EU Migrants as Entrepreneurs in Lincolnshire

Abstract

<jats:p> The arrival of unprecedented numbers of migrant workers in the rural counties of the UK, due to EU enlargement, has created a unique opportunity. Many of these migrants wish to become more than just a source of cheap labour; they aspire to become entrepreneurs. Lincolnshire has already seen a burgeoning of migrant businesses, but these have prospered largely by serving their co-ethnic market. This article examines the barriers and drivers for establishing businesses in the wider regional market and observes the first attempts at providing adequate support mechanisms. With improved language skills, there is potential for migrants to break out of the co-ethnic market and develop sustainable businesses. </jats:p>

Immigrant entrepreneurs in rural England – An examination of the socio- cultural barriers facing migrant small businesses in Lincolnshire

“…Building on the functionalism philosophy in psychology, we define adaptation as the use of mental abilities to fit or cope with contextual/cultural changes. Previous studies (Barnes and Cox, 2007; Mendy and Hack-Polay, 2018; Nwankwo, 2005) examined various barriers encountered by immigrant entrepreneurs generally and particularly in urban settings.…”

“…Mixed embeddedness refers to the embedding course of immigrant entrepreneurs in the social, economic and institutional settings of the host country, which helps immigrant entrepreneurs overcome barriers with regards to capital, labour, market information, protocols, and such like in the host countries (Kloosterman et al., 1999; Zhu et al., 2019). The choice of Lincolnshire is linked to the fact that the county typifies rural England since it is the second-largest county in England (Barnes and Cox, 2007), yet with fewer cities and urban areas and has critical issues with transport (Ward et al., 2013). For Barnes and Cox (2007), due to its ruralness with an economy dominated by agriculture and farming, the county of Lincolnshire lacks ethnic diversity.…”

Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

“…Despite the large flows of migrants to Western Europe in recent decades, 'new' migrants to the UK (Barnes and Cox 2007) rarely feature in contemporary debates (Barrett and Vershinina 2017); and there are even fewer detailed accounts of transnational migrant women operating family businesses (Hearn et al 2008;Marques et al 2001). We address this gap in the literature by highlighting the important role that transnational spaces can play as conduits through which women may challenge dominant ideas about their roles and acquire legitimacy by setting up branches of their family business abroad (Voigt-Graf 2004).…”

Challenges for spatially oriented entrepreneurship research

“…for the German districts ('Kreise', Audretsch and Keilbach 2005). A third type of paper addresses particular aspects of entrepreneurship within a single county like Lincolnshire, hence a part of England which is again a territorial unit of the UK (Barnes and Cox 2007).…”