Are poorer countries more entrepreneurial than rich ones?
- Thread starter Mikesev
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Almost always no.
The entire culture of many non-western countries is geared towards being risk adverse, fitting in and doing what everyone else does. Not very entrepreneurial traits.
The entire culture of many non-western countries is geared towards being risk adverse, fitting in and doing what everyone else does. Not very entrepreneurial traits.
You can be risk-averse, fit in and try to do what everyone else does and still be entrepreneurial. The question is what sort of entrepreneur are you talking about?
If you count street vendors as entrepreneurs, a poor country with few jobs that virtually forces many of its citizens to become street peddlers to survive could be seen as promoting entrepreneurship.
It really depends on the market. Somalia -- hard to get lower than that on the socioeconomic scale -- has one of the best cellular networks in Africa, built almost entirely ad hoc out of need during a time when the country didn't even have a functional government.
In the wake of the USSR's going out of business sale, the rates of entrepreneurialism in former Soviet countries skyrocketed. Now that most of them have swapped Moscow's teat for Brussels' that trend seems to largely be reversing (although, to be fair, I don't keep on top of that kind of thing like I did back in the early and mid 90s, so my understanding of the situation is no doubt incomplete.)
Unfortunately a lot of the get-up-and-go types in any given Third World environment tend to, well, get up and go somewhere else. Look at the millions of illegals in the US who are here strictly to make some dough and send it back home. They live in hovels, piled on, constantly at risk of deportation, stigma and even bodily harm from the yokels. While deboning chickens for minimum wage is not running a business, doing it in the context of forgoing a normal life for a few years to try to have a better one for yourself and your family down the line is certainly enterprising and industrious. So Mexico and Guatemala boast high rates of entrepreneurialism of a sort; it's just all exported to the US.
This happens a lot with other countries too, both legally and otherwise -- your best and brightest movers and shakers who might otherwise be hanging out at ElFuegoTravioso.mx go to the US, to Canada, the UK and mainland EU, probably producing a serious drain on entrepreneurialism at home. I'm shooting from the hip here -- as far as I know no serious study has been done which analyses this. But I've always thought that the people who get up and leave shitholes to carve out of finance a better life are pretty much exemplary of the concept of entrepreneurialism, and that their absence from their respective home countries is a likely contributor to the perpetually shit state of the local economy, to political corruption and general social abuses by politicians and organised corporate power, etc.
So ... levels are there in most places, but what gets done with those levels varies vastly.
Frank
In the wake of the USSR's going out of business sale, the rates of entrepreneurialism in former Soviet countries skyrocketed. Now that most of them have swapped Moscow's teat for Brussels' that trend seems to largely be reversing (although, to be fair, I don't keep on top of that kind of thing like I did back in the early and mid 90s, so my understanding of the situation is no doubt incomplete.)
Unfortunately a lot of the get-up-and-go types in any given Third World environment tend to, well, get up and go somewhere else. Look at the millions of illegals in the US who are here strictly to make some dough and send it back home. They live in hovels, piled on, constantly at risk of deportation, stigma and even bodily harm from the yokels. While deboning chickens for minimum wage is not running a business, doing it in the context of forgoing a normal life for a few years to try to have a better one for yourself and your family down the line is certainly enterprising and industrious. So Mexico and Guatemala boast high rates of entrepreneurialism of a sort; it's just all exported to the US.
This happens a lot with other countries too, both legally and otherwise -- your best and brightest movers and shakers who might otherwise be hanging out at ElFuegoTravioso.mx go to the US, to Canada, the UK and mainland EU, probably producing a serious drain on entrepreneurialism at home. I'm shooting from the hip here -- as far as I know no serious study has been done which analyses this. But I've always thought that the people who get up and leave shitholes to carve out of finance a better life are pretty much exemplary of the concept of entrepreneurialism, and that their absence from their respective home countries is a likely contributor to the perpetually shit state of the local economy, to political corruption and general social abuses by politicians and organised corporate power, etc.
So ... levels are there in most places, but what gets done with those levels varies vastly.
Frank
Ironically, most poorer countries make it more difficult to start business with regulations. This is usually due to corruptions or bribes, since every step will require either more time waiting and/or a bribe. I know in Russia, to register a business you must go through 5 different offices to get your papers in order. I remember reading about some country in Africa that requires 27 permits simply to open a store. In America? I registered an LLC through one form and haven't looked back since. You'd think richer countries would have stricter regulations and such but it's actually the other way around.
that's one of the primary reasons these countries are poor.
trust me, I know for a reason.
From my understanding....
Business bankruptcy is far greater of a stigma in European countries and other non-western cultures.
Where as in the US business bankruptcy is more of a speed bump for an idea that was tried and failed.
Hence your local 'China Buffet III' - new corp, new start, fresh record.
Business bankruptcy is far greater of a stigma in European countries and other non-western cultures.
Where as in the US business bankruptcy is more of a speed bump for an idea that was tried and failed.
Hence your local 'China Buffet III' - new corp, new start, fresh record.
Sounds like a trick question. If 90% of the villagers in Somalia or Vietnam take their crops to the local market to sell them then yeah, they're proportionately more entrepreneurial than first worlders, but it doesn't necessarily shed light on anything, you can be poor as dirt and still technically be an entrepreneur.
I think its very difficult to start anything in an environment that's socially economically unstable to say the least. I am from South America and if you cant find milk and food in the markets you wont really care about your idea. You probably want to start your business somewhere else
Makes sense to me.
When someone from a 1st world country needs something... they go to walmart. 3rd world country have to get creative.
The more "developed" a country is the less a person has to think out of the box to solve there problems. But also the less educated... so it's really a trick question lol
When someone from a 1st world country needs something... they go to walmart. 3rd world country have to get creative.
The more "developed" a country is the less a person has to think out of the box to solve there problems. But also the less educated... so it's really a trick question lol
On a big scale, no, because most of them are VERY corrupt, and the fact you need money for backhanders to officials to do business creates a big barrier to entry.
However, on a small scale, yes they are, at least in my experience of Kenya. Everyone there has a hustle on of one form or another. And they're not afraid to pitch you on it. The reason is with very few stable jobs, and no welfare, you hustle, or you starve.
If you have to sell shit or your family doesn't eat, it's amazing how motivated you can be.
However, on a small scale, yes they are, at least in my experience of Kenya. Everyone there has a hustle on of one form or another. And they're not afraid to pitch you on it. The reason is with very few stable jobs, and no welfare, you hustle, or you starve.
If you have to sell shit or your family doesn't eat, it's amazing how motivated you can be.
If you talk only about buying something it's absolutely not a problem here. There are shitton of this ....marts.
However if you somehow got to the point where you can sell expensive to the rich, or was the first who able to dominate lot of cheap to sell to poor - it's much easier than in US I would say. Not a lot of competition
Anything in between - much harder.Well, I come from the Baltic states. 20 years ago we regained our independence when USSR collapsed. During the 90s, people were hustling a lot. On every corner in the city you could see small shops and marts owned by families, and individuals. Farmers took their stuff to the biggest markets, some farmers opened their own shops, etc. It took you some part of entrepreneurship and creativity to feed your family.
After year 2000 when the economy started to go straight up, we joined the EU, and big corporation chains started to move in, the things changed. The small family based businesses mostly went broke. Now we see only chain restaurants, chain marts, chain gas stations, and now people jump in the sacred "wheel of slavewage", instead of trying to hustle, because, well - it's easier.
The most funny thing is that during the 90s the corruption was huge, I mean really fucking huge, to open your small shop, or even to register your own LLC you had to go to several different state departments, wait for weeks or even months to get some kind of reply, and mostly you had to give bribes in each department.
Now the situation is quite different, you can just send your request to register LLC online, and get the papers done 4hours later, no need to go all those different departments, pay bribes, etc. And yet people choose to get a job.
Long story short - when you're hungry and your family depends on you, you'll hustle as a piece of shit shaking on a barbwire during a storm. When you can go to a job, get solid wage, and each evening bring home food, people just get more lazy business-wise.
After year 2000 when the economy started to go straight up, we joined the EU, and big corporation chains started to move in, the things changed. The small family based businesses mostly went broke. Now we see only chain restaurants, chain marts, chain gas stations, and now people jump in the sacred "wheel of slavewage", instead of trying to hustle, because, well - it's easier.
The most funny thing is that during the 90s the corruption was huge, I mean really fucking huge, to open your small shop, or even to register your own LLC you had to go to several different state departments, wait for weeks or even months to get some kind of reply, and mostly you had to give bribes in each department.
Now the situation is quite different, you can just send your request to register LLC online, and get the papers done 4hours later, no need to go all those different departments, pay bribes, etc. And yet people choose to get a job.
Long story short - when you're hungry and your family depends on you, you'll hustle as a piece of shit shaking on a barbwire during a storm. When you can go to a job, get solid wage, and each evening bring home food, people just get more lazy business-wise.
When u don't have enuf food, a house or proper clothes, you cannot fantasize
to buy a helicopter or "I will do something different".
You're right - but nothing else comes close to almost creating the perfect life. No matter how many zeros you add to the end of a number you never actually reach infinity, but the more zeroes the closer you seem to get to infinity