The Power of One Entrepreneur: A Case Study of the Effects of Entrepreneurship

This study examines the effects of entrepreneurship through qualitative case study methods. It examines the life and work of a single small -business entrepreneur in Tupelo, MS to discern how she affects her community both economically and non-economica Hy. Results from the interviews, observations, and document analysis reveal the entrepreneur, an African American hairbraider, role-models entrepreneurship to others, creates new opportunities and expands markets, and creates social change. For the African American community in particular, these effects are significant. The results also demonstrate how for-profit entrepreneurs can use their businesses to achieve social goals.An hour by car from the nearest interstate, two hours from the nearest international airport, and five hours from the nearest seaport (Roche, 2001), Tupelo, MS, is best known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley. In recent decades, it has also gained attention for economic development that has drawn more than 200 industries to the area, including Fortune 500 and large international companies (Martin, 1994; Maynard, 2007; Sloan, Wiebe, & Tosh, 1995). The economic effects of large international companies on small cities like Tupelo (population 35,297) are significant, but like countless cities across the United States, Tupelo is also home to hundreds of small businesses started and sustained by local entrepreneurs. According to County Business Patterns data drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 65 percent of Tupelo's businesses employ fewer than 10 people, and more than 82 percent employ fewer than 20 people. Such numbers parallel figures in the greater United States, where more than 73 percent of businesses employ fewer than 10 people, and more than 86 percent employ fewer than 20 people. As in the greater United States, small-business entrepreneurs represent the backbone of Tupelo's economy in the goods and services they provide and in the jobs they offer to the community.But these entrepreneurs add more than economic capital. The power of entrepreneurship is that through business and social networks - that is, the activities and relationships inherent in their work and personal lives - entrepreneurs create invaluable social capital in the community (Thompson, 1999). Social capital is the trust, norms, resources, and networks developed among actors in a social setting (Bourdieu, 1997; Putnam, 2000). Such capital adds both economic and non-economic value to the community through greater productivity, increased social cohesion, and stronger democratic institutions (Portes, 1998). Although such an effect of entrepreneurship can seem a bit abstract, this qualitative case study illustrates how the effects are anything but. This research on a small-business entrepreneur in Tupelo, MS, demonstrates how one entrepreneur can significantly affect her community beyond her immediate network.Defining "Entrepreneur"The term -entrepreneur" originated in French economics in the 17th century and indicated someone who shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield (Peredo & McLean, 2006). This conventional view suggests the primary function of an entrepreneur is starting new profit-seeking business ventures, especially ones involving financial risk. More contemporary understandings posit that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial behavior can be found in various different settings, so much so that terms such as -social entrepreneurship" and -eivic entrepreneurship" have sprung up to describe entrepreneurial activities beyond the business setting (Thompson, 1999). Some now define entrepreneurs broadly as individuals who add value by spotting an opportunity and assuming risk to translate their vision of what is possible into reality (Jensen & Luthans, 2006; Kao, 1989; Thompson, 1999; Ufuk & Ozgen, 2001).Traditionally defined in the economic sense (Novaczek & Stuart, 2006), value added by entrepreneurs has been broadened to include social value. …