Page 52 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

What’s Culture Got to Do with It? 41

others build on those forces and adapt them to create opportunities for new
enterprises (Shaffer, Deller, and Marcouiller 2004). A nonentrepreneurial
culture fails to recognize the forces that maintain the status quo such as en-
trepreneurs in Appalachia who believe there is a perceived negative attitude
toward success (Taylor, Dees, and Swanson 2003).
A community that only tolerates entrepreneurs and doesn’t welcome
them could be viewed as having a nonentrepreneurial culture. The focus on
the collective rather than individual success is one of several factors hin-
dering an entrepreneurial culture in aboriginal Canada along with inade-
quate access to financing and capital, lack of educational opportunities, and
limited access to external markets (Levitte 2004). This results in little ques-
tioning about current economic strategies and more focus on problems
rather than assets.
Some scholars assert that an entrepreneurial culture is about a framework
in which entrepreneurs have the potential to emerge and local economic re-
silience is promoted (Krueger 2003). Others argue that an entrepreneurial
community has three major characteristics: (1) a critical mass of entrepre-
neurs who are capturing new market opportunities; (2) a group of entrepre-
neurs with a distinct community within the community characterized by a
strong support network and mutual self-help; and (3) the community as a
whole is open to change (Lichtenstein, Lyons, and Kutzhanova 2004).
Richard Florida (2002) views entrepreneurial-friendly communities as places
that appeal to creative individuals. That is, they nurture the arts, promote a
healthy civic life, honor diversity, and celebrate their cultural uniqueness.
Thornton (1999) asserts that the entrepreneurship literature has placed
too much emphasis on the supply side perspective, with a focus on the in-
dividual characteristics of entrepreneurs. She points to the limitations of
studies about entrepreneurs as a class and suggests an examination of the
newer work on the demand side perspective—a focus on the context in
which entrepreneurship occurs.
In this view, demand is triggered by several factors such as the emergence
of generalist and dominant firms that create new market niches for special-
ist organizations and shocks in markets which trigger the founding of new
ventures. Thornton (1999) believes more research should be directed to-
wards a multilevel analysis about how, where, and why new ventures are
founded. That is, what are the unique institutions, environment, values,
and other aspects embedded within a specific setting that creates a demand
for entrepreneurs?
In essence, an entrepreneurial-friendly culture cannot be defined sim-
plistically; however, even this brief literature review suggests some clear pat-
terns that can help communities to broaden the supply and demand for en-
trepreneurs.