Issue 16

ERENET Profile Vol. IV, No. 4.
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to the other to find an acceptable resolution. Those members adopting accommodation as a conflict
management strategy in their family businesses show high concern for other members and low concern for
themselves (Cosier and Ruble, 1981). Accommodation can start pacifying existing differences and show
readiness to get along. Seymour, (1993) agrees that by showing concern and supporting others involved in the
conflict, should contribute to good relationships and cohesiveness. In a family business, if all parties
accommodate, conflicts can usually be resolved. Covey (1989) further adds that a win-win solution should be
found to make all concerned satisfied and suggests that this win-win strategy encourages the family business
members to work in the same direction and achieve the same goals and objectives.
In the next section, the authors provide a background of Mauritius and the entrepreneurial activities
in the country.
Brief history of Mauritius and the development entrepreneurial activities
Mauritius is located in the Indian Ocean. It is a small island of about 1,865 sq km with a population of
just over 1.2 million and is at a distance of some 800 km off the east coast of Madagascar. Mauritius has been
in the past a French and British colony successively. Slaves were brought in from Africa to work on the island
and after the abolition of slavery; indentured labourers were brought in from India to work mainly in sugar
cane plantations and in farming. When Mauritius gained its independence in 1968, the British settlers sold or
in a few cases gifted some the sugarcane fields to the labourers prior to their departure from the island. Today,
the descendents of the indentured labourers have inherited these plots of land, which are still cultivated with
sugar cane and other crops that are sold to sugar mills and vegetable sellers respectively. Mauritius is thus a
multicultural country where Mauritians from various ethnic backgrounds (Indian, African, Chinese and
Anglo/French origins) cohabit harmoniously for centuries.
Entrepreneurial activities in Mauritius might have well started when the French and the British settlers
colonised the island, some two hundred years back (Gungaphul and Boolaky, 2003) but it was rather in an
informal way. To gain additional income to support their families, the labourers were cultivating even the
smallest plot of land and sold their vegetables to others. Some of the lands which were inherited have been
used and in many cases are still being used also for farming and the outputs are used for personal
consumption or for selling in markets or to hotels and restaurants. Chinese immigrants who set up retail
businesses during those days owned most corner shops in the country and presently several of these corner
shops have been transformed into mini, super or hypermarkets (Boolaky and Gungaphul, 2001).
Entrepreneurial activities started informally by people from various ethnic origins on the island and most of
these businesses are today family businesses where both the nuclear and often the extended families are
involved. However, theses entrepreneurial activities are no more restricted to agriculture, farming or retailing
but have extended to textile, tourism, ICT, and in other manufacturing and services.
Mauritius has now diversified from a mono-crop economy to an industrializing economy to face
challenges from competition and globalisation. The government is providing strong support for expansion
and development of SMEs and nowadays micro enterprises with a view to tackle unemployment and other
economic and social problems. A few thousand people have caught this bandwagon and are starting up their
own businesses taking advantage of facilities offered to them. In his 2007/2008 budget speech, the Minister of
Finance of Mauritius stated “This trend confirms our conviction that the SME sector can be an effective
vehicle for longer term job creation, for broadening the circle of opportunities, for poverty reduction and for
lifting the economic, financial and social status of the unemployed and the working poor.” While there is no
clear statistics (partly due to the fact that many small enterprises operate in the informal sector) to confirm the
percentage of firms, which make up the SME sector in Mauritius, the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO)
report (2008) indicates an increase in the number of small businesses during period 2002 to 2007. There was
an estimated 91,980 small businesses in 2007 compared to 74,930 in 2002, representing an increase of 23%.
This small business sector also showed a drastic increase in employment, namely 19% (175900 to 208800)
during the same period. Today it is taking astronomical dimension with the schemes for microenterprises, thus
proving that the SMEs have already overtaken large establishments in job creation.
Most of the entrepreneurial activities have started as small family businesses. Many are still operating
as family businesses and are past their first or second generations. Unfortunately, with the absence of statistics,
it is not known how many family businesses exist, what is the rate of failure or success, what problems they
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