Cosmopolitans as Migrant Entrepreneurs

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Niina Nummela ◽  
Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki ◽  
Riikka Harikkala-Laihinen ◽  
Johanna Raitis
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Entrepreneurs

The Other Entrepreneurs - Migrant Economies as Spaces for Social Innovation?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-271
Author(s):  
Claudia Lintner
Keyword(s):  
Social Innovation ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurship ◽  
False Dichotomy ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurs ◽  
The One

This article analyses the relationship between migrant entrepreneurship, marginalisation and social innovation. It does so, by looking how their ‘otherness’ is used on the one hand to reproduce their marginalised situation in society and on the other to develop new living and working arrangements promoting social innovation in society. The paper is based on a qualitative study, which was carried out from March 2014- 2016. In this period, twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with migrant entrepreneurs and experts. As the results show, migrant entrepreneurs are characterised by a false dichotomy of “native weakness” in economic self-organisation against the “classical strength” of majority entrepreneurs. It is shown that new possibilities of acting in the context of migrant entrepreneurship are mostly organised in close relation to the lifeworlds and specific needs deriving from this sphere. Social innovation processes initiated by migrant entrepreneurs through their economic activities thus develop on a micro level and are hence less apparent. Supportive networks are missing on a structural level, so it becomes difficult for single innovative initiatives to be long-lasting.

Tipo Italiano: The Production and Sale of Italian-Style Goods, 1880–1914

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Zanoni
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
The United States ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurs ◽  
Made In ◽  
Diasporic Communities

Chapter Three compares the development of tipo italiano products—substitution Italian-style foods manufactured abroad—to explore changing meanings of nationality, ethnicity, and authenticity in migrant marketplaces. Italian migrant entrepreneurs in New York took advantage of the United States’ more industrialized society to manufacture cheaper tipo italiano foods for savings-oriented migrants in transnational family economies. In Argentina’s less industrially mature and import-dependent economy, Italian merchants fretted more about tipo italiano foods made in other European countries, especially “Latin” countries like Spain and France. Migrant makers and sellers of tipo italiano foods successfully navigated their liminal positions at the interstices of national and transnational economies, and migrant and non-migrant consumers, while maximizing their own economic and social standing in diasporic communities.

The resilience of African migrant entrepreneurs in China under COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Prah ◽  
Hagan Sibiri
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Data Collection Instrument ◽  
African Migrant ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurs ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

Purpose As the impact of COVID-19 on businesses was impossible to predict, so is the future of migrant entrepreneurs – some of whom, before the outbreak, had to deal with immigrant status associated challenges. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to focus on African migrant entrepreneurs in China, much less studied ethnic migrants who have always lived on the margins of Chinese society, to examine their entrepreneurial resilience under COVID-19 in China. Design/methodology/approach The study used a qualitative design using a survey and semi-structured follow-up interviews as the primary data collection instrument. The questions in the questionnaire guide were adapted from the Center for Global Development survey instrument designed to gauge the resilience of SMEs under COVID-19. Findings Although most business operations in China are impacted, African migrant businesses were very hit due to existing social challenges coupled with their informality (i.e. operating at a low level of organization), lack of contingency plans and lack of stimulus support. COVID-19 is thus not only a force majeure that threatens the growth expectation of African owned-business but also presents a threat to their very existence in an already challenging society for Africans. Research limitations/implications Although the study has achieved its intended purpose, the sample was relatively small due to the low return rate of questionnaires and the difficulties in reaching out to target respondents due to the restrictive measures on movements during the data collection period. Originality/value This paper draws attention to the entrepreneurship-related challenges faced by ethnic migrants in China during a crisis. The social challenges of Africans living in China became a global topical issue during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. However, little is known about their entrepreneurship endeavors and the associated difficulties. This paper helps our understanding of African businesses’ resilience in China during uncertain times, such as the one created by COVID-19.

scholarly journals Migrant entrepreneurs as cosmopolitan change agents

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Figueira ◽  
Giorgio Caselli ◽  
Nicholas Theodorakopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Change Agents ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurs ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
The Many ◽  
Conceptual Study

Purpose The aim of this paper is to provide novel insights into how the cosmopolitan mind-set can be fostered at a time of globalization by considering a group of social actors that has received scant attention in the literature on institutional change, notably migrant entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual study that draws on Bourdieu’s theory of capital to develop a set of testable propositions as to how the economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital endowments of migrant entrepreneurs shape their agency in bringing about cosmopolitan transformation. Findings Together, migrant entrepreneurs endowed with higher levels of capital may act as institution reformers and promote the cosmopolitan mind-set by influencing the beliefs, incentives and behaviors of those embedded in more entrenched traditional institutions. Research limitations/implications This conceptual framework deals with only one of the many agents that may help bring about cosmopolitan change and is particularly well suited to a Western European context. Practical implications This conceptual paper provides a number of testable propositions that can be central to an empirical investigation into how the levels of capital possessed by migrant entrepreneurs affect their engagement in cosmopolitan change. Social implications The findings help identify those individuals who are more likely to endorse the cosmopolitan movement. This implication may be of particular interest to policymakers concerned with conceiving ways of counteracting some of the negative effects caused by globalization, as they need to identify and understand the social agents who can take on the role of catalyzers of public reforms. Originality/value The novelty of this paper lies in the development of a set of propositions that shows how divergent change toward a cosmopolitan vision might be engendered by spatially dispersed actors endowed with varying degrees of economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital.

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