Mapping entrepreneurial inclusion across US neighborhoods: The case of low‐code e‐commerce entrepreneurship

Bryan Kaiser Stroube · Gary Dushnitsky

8 citations0/0 files storedStrategic Management Journal

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

Abstract

Abstract Entrepreneurship is presented as a path to prosper through commerce, yet there is evidence that certain communities are underrepresented in entrepreneurship. Technological developments such as low‐code e‐commerce tools have altered the barriers to launch commercial ventures. Do these tools alter entrepreneurial inclusion? We study an omnipresent low‐code tool, Shopify, which has dramatically reduced the financial and technical barriers to e‐commerce. We undertake an abductive analysis using unique data on the spatial distribution of Shopify‐based activity for the entire United States. We find evidence of entrepreneurial inclusion; neighborhoods with more Black residents, a group historically underrepresented in entrepreneurship, also have more low‐code ventures. We interpret these results against traditional forms of startups: newly registered businesses and VC‐backed e‐commerce ventures. These benchmark analyses further support our findings. Managerial Summary We consider the impact of recent technological changes that make it easier to start entrepreneurial ventures. We study the spatial uptake of a popular low‐code e‐commerce tool, Shopify, that makes launching and running an online business markedly cheaper and easier. Using data on nearly 160,000 Shopify‐based ventures across the entire United States, we find that usage of Shopify is more prevalent in neighborhoods with more Black residents. The pattern is distinct from that observed for traditional ventures and VC‐backed start‐ups. The evidence suggests low‐code tools represent a novel path to entrepreneurship, enhancing entrepreneurial access and potentially opening previously under‐explored markets. The finding further highlights the role of new tools (e.g., low‐code or AI‐driven) as a possible addition to policies aimed at enhancing entrepreneurial inclusion.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 8 citations exist upstream.

References

2000Bowling alone 1943Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy.2000Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities 2001Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community 2007The long tail: why the future of business is selling less of more 1995Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128.2000Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers 2014Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms: Toward an integrative framework

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.