Agribusiness: what do young graduates of schools and business faculties in Mexico think about entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector?

Abstract

Objective: To know what young graduates of schools and business faculties in Mexico think about undertaking (or investing) in the agricultural sector and identify what are the determining factors that affect how to start an agribusiness.

Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 3,213 young graduates from a database generated by the Business Development Center of the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon during the first quarter of 2019 is used. With the information collected a model is made of structural equations that explain the way in which young people classify their perceptions on the subject of study.

Results: Research shows that young graduates of schools and business faculties in the south of the country give greater weight (44.3%) to the commitment they consider to have with Mexican agriculture and to the satisfaction of knowing that if they undertake an agribusiness, they will help their communities, while young graduates from the north of the country value more the economic remuneration they could generate if they start a business of this type (35.4%).

Study limitations/implications: The work performed is not comparable and generalizable, so that expanding the population or sample at regional or national level, the research would have a scope of representative analysis on the phenomenon of study.

Findings/conclusions: Most of the young people surveyed seem to have a positive perception about the importance of the agricultural sector. However, more than half of the sample interviewed (57.9%) argues that it would not put an agribusiness in this sector.