What are the different attributes between entrepreneurs in Australia and New Zealand?

This paper involved intensive interviews, both in Australia and New Zealand based on the framework developed by Timmons (1996), as to what are the attributes of an entrepreneur and the differences are significant from one country to another. Names of the entrepreneurs were randomly selected from the Business Enterprise Register (BER) located at Southern Cross University (Coffs Harbour - campus) in Australia. The selecting criteria of small enterprises for this study were they had to have more than ten employees and less than twenty employees. Whereas in New Zealand a Christchurch Small Business Database developed at Christchurch College of Education was used to extract a random selection of small enterprises that aligned with the criteria set in Australia. Both regions are regarded as tourist destinations and it is of interest to see whether the entrepreneurs have the similar or different attributes. The purpose of interviewing entrepreneurs, in the Coffs Harbour, New South Wales Australia and comparing them with entrepreneurs in Christchurch, New Zealand, to evaluate potential differences in their attributes. Both regions have different employment situations. The Australian region studied had a high percentage of unemployment (approximately fourteen per cent). Some of the entrepreneurs commenced their businesses by using their redundancy payments or moved from the metropolitan areas for a better life style. However the New Zealand region of Canterbury has had traditionally low unemployment and the entrepreneurs sampled entered business for family, lifestyle and achievement reasons. All respondents had previous experience in their particular industry prior to entering self employment.