Lois M. Shelton

Fighting an Uphill Battle: Expansion Barriers, Intra-Industry Social Stratification, and Minority Firm Growth

Here, a model of minority firm expansion based on the resource–based view, the expansion barriers framework, and social stratification processes illustrates the economic and social barriers faced by minority companies. Firm growth is impacted by industry economic structure through expansion barriers, and by industry social structure through opportunity structures. It is argued that industry social structure, which includes discriminatory industry practices, can be used to stratify firms into higher and lower performing groups by ethnicity and will have a greater impact on minority firm growth in industries with more concentrated social structures and higher wealth creation potential.

Role Demands, Difficulty in Managing Work-Family Conflict, and Minority Entrepreneurs

By exploring difficulty in managing work-family conflict for minority entrepreneurs, this study considers work-family issues for business persons who have received little attention in the literature, yet form new businesses at rates exceeding the national average. We employ a role theory perspective to examine two major research questions using a nationally representative sample of African-American, Mexican-American, Korean-American, and White business owners. Specifically, we ask: do minority business owners experience greater difficulty in managing conflicts between work and family roles when compared to White entrepreneurs? And does difficulty in managing work-family conflict negatively impact business performance? Empirical results show that Korean-American and Mexican-American entrepreneurs have greater role demands, and subsequently, higher levels of difficulty in managing work-family conflict than African-Americans and Whites. Furthermore, difficulty in managing work-family conflict negatively impacts business performance whether performance is measured through the perception of the business owner, or through more objective financial measures. We contribute to the literature on minority entrepreneurs as well as expand the work-family conflict literature by shifting the focus from employed individuals to entrepreneurs, and by emphasizing the effect of such conflict on performance rather than well-being.

Scale Barriers and Growth Opportunities: A Resource-Based Model of New Venture Expansion

The concept of scale barriers is introduced to shed light on new venture growth. Growth is a process of overcoming resource deficiencies, or scale barriers, resulting from the liabilities of newness and smallness. New ventures employ a variety of resource accumulation strategies to surmount three types of barriers - competitive deficiencies, management and organizational deficiencies, and financial deficiencies. A theoretical model shows how environmental munificence and industry conditions influence barrier size while resource accumulation strategies and initial venture endowments determine a ventures ability to overcome these barriers. The difficulties of growth are illustrated as an extension of the difficulties of survival.

An examination of how husbands, as key stakeholders, impact the success of women entrepreneurs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore: How do changes in the role of the husband affect the marriage of a woman entrepreneur? How do changes in the marriage affect the woman entrepreneur and her relationship with her business? Design/methodology/approach – A novel theoretical approach based on marriage contract theory, gender role ideology and psychological contracts was used. Qualitative methodology included analysis of multiple cases based on rich interview data gathered from 12 Scandinavian couples. Findings – Research revealed that the pattern of dominance between the husband and wife, the gender role ideologies of the two spouses, and the interaction between this pattern and the gender role ideologies, and overall level of marital harmony were key determinants of husbands’ spousal support. Research limitations/implications – Sample size and geographical limitations. Future research: exploring other cultural settings, further application of marriage and psychological contracts in female en...