Evolution of the entrepreneurial environment, crisis and change in Mérida in the 20th century

Abstract

M Within the framework of Schumpeter's model of entrepreneurship and innovation, in this document we will analyze the case of the film industry in Mérida, Yucatán, based on the experience of businessman Arturo Moguel, from his beginnings in 1903 as a lottery organizer in public squares until his death in 1921. He was managing three movie theaters and an entertainment center. According to a legal document, these businesses generated a monthly profit estimated at 1,200 pesos at the time. To achieve this, a content analysis was conducted of the official gazette of the State of Yucatán from 1900 to 1924, which records commercial permits, judicial and business actions of the Yucatecan community. This information was complemented by searches in the General Archive of the State of Yucatán. His rise as an entrepreneur—from street lottery operator to film entrepreneur to local representative—is shaped by the way the state reorganized between 1914 and 1924. The effects of the Mexican Revolution in Yucatán fostered the development of new ways of doing business, and this was exploited by a new generation of entrepreneurs, of which Arturo Moguel was a prominent representative.