1 / 12

ETHNIC MINORITY BUSINESS IN THE UK: KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICY

ETHNIC MINORITY BUSINESS IN THE UK: KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICY. MONDER RAM Professor of Small Business Small Business and Enterprise Research Group De Montfort University. OBJECTIVES. Basic profile of EMBs Assess 3 policy responses Identify policy challenges.

grady
Download Presentation

ETHNIC MINORITY BUSINESS IN THE UK: KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICY

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ETHNIC MINORITY BUSINESS IN THE UK: KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICY MONDER RAM Professor of Small Business Small Business and Enterprise Research Group De Montfort University

  2. OBJECTIVES • Basic profile of EMBs • Assess 3 policy responses • Identify policy challenges

  3. ETHNIC MINORITIES: SOME BASIC FACTS Population size • According to the 2001 census, ethnic minority groups make up about 8% (4.6 million) of the UK’s total population (58.7 million). Geographical distribution • Tend to be clustered in particular urban areas or aggregations of urban areas. Greater London (47.6%), West Midlands (13.6%),Yorkshire and Humberside (7.6%) and NorthWest and Merseyside (6.8%)

  4. ETHNIC MINORITIES: SOME BASIC FACTS Immigrants and UK-born ethnic minortites • In 2000, about 9% of the working age population of Britain (approximately 4.5 million people) were born in another country – and hence are immigrants Unemployment • Unemployment rates vary from 21.3%(Bangladeshis), 16.1% (Pakistanis), 14.1% (Black African), 11.6%(Black Caribbean) to 7.3%(Indian) and 6.0% (Chinese). In comparison, the unemployment rate for Whites is estimated to be 4.7%

  5. ETHNIC MINORITY BUSINESSES (EMBs) • Defined as 51% ownership • There are roughly 200,000 EMBs - some 6% of all businesses in the country. 51% of ethnic businesses are in the retail sector -75% of all convenience and retail outlets and 95% of independent retailers in London are Asian owned • EMBs tend to be under-represented in consumer services (12% v 23% white) and construction (2% v 13%).Female owners of EMBs are comparatively rare too – 19% compared with 30% white • Relatives are more likely to be employed in EMBs (37%), as was the case with White-owned enterprises (19%) (Source: Critical Research for Barclays Bank, June 2000)

  6. THE SUPPORT NEEDS OF EMBs IN CONTEXT • The Academic Debate • Three perspectives: • Cultural • Structural • ‘Mixed embeddedness’ • Sector • Concentration in ‘traditional’ sectors • Feasibility of ‘break-out’? • Size • Predominance of ‘micro-enterprises’ • Location • Implications for finance and business support

  7. LESSONS FROM PREVIOUS POLICY EXPERIENCE • Low take-up of ‘mainstream’ business support Variety of responses: • Specialist EMB support agencies • Urban regeneration programmes • Membership-based groups • Importance of ‘awareness’, ‘sensitivity’ and ‘credibility’

  8. POLICY RESPONSE 1: THE ETHNIC MINORITY BUSINESS FORUM • Advisory body to government • Improving monitoring and quality of business support information • Promoting procurement • Encouraging ICT take-up • Access to finance

  9. POLICY RESPONSE 2: AN AGENDA FOR SUPPORTING EMBs • Coherent and integrated business support • Promoting market diversification • Building capacity in support organisations • The need for an engagement strategy • Evaluation and dissemination of good

  10. POLICY RESPONSE 3: FINANCE AND EMBs • Need for a more strategic approach to handling relationships with EMB owners • Need for procedures for monitoring the ethnicity of their clients • Greater transparency in loan evaluation criteria, in order to help narrow the gap between expectations and reality. • Need for steps to establish trust-based relationships through proactive engagement with ‘difficult to reach’ groups

  11. CURRENT POLICY CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES • Emphasising ‘quality’ of management. • More transparent monitoring of diversity issues by public and private sector organisations • Continued attention to access to finance issue: Is response of banks adequate? • Need to increase attention paid to new migrant groups

  12. REFERENCES • Ram M. and Smallbone D. (2001) Ethnic Minority Enterprise: Policy in Practice, Final Report prepared for the Small Business Service, June 2001. www.sbs.gov.uk • Ram, M., Smallbone, D. and Deakins, D. (2002) The Finance and Business Support Needs of Ethnic Minority Firms in Britain, British Bankers Association Research Report.

More Related