Proceedings of 21st International Business Research Conference
10 - 11 June, 2013, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, ISBN: 978-1-922069-25-2
In Search for Failed Enterprise – Business Failure and
Recovery among Self-Employed African Migrants
Dieu Hack-Polay
This article takes a journey into the milieu of African
entrepreneurs who set up small businesses as a way of selfemployment in the United Kingdom. It evaluates evidence of
their actual or perceived disadvantage in the struggle for
survival in the severe economic environment of this decade.
The paper is based on qualitative research involving interviews
with 10 leaders of ‘dead’ businesses and the experience of 10
‘deceased’ known to the participants. The paper attempts to
provide some causal explanations with regards to the
disproportionate failure rate among small black African
businesses in comparison with other ethnic groups. A key
finding relates to the insufficiency of the traditional reasons
advocated to explain the failure of African businesses in the UK:
lack of information, lack of finance, recentness of entry to the
market, etc. While these still present some validity, an often
unexplored variable, culture, has been found to be critical in
understanding the plight of African small entrepreneurs. Any
recovery solution can be limited I fit is formulated outside of a
journey into the cultural sphere.
Key words: SME, culture, recession, disadvantage, recovery, African
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Dieu Hack-Polay, Associate Professor, Research & Knowledge Transfer Coordinator
Business School, Xi’an Jiaotong - Liverpool University, P R China, No.111 Ren'ai Road, Suzhou
Dushu Lake Higher Education Town, Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province 215123, Tel. +86
51281880452, Email: Dieu.Hack-Polay@xjtlu.edu.cn