Entrepreneurship and innovation in a hybrid political order: The case of Lebanon
Nora Stel & Wim Naudé
#2012-078
Governance is often treated as a 'black box' explanation for
unproductive or destructive entrepreneurship. In order to improve our
understanding of how governance structures influence entrepreneurship
and innovation it is instructive to consider how entrepreneurs function
in so-called hybrid political orders. Lebanon is such a hybrid political
order in which a dual game of informal clientelism and formal
programmatic competition shapes entrepreneurship.
In this paper I provide an exploratory overview of the
governance-entrepreneurship nexus in Lebanon. It is argued that although
Lebanese entrepreneurial attitudes appear to be very positive,
entrepreneurial activity seems to be adversely impacted by governance
challenges and entrepreneurial aspiration is severely underdeveloped.
In-depth interviews with Lebanese experts show that Lebanese
entrepreneurs still face significant obstacles, often related to the
political context and system. These include: the high costs of utilities
and infrastructure; poor government support and a lack of political
vision for the economy; and instability and unpredictability related to
violent conflict that make investment and planning difficult and foster
a short-term, migration-focused mentality.
Lebanese entrepreneurs respond to these challenges by operating as
independent from government as they can; taking a regional perspective;
and diversifying. The challenging context, moreover, also offers
particular assets and opportunities to entrepreneurs, such as a vibrant
diaspora and a supposedly resilient business mentality.
Keywords; Lebanon; governance; conflict; fragility; entrepreneurship;
innovation; business
JEL Classification numbers: L26, M48, O17, O53