Facilitating entrepreneurship in the failing Cuban economic model?
Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies
ISSN: 2053-4604
Article publication date: 7 December 2021
Issue publication date: 27 April 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the necessity of entrepreneurship in a poor emerging economy, where the supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem is not in place.
Design/methodology/approach
In the years 2015 and 2019, this study survey first-time small-scale emerging entrepreneurs within the new entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cuba.
Findings
The results suggest that the entrepreneurial environment has deteriorated and declined over this period. The study contributes to the understanding of high-vulnerability regions and poverty conditions as found in some emerging economies. This study contributes to the wider literature on policies that inhibit or stimulate necessity entrepreneurship in emerging economies.
Originality/value
The study responds to calls for a better understanding by offering new insights into necessity entrepreneurship in challenging contexts under poverty and crisis; and the ways for recovery. It provides insights into the underexplored Cuban economy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Editor and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this paper. They are also grateful to Dr. Erwin Aguirre from the Centro Loyola in Havana for their insights on Cuba. Special gratitude goes to the entrepreneurs who collaborated in our study.
Citation
Felzensztein, C. and Gimmon, E. (2023), "Facilitating entrepreneurship in the failing Cuban economic model?", Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 481-496. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEEE-04-2021-0161
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited