Being an entrepreneur: emergence and structuring of two immigrant entrepreneur groups

Abstract

The paper aims to analyze the mechanisms whereby immigrant entrepreneurship emerges and develops. In this connection, we argue that studies of immigrant entrepreneurship can benefit from deeper dialog with economic sociology. With the idea of mixed embeddedness as our starting point, we advocate an analytical framework of the generative mechanisms of immigrant entrepreneurship that traces the interconnections between the approaches of New Economic Sociology, Political Economy and Neo-Institutionalism from the perspective of mechanismbased explanation. This framework is then applied to a qualitative case study conducted on two micro immigrant-entrepreneur groups: the Italian ice cream parlor owners and pizzeria owners in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, selected inasmuch as they represent polar forms of immigrant entrepreneurship. In this perspective, empirical findings show detailed differences between the two groups. For pizzeria owners, entrepreneurial transition is the result of a short-term project, the actors are part of small networks, do business in predominantly local markets, and are mainly shaped by mimetic isomorphism. By contrast, the ice cream parlor owners script more consistent entrepreneurial paths, belong to more highly articulated networks, show specific aspects of economic transnationalism, and structure themselves by a predominately normative process.

Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

“…One might argue that transnational spaces can provide a level playing field for women -much like the role of online initiatives described by Dy et al (2017) -by reducing the constrictions of familial ties. While the existing theory places the emphasis on how the new host environment may impose other constraints on migrants, our findings suggest that women are able to utilize their individual agency (Cederberg and Villares-Varela 2018;Sorti 2014) to achieve their business aspirations and, in doing so, overcome existing constraints.…”

“…However, crucially, our narratives showcase how, despite these constraints from their home countries, these four women managed to find ways of overcoming the embedded societal expectations placed on their gender. Through the proactive processes of migrating to the UK, settling and then setting up branches of existing family businesses, these women have exercised individual agency (Sorti 2014) to drive forward the family businesses transnationally.…”

“…Within the field of migrant entrepreneurship, Rath and Kloosterman (2000) provide a clear overview of these issues. More recently, Cederberg and Villares-Varela (2018) and Sorti (2014) called for the development of a theory of action to understand better the role of individual agency within entrepreneurial activities across diverse groups. In responding to this call, we refer to agency as 'active decision-making' (Brettell and Kristoffer 2007: 384), or as factors that relate to individual characteristics (Rath and Swagerman 2016).…”

“…Our first theoretical contribution to the transnationalism literature is to demonstrate how, through extending family businesses across transnational spaces, women reclaim their individual agency and overcome gendered societal norms about entrepreneurial activity, as well as their gender determined feelings of inferiority. Theoretically, we show the emancipatory potential of transnational spaces for enabling women to reclaim their agency (Giddens 1988;Sorti 2014), which within the structural constraints of their homelands and family businesses embedded there, was previously impossible. Exerting their agency enables these transnational migrant women to prioritize their own business aspirations without sacrificing their family ties.…”

Becoming Spatially Embedded: Findings from a Study on Rural Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Norway

“…Hence, entrepreneurship is more and more viewed as a 'process contextually based in local communities' (McKeever, Anderson, & Jack, 2014, p. 455). Moreover, how women and men construct opportunities and whether and how they choose to act upon them are influenced by many factors, such as their background, identity, education, their social capital including access to various resources, and how they engage with the place(s) where they live (Storti, 2014).…”