 

News Coverage on our USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant!

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The community-opportunity matching program is a program that we are currently developing to match communities and entrepreneurs with opportunities in their area. Specifically, we will use “big data” with details on over 30 million businesses to estimate demand and supply thresholds for every county in the United States!

Read more at: http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_d0dc547a-a6b7-11e7-a5e2-b7b20eb20f95.html

Coverage on my team’s effort to use big data to aid rural economic development

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My co-PI, Dr. Linda Neihm, and our project to use big data in support of rural economic development received some more coverage. As I note in the article, big data are continuing to grow, but research and extension struggle with best practices for utilization of that data, especially in the development of practical uses. We know that there are numerous factors that influence the survival and growth of rural businesses, but current efforts have not yet utilized big data to dig into the relative importance of those various factors. Our work will do just that.

Read more at: https://www.hs.iastate.edu/news/2017/09/12/linda-niehm-big-data/

Hispanic and Latino-owned Businesses Increasingly Important

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Recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau emphasize the importance of Latino-owned business in the United States.

Although Latinos still make up a relatively small share of the total business in the United States, compared to non-Latinos, the number of Latino-owned business is growing relatively quickly. The number of Latino-owned businesses increased by 46.3 percent from 2.3 million to 3.3 million in the five years between 2007 to 2012. The total number of all U.S. firms increased at a relatively the slow rate of 2 percent during the same period, from 27.1 million to 27.6 million. Hence, if not for Latino-owned businesses, the total number of U.S. firms may have decreased over that time period. The Latino-owned business receipt growth rate similarly outpaced that of all firms, with an increase of 35.1 percent from $350.7 to $473.6 billion, compared to 11.7 percent growth from $30.0 to $33.5 trillion for all firms.

Reaching out to your Latino community members when discussing any economic development planning or entrepreneurial gardening is essential. Most importantly, reaching out is essential because you should always be sure to include a diverse and representative group in these efforts to maximize buy-in and productive contributions to the process. But reaching out is also important because failing to make an effort to invite your Latino community members will simply exclude a large portion of your small business owners.

See the link below to read the Census’s post:

http://blogs.census.gov/2016/12/01/hispanic-owned-businesses-on-the-upswing/