Quinlan Social Impact Initiative: An Introductory Literature Review

The Quinlan School of Business is strengthening Chicago’s minority-owned businesses (i.e., MOBs), starting with a pilot project in the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods, which surround Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus. This literature review will serve as a mechanism for identifying key discrepancies minority-owned businesses (MOBs) face within the Chicago and national-level small business ecosystems, as well as in entrepreneurial ecosystems. There is a relationship between minority-owned businesses and business service organizations (BSOs), but the relationship between these organizations in Chicago is not fully understood. This review will identify the extent of existing relationships with MOBs and BSOs, why MOBs seek/do not seek relations with BSOs, and what MOBs might want to get out of a relationship with a BSO. This literature review aims to identify the discrepancies in relationships between MOBs and BSOs to provide solutions for improved relations, and a stronger, more succinct small business ecosystem in Rogers Park and Edgewater, and on a larger scale, in Chicago.