Growth, what growth? It is not on the menu: subsistence entrepreneurship among Zimbabwean entrepreneurs - a country perspective

Wilton Wilton

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2012, vol. 17, issue 1, 44-56

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is an important activity for the entrepreneur, country and employee, as it creates employment for the employee and wealth for both entrepreneur and state. But governments benefit little from informal and small companies that do not pay taxes. Hence, the huge desires for governments like Zimbabwe to see informal and small enterprises grow to the level where they pay taxes. On the other hand, entrepreneurs start entrepreneurial ventures for different reasons including creating a job for one's relatives and self, to supplement one's income, having a desire to achieve bigger things, as a last resort in terms of survival, or as a way to while away time whilst waiting for secure salaried employment. As a result of these differences, entrepreneurs have differing approaches to the future of their enterprises. Whilst some would be committed to their enterprises' current operations and future growth, for others growth is not on the menu, as they are happy to operate on a subsistence level for the entire life of the enterprise.

Keywords: economic growth; informal sectors; determinants; Zimbabwe; subsistence entrepreneurship; Zimbabwean entrepreneurs; employees; wealth creation; taxes; taxation; central government; tax; entrepreneurial ventures; job creation; relatives; families; family members; income supplements; supplementary incomes; survival; secure employment; salaried employment; commitment; business enterprises; current operations; future growth; subsistence levels; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; developing nations. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=48650 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijesbu:v:17:y:2012:i:1:p:44-56

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().