Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise Insights from MSMEs and Family Owned Businesses

This engaging book fills a substantial gap in the understanding of Caribbean enterprises, focusing upon FOBs (family-owned businesses) about which, despite accounting for 70% of private sector employment in the region, very little is known. Concentrating on MSMEs which represent the majority of FOBs in the English-speaking Caribbean, the authors compare and contrast their experiences to those in developed countries, focusing in particular on areas such as family business succession, business financing and marketing. Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise provides context-specific lessons from a historical perspective of business and entrepreneurship, which in turn provide an understanding of the current issues facing MSMEs and FOBs in the English-speaking Caribbean. 

Chapter 1- Introduction.- Chapters 2 - A Historical Perspective of FOBs in the English Speaking Caribbean.- Chapter 3 –Succession Planning - the Caribbean Approach.- Chapter 4 -The Financial Landscape of FOBs in the ESC.- Chapter 5 - Supply Chain (SC) and Emerging Issues of FOBs in the ESC.- Chapter 6 - FOBs and the Dynamics of Marketing.- Chapter 7 - Conclusions and The Way Forward. 

Lawrence A. Nicholson is a lecturer and Head of the Decision Sciences and Information System Unit at the Mona School of Business and Management, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica.  He holds a PhD. in Decision and Information Sciences and has published in the areas of supply chain management and family-owned businesses. 

Jonathan G. Lashley is a Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at The University of the West Indies, Barbados, and he holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Leicester, UK. His research centres on issues related to sustainable socio-economic development, and his work has been published both regionally and internationally.