Migrant entrepreneurship in Hamburg: Results from a qualitative study with Turkish entrepreneurs

This article is an overview study on migrant entrepreneurship in Hamburg with a special focus on Turkish entrepreneurs. On the basis of 58 semistructured interviews conducted between October 2008 and January 2009, several patterns such as entrepreneurial motivation, business development and embeddednes in co-ethnic or mainstream networks are closely examined. Furthermore, this article refers to problems migrant entrepreneurs encounter in the business process and illustrates formal and informal strategies applied in solving these issues. Lastly, support structures for migrant businesses in Hamburg are discussed and evaluated. --migrant entrepreneurs,migrant entrepreneurs in knowledge-intensive service sectors,social capital,co-ethnic and mainstream embeddedness,support structures for migrant businesses in Hamburg

Determinants of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Europe

In the last decades migrant enterprises have become more embedded in the European urban economy. With the rising number of migrant entrepreneurs, the largest cities in Europe have acquired a more cosmopolitan outlook and have become dynamic multicultural economies. Actually, the ‘ethnic economies’ are often seen as elements of a solution to structural labour market problems and ethnicity is increasingly regarded as a viable resource for economic advancement on the labour market in Europe. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to investigate the forms of migrant entrepreneurship in diverse urban contexts and to interpret the differences in the social integration in European cities. The paper is based on a review of findings in the literature that addresses the migrant entrepreneurship experiences of different European countries such as Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, France, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Portugal. The focus of the paper will be on a comparative evaluation of the various forms of migrant entrepreneurship in European countries. This comparative evaluation enables us to identify the ‘European’ models of migrant entrepreneurship and to highlight the determinants of migrant entrepreneurship in Europe.

Determinants of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Europe

In the last decades migrant enterprises have become more embedded in the European urban economy. With the rising number of migrant entrepreneurs, the largest cities in Europe have acquired a more cosmopolitan outlook and have become dynamic multicultural economies. Actually, the 'ethnic economies' are often seen as elements of a solution to structural labour market problems and ethnicity is increasingly regarded as a viable resource for economic advancement on the labour market in Europe. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to investigate the forms of migrant entrepreneurship in diverse urban contexts and to interpret the differences in the social integration in European cities. The paper is based on a review of findings in the literature that addresses the migrant entrepreneurship experiences of different European countries such as Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, France, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Portugal. The focus of the paper will be on a comparative evaluation of the various forms of migrant entrepreneurship in European countries. This comparative evaluation enables us to identify the 'European' models of migrant entrepreneurship and to highlight the determinants of migrant entrepreneurship in Europe

International Migration, Remittances, and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Exchange Rate Shocks

Millions of households in developing countries receive financial support from family members working overseas. How do migrant earnings affect origin-household investments? This paper examines Philippine households%u2019 responses to overseas members%u2019 economic shocks. Overseas Filipinos work in dozens of foreign countries, which experienced sudden (and heterogeneous) changes in exchange rates due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Appreciation of a migrant%u2019s currency against the Philippine peso leads to increases in household remittances received from overseas. The estimated elasticity of Philippine-peso remittances with respect to the Philippine/foreign exchange rate is 0.60. These positive income shocks lead to enhanced human capital accumulation and entrepreneurship in migrants%u2019 origin households. Child schooling and educational expenditure rise, while child labor falls. In the area of entrepreneurship, households raise hours worked in self-employment, and become more likely to start relatively capital-intensive household enterprises.

No. 68: Entrepreneurship and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique

While increasing attention is being paid to the drivers and forms of entrepreneurship in informal economies, much less of this policy and research focus is directed at understanding the links between mobility and informality. This report examines the current state of knowledge about this relationship with particular reference to three countries (Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and four cities (Cape Town, Harare, Johannesburg and Maputo), identifying major themes, knowledge gaps, research questions and policy implications. In many African cities, informal enterprises are operated by internal and international migrants. The extent and nature of mobile entrepreneurship and the opportunities and challenges confronting migrant entrepreneurs are under-researched in Africa in general and Southern Africa in particular. Their contribution to the informal economy and employment generation in countries of destination and origin are similarly undervalued by policy-makers. Informal migrant entrepreneurs are often viewed with suspicion, if not hostility, by citizens and officials. In part, this is because central and municipal governments see them as increasing the growth of an informal sector that they want tamed, if not eradicated. Also, it is because they are often incorrectly seen as all “illegal immigrants” and, by definition, engaged in illicit activities. And, in countries with high levels of xenophobia such as South Africa, migrant-owned businesses are a visible and easy target for xenophobic attacks. Violent attacks on migrant entrepreneurs and their property have become extremely common in many South African cities. South Africa’s relatively small informal sector is accompanied by very high unemployment levels. Many commentators therefore feel that the South African informal economy ought to be much larger than it is. Given the apartheid-era repression of informal entrepreneurship, the key question may not be why the informal economy is not larger, but why, after decades of repression, it is as large and important as it is. One of the reasons is that the informal economy is not just populated by South African citizens. Migrants from other African countries play an increasingly important role in the sector and experience considerable success, something that eludes many locally-owned start-ups. Informal retailing has been the major focus of economic research on different sub-sectors of the informal economy. Particularly common are small-area case studies of survivalist street trading (particularly of food and handicrafts) in the inner city. The spaza shop sector in low-income residential areas has also been studied. Other informal entrepreneurial activities that have attracted attention include the minibus taxi industry, waste collection and recycling, shebeens, trade in medicinal plants and poverty tourism

The role of institutional and family embeddedness in the failure of Sub-Saharan African migrant family businesses

There is considerable interest among European politicians and policymakers in how to integrate migrants in the local and national economy. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 owners of Sub-Saharan African migrant family businesses (SSAMBs) in the United Kingdom, this article critically examines why SSAMBs fail or underperform. This investigation draws upon three streams of literature – notably migrant business failure, institutional theory and family embeddedness. The findings highlight the challenges of doing business and the reasons for business failure among this group. These are different from other small businesses and include culture, family interference and ethnicity. The main contribution of the article lies in the development of a conceptual model that highlights the relationships between institutional contexts and migrant family business outcomes. The model proposes that institution and family embeddedness results in the enactment of ethnic behaviours that drive migrant businesses into cultural markets leading to business underperformance or failure

No. 70: International Migrants and Refugees in Cape Town’s Informal Economy

This report is the most comprehensive study yet of the contribution of migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to Cape Town’s local economy. The survey of over 500 entrepreneurs engaged in trade, services and manufacturing in different areas of the city dispels some of the more prevalent myths that often attach to the activities of migrants. The vast majority are not “illegal foreigners”, but have a legal right to be in South Africa and to run a business. Most are highly motivated individuals who enter the informal economy to earn revenue to support themselves, their families, and because they have a strong entrepreneurial motivation. Contrary to the claims of South African competitors, the vast majority are not successful because they are engaged in shadowy business practices. What emerges from the survey is that while migrant entrepreneurs undoubtedly have strong social networks, their businesses are highly individualistic in terms of organization, ownership and activity in a competitive business environment. This report demonstrates their positive economic contributions to Cape Town and examines the challenges they face in running a successful business operation in the city. It goes beyond the rhetoric of inclusion to demonstrate with hard evidence exactly why migrant and refugee entrepreneurs should be accepted as an integral and valuable part of the local economy

New Entrepreneurship in Urban Diasporas in our Modern World

ABSTRACT: Entrepreneurship among migrants – often called new, migrant or ethnic entrepreneurship – has over the past years become a significant component of the urban economy in many developed countries. Migrant entrepreneurship has a considerable welfare enhancing impact on the city, notably a contribution to innovation and growth, creation of new jobs for less favoured population groups, advancement of benefits from cultural diversity, and reinforcement of economic opportunities related to international connectivity. The present paper aims to investigate the backgrounds of migrant entrepreneurship in large Dutch cities, in particular, the critical success factors of business performance of these entrepreneurs in relation to their ethnic background, their levels of skill, and other specific and general contextual factors. To address the drivers of break-out strategies for new markets, a sample of second-generation Moroccan entrepreneurs is extensively interviewed to extract detailed information at a micro business level. The wealth of qualitative information on both input factors and output (performance) achievements is next systematically coded in a qualitative survey table which is converted into a format that is suitable for application of a rough set analysis. This is an artificial intelligence technique that is able to extract and identify the set of combinations of different drivers that altogether make up for a final outcome. The results show that longer stay in the host country, male gender, family network support and education of the entrepreneurs concerned are critical variables for the business performance of these urban diaspora entrepreneurs. KEYWORDS: Migrant entrepreneurship, break-out strategies, change agents, second-generation migrant entrepreneurs, urban economy, innovation, cultural diversity, international connectivity, business performance, rough set analysis, urban diaspora entreprene

The influence of social capital on risk-taking propensity. A study on Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

This paper studies the influence of social capital on immigrant entrepreneurs’ risk-taking propensity. The paper has a particular focus on Chinese immigrants and also explores the effects of the so-called “guanxi”, a specific form of social capital for Chinese communities. The empirical research is based on a survey conducted in 2012 on Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Andalusia (Spain). An ordinal logistic regression specification was employed to test the hypotheses. The results show that the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs with greater structural, relational and cognitive social capital and better “guanxi” have a higher risk-taking propensity in their business activity

Entrepreneurial in-migrants and economic development in rural England

Counterurbanisation has generally been viewed as a negative phenomenon, but Stockdale and Findlay (2004) presented rural in-migration as potentially “a catalyst for economic regeneration” based on in-migrants’ business activity. More than half of rural microbusinesses in the North-East of England are owned by in-migrants and provide an estimated 10% of jobs in the rural North-East (Bosworth, 2006). In the light of these new drivers of rural development, exogenous and endogenous approaches alone are increasingly inadequate (Lowe et al., 1995; Murdoch, 2000; Terluin, 2003). Ray instead proposed Neo-Endogenous Development, defined as “endogenous based development in which extra-local factors are recognised as essential but which retains belief in the potential of local areas to shape their future” (2001, p.4). Preliminary research suggests that in-migrants tend to retain more extensive business networks while developing valuable local contacts (Bosworth, 2006). As endogenous actors with diverse networks, in-migrants are well placed to strengthen connectivity with the ‘extra-local’ and introduce new vitality to rural economies