Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid‐sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

Abstract

Lacking a tradition of settling immigrants and the appropriate infrastructure to integrate them, small‐ and medium‐sized cities often face the challenge of attracting and retaining immigrants. Using a mixed methods approach, this study compares the experiences of immigrant and non‐immigrant entrepreneurs in a mid‐sized Canadian city, Kelowna, British Columbia. A survey reveals different experiences between these two groups, with immigrants facing more challenges. In the absence of institutionally complete communities or strong ethnic economies, immigrants do not rely extensively on their own community resources, an element considered instrumental for immigrant business development in large cities. Compared to non‐immigrants, immigrant entrepreneurs have a more optimistic outlook on doing business in Kelowna; this is encouraging for a city trying hard to attract immigrant investment. Key informants recommended transforming the city into a more welcoming community, establishing appropriate support infrastructure, and removing potential institutional offsets. This paper adds new theoretical insights to the literature on immigrant entrepreneurship; all socio‐cultural, political‐institutional, and economic‐structural considerations are embedded in geography. The findings also have implications for growth strategies in small‐ and medium‐sized cities.

The role of family social capital in immigrants' entrepreneurial opportunity creation processes

“…Family trust creates an environment which permits responsive conversations for exchanging points of view and information that is useful for crafting an entrepreneurial idea. Previous research indicates that trust provides a foundation for entrepreneurial development (Deakins, Smallbone, Whittam & Wyper, 2007) and that immigrants appreciate the trust of family members and also confirm the central importance of family members in their businesses (Lo & Teixeira, 2015). In our cases, families of immigrant entrepreneurs in the host and home countries were prepared and available to discuss entrepreneurial ideas as and when needed.…”

“…The family was thus a repository of trust to interact with the larger social structure (Aldrich & Waldinger, 1990). The trust generated in the family enabled individuals to make sacrifices of individual interests for the benefit of the group (Portes & Sensenbrenner, 1993;Lo & Teixeira, 2015). However, we know little about how trust influences the process of creating opportunities.…”

Disparities and Divided Growth: Ethnic Entrepreneurship in the Greater Los Angeles Area, 1980–2015

“…In cities such as New Orleans (Airriess ) and Toronto (Teixiera et al ), scholars have demonstrated that immigrants turn to co‐ethnics in forming ethnic economies. However, in new immigration gateway cities such as Washington, D.C. (Price and Chacko ) or mid‐sized cities such as Kelowna, Canada (Lo and Teixiera ), where strong ethnic economies are missing, immigrants and ethnic minorities cannot rely extensively on their own community resources. The current study differentiates the “ethnic community” by residence and by business.…”

Immigrant entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective

“…Additionally, in their interviews with immigrant entrepreneurs, González‐González and Bretones () noted that those involved in family businesses saw benefits in the flexibility, control, and dedication that family members can provide, and that these businesses serve as a source of pride for the family. It is not simply a matter of convenience that family is involved; immigrants appreciate the trust, interest, and commitment of family members and are more likely than nonimmigrants to affirm the central importance of family members in their business (Lo & Teixeira, ). Thus, an interpretation of the results is that if an entrepreneur's desire is to include family, whether immediate or extended, then a reasonable way to involve these family members would be to create a business based on a shared cultural heritage.…”