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Despite growing interest in the difficulties encountered by ethnic entrepreneurs, very little research has yet been done on the subject. This article attempts to fill the gap. A total of 715 Chinese, Italian, Indian/Sikh, Jewish, and Vietnamese entrepreneurs from Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver were surveyed for the research. The results show that ethnic businesses tend to face the same problems as other businesses, which consequently does not appear to justify the development of support programs specifically for ethnic entrepreneurs. However, this study of established businesses does not consider failed or nascent businesses, which may have experienced additional problems. Further research is required to examine these issues. Also, given the unique social and business dynamics that exist within the ethnic communities studied, support programs should be directed through the networks of these communities.

To identify the influence of ethnicity and ethnic social capital on entrepreneurial practices such as the co‐direction of a firm, and more particularly on aspects of venture creation, management, and business development.

The research was based on a field survey carried out in the cities of Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. The authors study the entrepreneurs who had partners in their firms. The sampling technique, known as “snowball sampling,” did not concentrate specifically on firms with co‐leadership structures, but targeted all entrepreneurs in the ethnic groups concerned; the interviewers asked respondents to identify other potential candidates in the same ethnic group. The participation rate was not measured systematically.

Co‐leadership, while fairly common and having a clear impact among Italian entrepreneurs, is not necessarily as popular in the other groups. Cultural features may have an influence here, and the structuring effects of the entrepreneur's social capital are certainly a factor. The findings helped build an emergent conceptual model to show the place of co‐leadership in the creation and development of social capital used in the management of ethnic firms.

Public policy makers must take into account that trust and reciprocity will have an impact on the style of partnership selected. Other qualitative and quantitative data are needed to help understand the various factors and impacts of co‐leadership. Also, examination of the individual and joint inputs and outputs of the partners is an important and timely area of study.

This may have implications in designing public programs to help ethnic entrepreneurs.

This is one of the first studies to examine co‐leadership in the context of ethnic entrepreneurship. With the importance of immigration, this is crucial to understand how to help the success of ethnic businesses and therefore the integration of immigrants in our societies.

Claude Blanchet was the first Director General of the Société de développement des coopératives du Québec (Cooperative Development Corporation), founding President of the FTQ's Fonds de solidarité (Quebec Federation of Labour Solidarity Fund) and Chief Executive Officer of the SGF (Société générale de financement du Québec, or General Investment Corporation of Québec). His lifelong passion has been to support the development of Québec, and he describes himself as being primarily a “builder of collective firms.” The purpose of this paper is to describe the life of a man who was exposed to an entrepreneurial culture from early childhood.

The paper takes the form of a case study – interview with the intrapreneur.

The paper shows that Claude Blanchet's values changed significantly as a result of his involvement in social movements. His goal became to build a modern Québec state. One of the elements characterizing his entire career is undoubtedly his courage in choosing to take unusual paths. This desire to explore and conquer new spaces is shared by most entrepreneurial actors. However, Claude Blanchet did it for reasons related to the development of Québec society.

One of the notable features of this case is the unusual career path taken by Claude Blanchet.