Dealing with institutional deficiencies: how entrepreneurial families support each other in navigating institutional challenges

This is a Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies (CEES)Seminar taking place at Leeds University Business School on Wednesday 29 November 2017

Dr Nick Williams and Mariana Estrada-Robles will be delivering the first presentation in the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies (CEES) 2017/18 seminar series.

The aim of this paper is to examine how entrepreneurial families in Mexico navigate challenges in a changing institutional environment. Research on institutions typically examines entrepreneurship from an individual perspective; however, entrepreneurs often act collectively in their family setting to tackle and attempt to overcome institutional deficiencies. Drawing on in-depth interviews with family entrepreneurs in Mexico, the article finds that many entrepreneurs are directed towards informal activity as a result of the formal institutional barriers associated with being fully legitimate. Informal institutions are strong, with family members supporting each other to navigate institutional deficiencies and thus contribute to the development of an entrepreneurial culture. 

For further information, please contact the Research Office at research.LUBS@leeds.ac.uk

About the speaker

The research of Dr Nick Williams focuses mainly on entrepreneurship and economic development, including entrepreneurship in crisis economies, new born states and transition countries. He is also interested in enterprise policy and economic resilience.  

Mariana Estrada-Robles is an early career researcher in the field of entrepreneurship and family business. She joined the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies in 2017 from Sheffield University Management School. Her research mainly focuses on studying the influence of family dynamics and institutional context in entrepreneurial families.