How does gender and minority status shape entrepreneurial decision-making? This question seems long overdue since minority women in the US start new businesses at four times the rate of non-minority men and women. This book is about minority women entrepreneurs in the United States. Though these women are thriving as business owners, their stories are very seldom told, and few think of minority women as successful entrepreneurs. Therefore, the first purpose of the book is to give voice and visibility to US minority women business owners. The second purpose is to explain what makes these women different from the standard white male business owners most people are familiar with. Through in-depth interviews and first-hand accounts from minority women entrepreneurs, the authors found that, in innovative and exciting ways, minority women use their outsider status to develop socially conscious business practices that support the communities with which they identify. They reject the idea that business values are separate from personal values and instead balance profits with social good and environmental sustainability. This pattern is repeated in statistical evidence from around the globe that women contribute a much higher percentage of their earnings to social good than do men, but until now there was no clear explanation of why. Using sociological and psychological theories, the authors explain why women, especially minority women, have a tendency to create socially responsible businesses. The innovations provided by the women in this study suggest fresh solutions to economic inequality and humanistic alternatives to exploitative business policies. This is a radically new, socially integrated model that can be used by businesses everywhere. This book is intended for undergraduate and graduate students of business, sociology, race and gender studies as well as practitioners of entrepreneurship, aspiring entrepreneurs, and all those looking for new examples of holistic, sustainable and socially responsible business practices.

This volume examines the involvement of minority- or women-owned businesses in technology-based research, with particular focus on the differences in research outcomes in achieving commercialization. Specifically, the authors empirically investigate the correlation between technologies from projects funded through the Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the minority or gender demographics of the owners of the businesses conducting the research. This study offers an opportunity to not only examine public-sector agencies’ investments in research, but also to investigate if there are race and/or gender gaps in such business’ participation in innovative activities. It also provides a means to understand innovation by minorities and women in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Investments in fundamental science and technology research and investments in human capital through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education are important building blocks of innovation. Two methods of fueling innovation are to 1) accelerate the commercialization of federally funded research and 2) ensure opportunities for underrepresented minorities and women in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Despite this understanding, there is still a disparity in the rates of educated men and women in STEM fields participating in entrepreneurship. Moreover, the link between underrepresentation of minorities and women across STEM fields correlates with entrepreneurial entry and performance. This book expands on these findings and estimates the probability that (1) a funded research project reaches completion, (2) the developed technology is commercialized, and finally (3) the commercialized technology is successful in the marketplace (i.e., the business gained revenue and market share from the technology).