Advancing U.S. Latino Entrepreneurship examines business formation and success among Latinos by identifying arrangements that enhance entrepreneurship and by understanding the sociopolitical contexts that shape entrepreneurial trajectories. While it is well known that Latinos make up one of the largest and fastest growing populations in the U.S., Latino-owned businesses are now outpacing this population growth and the startup business growth of all other demographic groups in the country.
The institutional arrangements shaping business formation are no level playing field. Minority entrepreneurs face racism and sexism, but structural barriers are not the only obstacles that matter; there are agentic barriers and coethnics present challenges as well as support to each other. Yet minorities engage in business formation, and in doing so, change institutional arrangements by transforming the attitudes of society and the practices of policymakers. The economic future of the country is tied to the prospects of Latinos forming and growing business. The diversity of Latino experience constitutes an economic resource for those interested in forming businesses that appeal to native-born citizens and fellow immigrants alike, ranging from local to national to international markets.
This book makes a substantial contribution to the literature on entrepreneurship and wealth creation by focusing on Latinos, a population vastly understudied on these topics, by describing processes and outcomes for Latino entrepreneurs. Unfairly, the dominant story of Latinos-especially Mexican Americans-is that of dispossession and its consequences. Advancing U.S. Latino Entrepreneurship makes clear the undiminished ambitions of Latinos as well as the transformative relationships among people, their practices, and the political context in which they operate. The reality of Latino entrepreneurs demands new attention and focus.
About the Author: Marlene Orozco is the lead research analyst with the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) and a PhD candidate in sociology. She is trained in both qualitative and quantitative methods of research and is an Institute of Education Sciences fellow in quantitative education policy analysis.
Alfonso Morales is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture. He is interested in the relationship among thinking, interaction, and social organization. He has authored, edited, or coauthored more than one hundred articles and book chapters and six books.
Michael J. Pisani is a professor of international business at Central Michigan University. His research concerns the intersection of international business and development, with specific interests in entrepreneurship, economic informality, cross-border business, and economic phenomena. He has authored or coauthored more than one hundred articles and book chapters and four books.
Jerry I. Porras is the Lane Professor of Organizational Behavior, Emeritus, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He cofounded the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), a nonprofit focused on promoting the growth of Latino-owned businesses. Subsequently, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI), a collaboration between the Stanford Graduate School of Businesses and the LBAN, was created to conduct research on Latino entrepreneurship and offer educational programs to help Latino business owners scale their companies to become very large enterprises. Porras serves as faculty codirector of SLEI.
