A new US definition of ‘Minority Business’: lessons from the first four years

The purpose of this paper is to discuss current definitional issues regarding minority business in the USA and the policy-oriented implications of these issues with regard to European ethnic minority enterprise. After an introductory discussion of the concept of ‘minority business’ and related terminology, this paper then examines a major change in the definition of such businesses made by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), the principal link between large US corporations and the minority business community. In line with US government minority assistance programme requirements, a ‘minority business’ previously had to be at least 51% minority-owned. Under the new NMSDC policy, a firm can have as little as 30% minority ownership and still be eligible for corporate minority-targeted contracts. This paper explains this re-definition and discusses the experiences of the first four years of this new policy and the lessons and implications for the USA. The discussion is then extended to the European context – the rise of immigration and the related increase in ethnic minority business enterprises, the current nature of public policy toward such enterprises in terms of programmes and legislation, and the implications of the US experience for Europe. Finally, future issues with regard to European ethnic minority enterprise are raised, along with areas for future research focus.