Title: Entrepreneurial storytelling: using a consistent story to create and sustain a business: case studies of two migrant entrepreneurs

Authors: Helen Rana; Dan Knox; Guru Prabhakar

Addresses: ' Faculty of Business and Law, UWE, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK ' Faculty of Business and Law, UWE, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK

Abstract: This qualitative research uses case studies of two migrant entrepreneurs - Karan Bilimoria and Levi Roots - to explore the use of storytelling as a tool for establishing and sustaining a business. It proposes a conceptual framework that shows how storytelling is used to gain legitimacy, credibility and support. It finds that the two men use consistent themes and patterns in their stories, which are similar to each other and to conventional metanarratives around entrepreneurship, and require narrative plausibility more than objective truth. It identifies themes that both individuals repeatedly use in their business storytelling to demonstrate attributes of entrepreneurship.

Keywords: storytelling; entrepreneurship; migrant; sense-making; meta-narrative.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2023.128482

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2023 Vol.28 No.1, pp.1 - 23

Received: 20 May 2021
Accepted: 19 Aug 2021
Published online: 24 Jan 2023 *