Fashion Entrepreneurship in Mexico : Barriers and Opportunities to Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Practices

Abstract: This Master’s thesis aims at defining the opportunities and barriers to fashion entrepreneurship and sustainable practices in Mexico. Using the recent development in the studies regarding barriers and opportunities to entrepreneurship and innovation, this investigation seeks to expand on the topic and shed some light on how a particular context can affect the success of entrepreneurs in the fashion industry. After all, understanding the external and internal factors Mexican venture creators in the world of fashion encounter, will make it possible to explore the reasons for the current socio-economic situation in the country.  For entrepreneurs acting locally, Mexico offers plenty of opportunities (Ayuso and Naberrete-Baez, 2017). However, despite the high rates of entrepreneurial activity, most projects are necessity-driven, which results in a limited impact on the country’s economic vitality (Pinazo Dellenbach and Castello Servant, 2020). The Mexican fashion industry consists of around 20,000 companies, 90% of which are small and medium enterprises (CEMDA, 2019), making it an interesting industry to focus on to understand the current levels of entrepreneurship in the country and assess the efforts of people seeking to create local brands while engaging with sustainability.  Understanding the socio-economic context is crucial to assessing the direction of entrepreneurs. Qualitative data was collected and analyzed during the investigation. The findings confirm the presence of cognitive-psychological, socio-institutional, and economic-operational constraints that limit opportunity discovery and opportunity realization among Mexican entrepreneurs (Khanin et al, 2021). However, they also help to expand on the current framework, by finding the connections between such constraints within each other and how they relate to engagement with sustainability and social entrepreneurship. In conclusion, the barriers and opportunities to entrepreneurship depend on the context and determine the types of projects and also their success. The same applies to the engagement with sustainability and social entrepreneurship.          KEYWORDS: fashion industry, entrepreneurship, sustainability, barriers and opportunities.