This paper examines the business development process of 20 Polish new migrant entrepreneurs in Glasgow, Scotland. Based on a qualitative analysis of their business development activities – including how they broadened their market and product or services offerings – it unveils the incremental nature of this process as a route to break out from the saturated, hypercompetitive ethnic niche market. We, therefore, contribute to debates on breakout strategies to new markets and networks, and on barriers to new migrant entrepreneurs’ growth by reconceptualising new migrant entrepreneurs’ business development process. To achieve this aim, we propose a novel diversification process theoretical framework to analyse their business development process and specific activities

Purpose To develop a modelised representation of the concept of opportunity structures for Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs (EMEs) in Glasgow, Scotland, that incorporates the different demand and supply side dimensions influencing entrepreneurial activity. Design/methodology/approach An appropriate qualitative research design was implemented in order to capture and understand the influence of contextual dimensions on entrepreneurial behaviour of Polish EMEs in Glasgow. As part of the abductive and reflective process of the research, 21 semi-structure interviews were carried out in with Polish EMEs who are sole-owners of businesses. Findings By contextualising ethnic minority entrepreneurship, the paper reveals the crucial and ambivalent role played by the community (for resource mobilisation and as the primary market) and by Polish EMEs' perception of the opportunity structure, on their entrepreneurial behaviour. Moreover, it highlights the importance of the household as a contextual dimension on entrepreneurial decision-making among those Polish entrepreneurs in Glasgow. Practical implications Provides a comprehensive and operational model of opportunity structure for EMEs which can be used an operational tool for both scholars in the field as well as by policy makers. The proposed model constitutes a framework for analysing the influence of different contextual dimensions on EMEs' entrepreneurial behaviour. Originality/value The contribution is the provision of an original tool to enable further systematic comparative approaches while conducting research on EMEs across different communities and localities.

This article applies an intersectional lens to analyze the lived experience of 11 women migrant entrepreneurs based in the UK. We adopt structuration as our ontology to analyze intersectionality in entrepreneurship at the interplay of macro-level structures and micro-level agency, addressing tensions between determinism and subjectivism. Findings show that women migrant entrepreneurs are trailing wives who experience constrained agency which influences their entrepreneurial activities. By highlighting the specific issues faced by entrepreneurs situated at the intersection of the oppressive structures of patriarchy and outsidership, we advance the intersectional agenda in entrepreneurship research and policymaking.

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One decade after its introduction, the superdiversity concept introduced by Steven Vertovec has widely found echoes in migration research, but also in business studies, particularly those focusing on ethnic minority entrepreneurship (EME). In spite of conceptually embracing superdiversity in EME research, the multidimensionality of superdiversity in its original understanding appears to require further consideration. Dimensions currently overlooked in research at the nexus of superdiversity and ethnic minority entrepreneurship are: (1) ethnic but also religious and linguistic diversity of entrepreneurship, (2) entrepreneurial diversity regarding business-types and (3) incorporation of the characteristics of the city within its analytical unit. Based on an extensive site survey of ethnic businesses in Glasgow combining ethnographic assessment and available statistical data on the city districts, this paper reconceptualizes the entrepreneurial superdiversity to do justice to the on-going debates on superdiversity within migration research. In doing so, it proposes the Entrepreneurial Superdiversity Index (ESI), which is a viable method for approximating entrepreneurial superdiversity in cities. The ESI allows comparative analyses of entrepreneurial superdiversity within a specific city and potentially also between different cities internationally, which could be highly useful for policy-makers and planners alike. It also delivers grounds for developing a general index for superdiversity in further migration research.