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This study examines motivations of entrepreneurs in Venezuela, problems they face, and success factors. Results indicate that the desires of Venezuela based entrepreneurs to be one's own boss and to increase one's income are important motivators. Competition, a weak economy, and foreign exchange limitations are problems, while good general management skills, appropriate training, accurate record keeping, and political involvement are success factors. This paper examines multiple dimensions of entrepreneurs in a single context and so provides an integrated analysis. This paper also expands our understanding of Venezuela based entrepreneurs and contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurs around the globe.
INTRODUCTION
In the study of entrepreneurship, one recurring area of interest is what motivates individuals to become entrepreneurs. Why do people take financial risks, leave the safe environment of a job to pursue an uncertain future, and make the personal sacrifices required to start and grow a business? Kuratko, Hornsby and Nafziger (1997) argued that to understand the entrepreneurial process one needs to identify the motivation behind entrepreneurs' decisions. A number of factors have been found to motivate entrepreneurs, factors both internal and external to the entrepreneur (Kuratko, Hornsby, & Nafziger, 1997; Robichaud, McGraw, & Roger, 2001). The desire for independence/autonomy, family security, self-fulfillment, and growth, financial gain, as well as opportunity recognition are some of the factors that have been found to motivate individuals to engage in entrepreneurship (e.g., Chu, Benzing & McGee, 2007).
Another frequently studied area of entrepreneurship addresses the problems and challenges entrepreneurs face (Alean & Kaput, 2008). The lack of funding, competition, high cash burn rate, lack of legitimacy, management team formation, identifying an appropriate market segment, protecting intellectual property, operational issues, and legal/regulatory issues are some of the problems entrepreneurs experience (e.g. Chu et al., 2007). These problems can be quite difficult to address and may threaten the startup and growth of a new business.
A third area entrepreneurship research addresses is the factors that contribute to entrepreneurs' success and that of their business. Factors related to entrepreneurs' success include managerial skills, education, experience and training, psychological traits, social networks and environmental conditions (Benzing, Chu & Kara, 2009; Zimmerman & Jiang, 2009).
While there is significant body of research examining the motivations and success factors of, as well as...