From breaking-ice to breaking-out: integration as an opportunity creation process

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct an inductive case study to understand how the opportunity creation process leads to integration. Design/methodology/approach It examines four cases of immigrant entrepreneurs of Cameroonian, Lebanese, Mexican and Assyrian origins who founded their businesses in Sweden. The study relies on process-oriented theory building and develops an inductive model of integration as an opportunity creation process. Findings The suggested model shows immigrants’ acculturation into the host society via three successive phases: breaking-ice, breaking-in and breaking-out. In the breaking-ice phase, immigrants trigger entrepreneurial ideas to overcome the disadvantages that they face as immigrants in the host country. In the breaking-in phase, immigrants articulate their entrepreneurial ideas by bonding with the ethnic community. In the breaking-out phase, the immigrants reorient their entrepreneurial ideas by desegregating them locally. The paper concludes by elaborating theoretical and practical implications of the research. Originality/value Immigrants act when they are socially excluded and discriminated in the labor market by developing business ideas and becoming entrepreneurs. By practicing the new language and accommodating native customers’ preferences, immigrants reorient their entrepreneurial ideas. The immigrants tailor their ideas to suit their new customers by strengthening their sense of belonging to the local community.

Space and place in immigrant entrepreneurship literature in the Nordic countries: A systematic literature review

“…Nonetheless, place as a process is evident in some studies and reflects a complexity readily taken up through relational, spatial and placesensitive perspectives. For example, Vinogradov & Jørgensen (2017) highlight how natives and immigrants view issues differently, whereas Evansluong et al (2019) argue that there is a need to examine further how immigrants and natives often operate in separate parallel social spheres. Embracing these tensions is useful, and demonstrates the need, as these complex questions become pertinent, for space and place to be subject to more conceptual acknowledgment in immigrant entrepreneurship studies.…”

Ethnicity and the role of the founders' human and social capital in technology-based ventures

“…Ethnic entrepreneurs' human and social capital is related to the ethnic groups' economic, social, educational and cultural integration into the host society (e.g. Evansluong et al, 2019). Integration allows ethnic entrepreneurs to improve their human and social capital which, in turn, influences their economic growth.…”

“…food, construction and textiles) (Dongen, 2019;Waldinger et al, 1990). The literature has recently focused on how ethnic entrepreneurs break through to the national economy (Evansluong et al, 2019;Kloosterman and Rath, 2018;Lassalle and Scott, 2018), which has formed the basis for the few studies that have explored ethnic entrepreneurs' technological ventures, contribution to the economy and strategies to deal with the aforementioned obstacles (Hart and Acs, 2011;Leung, 2001;Saxenian, 2002b). However, while these studies have examined ethnic entrepreneurs' integration into technological industries, they have ignored the technology-based industries' unique characteristics, such as the necessity for large financial investments, high risk and uncertainty, hyper-competition and technology-related higher education (Colombo et al, 2018;Oliver, 2009;Oliver and Frank, 2014;Powell et al, 2005).…”

The entrepreneurial financing of the immigrant entrepreneurs: a literature review

“…Therefore, IEs could still be considered as ethnic entrepreneurs since their opportunity structure is still limited to their co-ethnic networks. However, what distinguishes them is their tendency to break out of their traditional co-ethnic networks in response to the demand conditions in the mainstream opportunity structures of their hosting countries (Chaganti and Greene 2002;Evansluong et al 2019;Kitching et al 2009). This break-out tendency seems to be associated more with the migration aspect of entrepreneurship than with the ethnic aspect.…”

“…Relocating into new contexts, immigrant entrepreneurs (IEs) are faced with distinctive challenges arising from their non-native status and the liability of newness; these challenges distinguish them from their ethnic and non-ethnic native-born peers (e.g., Rath and Swagerman 2016). Moreover, compared to ethnic entrepreneurs, who tend to remain within their co-ethnic networks, the IEs are prone to break out from these networks into the mainstream networks looking for better opportunities (e.g., Chaganti and Greene 2002;Evansluong et al 2019;Kitching et al 2009;Ram et al 2003). Yet these differences between immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurs are less profound compared to the mainstream nativeborn peers, 1 in terms of easier mobilization of resources and access to entrepreneurial opportunities (e.g., Aldén and Hammarstedt 2016;Fairlie and Lofstrom 2015;Moghaddam et al 2017;Yazdanfar and Abbasian 2014).…”