IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v65y2012i12p1665-1673.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

African microentrepreneurship: The reality of everyday challenges

Author

Listed:
  • DeBerry-Spence, Benet
  • Elliot, Esi Abbam

Abstract

This research explores the everyday challenges to microentrepreneurship in Ghana, West Africa. Everyday challenges are problems, including events, conditions, and people, that impair the ability to conduct daily business operations and are characterized by frequent occurrence, disruption, and idiosyncrasy. A qualitative study of arts and crafts microentrepreneurs (ACMs) was conducted and the findings from this study expose the relationship between everyday challenges and long-term barriers and how the approaches entrepreneurs use to ameliorate daily problems may hinder their ability to overcome long-term barriers. They also demonstrate the need for a broader theoretical framework for the study of microentrepreneurial problems—one that extends beyond current macro-level barriers to incorporate the micro-level, tactical difficulties of microentrepreneurship that are an essential component of the African entrepreneur's experience.

Suggested Citation

  • DeBerry-Spence, Benet & Elliot, Esi Abbam, 2012. "African microentrepreneurship: The reality of everyday challenges," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 1665-1673.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:65:y:2012:i:12:p:1665-1673
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.02.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296312000392
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.02.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Tybout, 2000. "Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, March.
    2. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1997. "Trade credit in Zimbabwean manufacturing," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 795-815, May.
    3. Viswanathan, Madhu & Sridharan, Srinivas & Ritchie, Robin, 2010. "Understanding consumption and entrepreneurship in subsistence marketplaces," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 570-581, June.
    4. Julie M. Hite, 2005. "Evolutionary Processes and Paths of Relationally Embedded Network Ties in Emerging Entrepreneurial Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(1), pages 113-144, January.
    5. Moser, Caroline O. N., 1998. "The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-19, January.
    6. DeBerry-Spence, Benét, 2010. "Making theory and practice in subsistence markets: An analytic autoethnography of MASAZI in Accra, Ghana," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 608-616, June.
    7. Mead, Donald C. & Liedholm, Carl, 1998. "The dynamics of micro and small enterprises in developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 61-74, January.
    8. Iain Christie & Doreen Elizabeth Cromption, 2001. "Tourism in Africa," World Bank Publications - Reports 9804, The World Bank Group.
    9. Rosalind C. Paige, 2009. "Profiles Of Successful Craft Micro-Retailers," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(04), pages 393-412.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kumar, Avinash & Kumra, Rajeev & Singh, Ramendra, 2022. "Base of the pyramid producers’ constraints: An integrated review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 115-129.
    2. Muhammad Nawaz Tunio & Aqeel Ahmed Soomro & Dieter Bogenhold, 2017. "The Study of Self-employment at SMEs Level with Reference to Poverty in Developing Countries," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(2), pages 33-39, June.
    3. Fernandes, Josi & Mason, Katy & Chakrabarti, Ronika, 2019. "Managing to make market agencements: The temporally bound elements of stigma in favelas," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 128-142.
    4. Obi Berko Obeng Damoah & Augustine Awuah Peprah, 2021. "Synthesis of small and medium enterprise research in Ghana," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 11(1), pages 451-468, December.
    5. Manrai, Lalita A. & Lascu, Dana-Nicoleta & Manrai, Ajay K., 2020. "A study of safari tourism in sub-Saharan Africa: An empirical test of Tourism A-B-C (T-ABC) model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 639-651.
    6. Khare, Apoorv & Jain, Rajesh, 2022. "Mapping the conceptual and intellectual structure of the consumer vulnerability field: A bibliometric analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 567-584.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manrai, Lalita A. & Lascu, Dana-Nicoleta & Manrai, Ajay K., 2020. "A study of safari tourism in sub-Saharan Africa: An empirical test of Tourism A-B-C (T-ABC) model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 639-651.
    2. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    3. Folorunsho M. Ajide & James T. Dada, 2023. "Poverty, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in Africa," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 199-226, June.
    4. Vial, Virginie & Hanoteau, Julien, 2015. "Returns to Micro-Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: A Quantile Study of Entrepreneurial Indonesian Households’ Welfare," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 142-157.
    5. Reeg, Caroline, 2015. "Micro and small enterprises as drivers for job creation and decent work," IDOS Discussion Papers 10/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    6. Riadh Ben Jelili, "undated". "Firm Heterogeneity and Productivity: The Contribution of Microdata," API-Working Paper Series 1013, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    7. Micheline Goedhuys & Leo Sleuwaegen, 2010. "High-growth entrepreneurial firms in Africa: a quantile regression approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 31-51, January.
    8. Alexander Coad & Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada, 2008. "The Growth and Decline of Small firms In Developing Countries," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2008-08, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    9. Mano, Yukichi & Iddrisu, Alhassan & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2012. "How Can Micro and Small Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa Become More Productive? The Impacts of Experimental Basic Managerial Training," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 458-468.
    10. Ruwan Abeysekera & Dean Patton & Andrew Mullineux, 2015. "Co-Production in Business Counselling in Microfinance Setting: A Conceptual Approach," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 299-319, September.
    11. Mano, Yukichi & Iddrisu, Alhassan & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2012. "How Can Micro and Small Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa Become More Productive? The Impacts of Experimental Basic Managerial Training," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 458-468.
    12. Foellmi, Reto & Oechslin, Manuel, 2010. "Market imperfections, wealth inequality, and the distribution of trade gains," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 15-25, May.
    13. Schündeln, Matthias, 2005. "Modeling Firm Dynamics to Identify the Cost of Financing Constraints in Ghanaian Manufacturing," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 29, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    14. Klapper, Leora & Richmond, Christine, 2011. "Patterns of business creation, survival and growth: Evidence from Africa," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 32-44.
    15. Negrete Garcia, Ana Karen, 2018. "Constrained Potential: A Characterisation of Mexican Microenterprises," GIGA Working Papers 309, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    16. Nwakego Eyisi & Hyacinth E. Ichoku & Asma Kanwal, 2024. "Front-end Innovation and Top Income Inequality: Evidence from Emerging Markets," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 1437-1481, March.
    17. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Credit Can Precipitate Firm Failure: Evidence from Kenyan Manufacturing in the 1990s," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2005-04, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    18. Sleuwaegen, Leo & Goedhuys, Micheline, 2002. "Growth of firms in developing countries, evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 117-135, June.
    19. Alex Coad & Jaganaddha Tamvada, 2012. "Firm growth and barriers to growth among small firms in India," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 383-400, September.
    20. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(6), pages 1453-1495, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:65:y:2012:i:12:p:1665-1673. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.