Title: Comparison of very small businesses of Arabs and Jews in the North Israel periphery

Authors: Alexander Slutsky; Shmuel Shamai; Sara Arnon; Izhak Schnell; Zeev Greenberg

Addresses: Golan Research Institute, University of Haifa, P.O. Box 97, 12900, Katzrin, Israel ' Tel Hai College, Golan Research Institute, University of Haifa, P.O. Box 97, 12900, Katzrin, Israel ' Tel Hai College, Golan Research Institute, University of Haifa, P.O. Box Upper Galilee, 12110, Israel ' Department of Geography and Human Environment, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 69978, Israel ' Tel Hai College, P.O. Box Upper Galilee, 12110, Israel

Abstract: Very small businesses owned by Arabs and Jews in the north of Israel are compared and discussed along several dimensions: education and experience of the entrepreneurs, field and location of businesses, business success, formal and informal support of businesses, and strengths and weaknesses of the businesses. The main finding of the study is the contrasting tendencies of small businesses in the Arab and Jewish sectors: the majority of Arab entrepreneurs reported a decrease in profit while most Jews pointed to a profit increase. We relate this to differences in the structure of the business fields that in turn depend on targeted market segments and product characteristics.

Keywords: business success; small business; small firms; entrepreneurship; embeddedness; minorities; Israel periphery; Arabs; Jews; target markets; product differentiation; business location; business support; human capital; entrepreneurial education; entrepreneurial experience; formal support; informal support; entrepreneurs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.075688

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.28 No.1, pp.117 - 137

Received: 23 Apr 2015
Accepted: 02 Aug 2015
Published online: 31 Mar 2016 *

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