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.
Keywords
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
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited