Migrant Entrepreneurship Network Structures

Globalization effects nearly everyone and everything; and so, it does for networks and its different dimensions. Anna-Lena Bunse explores the network structure of migrant entrepreneurs in Bremen-Gröpelingen, and asks how informal networks for migrant entrepreneurs are structured and how migrant entrepreneurs can benefit from informal networks. It is shown how diaspora entrepreneurs in Gröpelingen communicate with each other and how this effects their businesses. The results highlight, that there are benefits for all diaspora entrepreneurs and their network partners, yet it also shows that they could use their networks in a more efficient way to optimize their businesses.

Immigrant entrepreneurs are known to be heterogeneous in terms of available resources and entrepreneurial outcomes. However, this heterogeneity, as well as immigrant entrepreneurs’ embeddedness in social networks and the institutional context of high-income welfare states such as Sweden, remains understudied. Sweden represents an interesting case as a popular immigration destination which liberalized its migration policy for entrepreneurs and changed other regulations, encouraging immigrant entrepreneurship after 2008. Theoretically, the dissertation contributes to the mixed embeddedness approach to immigrant entrepreneurship by considering three stages of the entrepreneurial process – entry, performance, and potential exit – in a changing institutional environment. Methodologically, the dissertation operationalizes the mixed embeddedness approach by studying these three stages – entry (propensity to start a business), performance (entrepreneurial incomes), and potential exit (duration in business) – among different categories of immigrants. Explanatory factors are drawn from three levels of analysis: institutional change (macro), social, ethnic and family networks (meso), and the individual’s human capital (micro). A range of statistical tools is used for empirical analyses: Difference-in-difference methods in combination with Coarsened Exact Matching and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition are used to investigate the influence of institutional change on entrepreneurial entry and performance. Survival models based on Cox regression are applied to investigate the influence of social and family ties on the likelihood of entrepreneurial exit. A combination of clustering and association analysis allows heterogeneity to be approached via the categorization of immigrant entrepreneurs. Empirically, based on rich data from Swedish registers, the dissertation reveals that the propensity to start businesses in expanding ICT industries among labour immigrants was increased, and performance in terms of income among new immigrant entrepreneurs was improved after institutional change, compared to earlier. It also stresses that family networks mitigate a lack of other resources for refugee entrepreneurs, allowing them to stay in business longer. Two main categories of new immigrant entrepreneurs were distinguished in the overall heterogeneous population. The dissertation consists of four papers and an introductory chapter. Invandrarföretagare uppvisar stor heterogenitet när det gäller tillgängliga resurser och framgång i sitt företagande. Denna heterogenitet, liksom invandrarföretagens inbäddning i sociala nätverk och i den svenska välfärdsstatens institutionella kontext, är emellertid understuderad. Sverige utgör ett intressant fall eftersom det är ett land med relativt stor invandring som efter 2008 liberaliserade migrationspolitiken för företagare och på olika sätt uppmuntrade invandrares företagande. Teoretiskt bidrar avhandlingen till mixed embeddedness-perspektivet genom att analysera tre stadier i entreprenörsprocessen: uppstart, utveckling och eventuell avveckling, i förhållande till institutionell förändring. Mixed embeddedness operationaliseras i avhandlingen genom att olika kategorier invandrare studeras vid olika steg i entreprenörsprocessen; uppstart (benägenhet att starta ett företag), utveckling (företagarinkomster) samt eventuell avveckling (varaktighet i företaget) och genom att förklarande faktorer studeras på tre analysnivåer: institutionell förändring (makro), sociala, etniska och familjenätverk (meso) samt individens humankapital (mikro). En rad statistiska verktyg används för de empiriska analyserna; Difference-in-difference-metoder i kombination med Coarsened Exact Matching och Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition används för att undersöka hur institutionella förändringar påverkar uppstart och utveckling. Överlevnadsmodeller baserade på Cox-regression tillämpas för att undersöka hur sociala nätverk och familjeband påverkar sannolikheten för avveckling. Med en kombination av klusteranalys och associationsanalys undersöks mönster i heterogeniteten bland invandrarföretagarna genom kategorisering. Empiriskt, baserat på detaljerade data från svenska register, visar avhandlingen att benägenheten att starta verksamhet inom IKT-branschen ökade bland arbetskraftsinvandrare, samt att inkomsterna bland nya invandrarföretagare förbättrades efter en period av institutionell förändring. Avhandlingen visar även att familjenätverk motverkar bristen på andra resurser för företagare med flyktingbakgrund, vilket gör att de kan stanna i verksamheten längre. Två huvudkategorier går att urskilja i den heterogena gruppen av företagare. Avhandlingen är en sammanläggning av fyra artiklar och en inledande kappa.

This Special Issue aims to provide an extensive mapping of policies in the promotion of ethnic entrepreneurship in a number of countries. It is motivated by the desire of national and municipal Governments to create an environment conducive to setting up and developing SMEs in general and immigrant businesses in particular. Furthermore it also highlights how the third sector has also had a crucial role in the reinforcement of immigrant entrepreneurship, and provides indications of how best to address this issue at a Governmental level in the future.

Global Migration, Entrepreneurship and Society seeks to develop a much-needed theoretical and policy-related set of writings that can cast light on the workings and complexities of processes of global migration, entrepreneurship and societal integration.

This book examines the advantages and disadvantages of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs in the mainstream labor market. Immigrants to the U.S. have historically pursued entrepreneurship as a means of achieving economic affluence. Among immigrants since the 1965 Immigration Amendment Act, Koreans have one of the highest rates of entrepreneurship. This study investigates various structural elements, including enclave and non-enclave economies, to uncover interconnections with personal advantages such as capacities for resource mobilization through networks and human capital utilized to establish businesses. The results show that networks are the most prominent resources that Korean immigrants use for business establishment. However, networks are divided into two elements: family and social. The examination of both types of networks shows how they operate differently and generate different intrinsic to business establishment. Although previous studies have recognized the economic advantages of immigrants with higher educational backgrounds, this study further demonstrates how higher human capital is utilized through network establishment to benefit business establishment. Also, counter to traditional belief, it is found that ethnic resources are not especially crucial resources for starting a business, but are useful after businesses are established.

Given the strong migration trends in our society all over the years, this handbook addresses the upcoming topic of migrant entrepreneurship in all its colourful facets. Migration, ethnic minorities, and related phenomena are currently the subject of intensive scholarly discussion and a heated public debate. Migrant entrepreneurship is a powerful issue within this debate as it creates numerous chances for both migrants and societies - despite significant challenges. In 19 chapters scholars from different disciplines and countries shed light on the phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship. Long traditions of studies have resulted in the diversity of topics and approaches applied by scholars, and the handbook offers a systematization of research efforts. It also aims to explore future research avenues by providing inspirations. Three types of readers can benefit from this handbook: researchers, professionals (including policymakers), and students from around the world.

Given the diversification of global migration patterns, the increased importance attributed to knowledge and innovation for economic development, and the rise of social policy regimes that emphasise self-responsibility, migrant entrepreneurship has become a widely discussed form of migrant incorporation in both policy and social sciences. Particularly in North America and Europe, policy advisors have drafted special programmes and regulations aimed at self-employed migrants, while social scientists have also come up with a vast body of research, although it has not been exempt from certain controversies and biases. Migrant entrepreneurship has frequently been associated either with rags-to-riches success stories or with unremunerative hard work and marginalised social positions. Also, a great deal of research has strongly and consistently focused on entrepreneurial cultures and ethnic bonds related to ethnic entrepreneurship, and consequently other forms of migrant self-employment have been given only given scant attention. Yet, more recently, other aspects, including institutional embeddedness and gender, have become important focal points of research studies and have opened up new, promising avenues to explore the phenomenon. This book offers a comprehensive up-to-date overview of the research area covering migrant entrepreneurship and self-employment, in addition to investigating the skills of migrant entrepreneurs departing from the question: which migrants become self-employed, the highly skilled ones (due to their excellence) or the ones with a low skill endowment (because they cannot find a satisfying employment in the labour market)? Moreover, the included case study on highly skilled Peruvian migrant micro-entrepreneurs in Switzerland demonstrates the complex interplay of elements at work before and during the business foundation, such as an unsatisfying socio-economic integration, the search for social recognition and agency, the reconfiguration of gender roles, and the availability of resources to exploit transnational business opportunities.

No large city is complete without a bustling array of culturally diverse businesses. Immigrant entrepreneurship rose dramatically in the last decade of the twentieth century and has, inevitably, had a huge impact on urban life. Not only has immigrant business revitalized derelict shopping streets, but it has also introduced 'exotic' products and fostered new forms of social cohesion. In spite of this, we rarely consider how migrants made the trek abroad, what role they play in their country of settlement, and what effect they have on the global economic climate.Through a comparative study of international 'advanced economies', this book explores the impact of immigrant business. It draws on in-depth case studies from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the United States and South Africa. Paying specific attention to the particularities of each country, it provides an up-to-date review of theoretical debates that have developed rapidly in recent years. How important is the institutional framework of each country in determining the extent and incidence of immigrant entrepreneurship? What role do welfare systems play in immigration and how do they compare and contrast in different countries? In what ways do immigrants use their own resources, make use of existing ones, and create new ones? Immigrant Entrepreneurs provides a comprehensive, cross-cultural overview of immigrant business in a diverse global economy. Sophisticated in its analysis and innovative in its approach, this timely book is a benchmark publication.