Global Entrepreneurship: February 2006 Archives

At the end of last year I had a post on how entrepreneurship and free markets have helped transform farming in New Zealand. In a study recently released by Babson College, finds that the indigenous Maori are the world's third most entrepreneurial people.

- In terms of Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity, Aotearoa (Maori New Zealanders) at 17.7% and New Zealand at 17.6% were surpassed globally only by two other countries (Thailand and Venezuela).

- About 83% of Maori entrepreneurs are opportunity entrepreneurs, a value comparable to Canada, Austria, and the United States.

- About 25.0% of Maori versus 13.1% of the general population say they expect to launch a start-up in the next three years.

What drives this entrepreneurial spirit? For New Zealanders, both Maori and non-Maori, wealth creation is not as important as is independence. Maori have twice as many independence-driven entrepreneurs as wealth-driven entrepreneurs. The typical New Zealand entrepreneur is an opportunity-based lifestyle entrepreneur, opting for work-life balance rather than wealth creation.

The one concern from this study is that their success rates are fairly low. Only 37% of Maori entrepreneurial start-ups survive three-and-a-half years compared to 62% in the general population. There is clearly a significant opportunity to improve their success rates through education, which can as much as double success rates.

The full report can be downloaded here.

I have written often about today's youth in America. They are full of the entrepreneurial spirit (as well as a strong libertarian streak). A new study just released by Babson College finds that young folks in the UK are also feeling entrepreneurial yearnings.

As well as expecting to be their own boss within three years (13.4% for 18-24 age group compared to 9.3% for 35-44 age group), GEM UK found 18-24 year olds were the most positive in their attitudes towards entrepreneurs, with 69.7% regarding it as a good career choice. Entrepreneurs were also given the highest status among the young.

While these numbers are not as strong as we are seeing in the US, it is a positive trend in the UK. A friend who teaches entrepreneurship in England has talked about being stifled in his work by a cultural resistance to entrepreneurship. This study shows a glimmer of hope that this may be changing.

A detailed summary of this study can be found here. More detailed reports of this study can be downloaded from the London School of Business.

Instapundit has a link to a story at Market Watch about the growth of capitalism in Sweden.

Sweden endured a deep financial crisis in the early '90s, with sluggish growth and high unemployment, but this provided an impetus to new approaches in fiscal policy. As a result, the central bank became independent and set a low inflation target of 2%. Centralized salary negotiations were abolished and the labor market developed into one of Europe's most flexible.

Large companies have long been the major driving force behind the Swedish economy, but attention is now focused on the lack of small and emerging companies.

Over the past several years I have seen an explosion of interest in entrepreneurship and free enterprise in Sweden. They are developing amazing educational programs at their universities. They are enacting public policy decisions that the US should pay attention to. It now appears that the Swedish government is moving ahead of the US in recognition of the global shift to a new entrepreneurial economy.

Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning of an entrepreneurial, grassroots transformation of the economic climate in Europe.

(Thanks to Bill Hobbs for passing this along).