The growth performance of top African American businesses

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the growth performance of top African American‐owned employer firms when compared with their White counterparts.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses longitudinal, revenue data from a sample of the largest African American‐owned employer firms in the USA with that of a comparable sample of White‐owned firms.

Findings

The paper finds that complex and volatile industry environments have a significantly greater negative impact on African American businesses than their White‐owned counterparts.

Social implications

The complexity and volatility associated with one of the most difficult US business environments since the 1940s may increase the performance disparity between established African American and White‐owned firms. On a macroeconomic level, such a performance disparity will have significant negative impact on US economy output and job creation, particularly as the number of new minority businesses continues to outpace the rate of all US business.

Originality/value

This is the only published research to date, which examines the growth of top African American businesses.

Citation

Smith, D.A. and Tang, Z. (2013), "The growth performance of top African American businesses", Management Decision, Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 163-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741311291364