From Ecosystems to Advicescapes: Business, Development and Advice in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

The provision of entrepreneurship advice is a growing feature of private sector development in South Asia but has so far received little attention from researchers. The article explores the theme of business advice in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, drawing on recent ethnographic fieldwork among advice seekers to explore the significance of low-income households of business advice within the unfolding processes of both marketization and state support. It offers a theoretical innovation in the concept of ‘advicescape’, supported by ethnographic materials conveying local-level perspectives and experiences of business advice users. Despite the growth of a complex business support ecosystem in each country, the article finds that many such people are falling through the cracks, in that they face problems accessing advice, find its quality variable and instead rely heavily on informal advice. It ends with reflections on the now dominant business-and-development approach, including a brief observation on improving the inclusivity and effectiveness of entrepreneurship advice.

在南亚，提供创业建议是私营部门发展中一个日益显著的特征，但到目前为止，这一领域很少受到研究人员的关注。本文探讨了斯里兰卡和孟加拉国的商业建议这一主题，借助近期在寻求建议者中进行的人种学实地调查，探究在市场化和国家支持的发展进程中，商业建议对低收入家庭的重要性。本文在“建议环境”这一概念上进行了理论创新，并以人种学材料为支撑，这些材料传达了商业建议使用者在地方层面的观点和经验。尽管每个国家都形成了一个复杂的商业支持生态系统，但本文发现，很多这类人被忽视了，因为他们在获取建议方面面临问题，发现建议质量参差不齐，并且严重依赖非正式建议。文章最后对当前占主导地位的商业与发展模式进行了反思，包括对提高创业建议的包容性和有效性的简要观察。