Immigrant business enterprises: A classification framework conceptualization and test

Abstract

This article proposes the Immigrant Business Enterprises Classification Framework to organize immigrant‐owned businesses into categories associated with different levels of business integration into a host country's mainstream business community. The article applies the framework and reports the findings of structured face‐to‐face interviews with 199 Hispanic business enterprises (HBEs) in Indianapolis. The authors find Hispanic‐owned businesses hold different characteristics depending upon the integration category in which they are classified; the findings suggest that to support immigrant entrepreneurship, governments, business development organizations, and researchers should address category‐specific challenges, opportunities, and needs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Economic Adaptation: A Critical Analysis

“…market-integrated firms), finally to 3) highly integrated mainstream businesses, which compete on equal terms with native entrepreneurs (cf. Curci & Mackoy, 2010). − Transnationalism: a strategy which implies an economic engagement of immigrant in both locations: at home and host country.…”

“…product-integrated firms), or cater the wider clientele by offering specific ethnic goods and services (i.e. market-integrated firms), finally to 3) highly integrated mainstream businesses, which compete on equal terms with native entrepreneurs (Curci & Mackoy, 2010). Therefore, I formulate the following proposition:…”

Determinants of Self-Employment Among Polish and Romanian Immigrants in Germany

“…Then the economic migrants constitute a heterogeneous group in terms of self-employment propensity. Most of the self-employed immigrants tend to operate in so-called ethnic enclave (Portes 1987;Curci, Mackoy 2010), i.e. a niche on the market dominated by co-ethnics.…”

“…Actually, the most popular approach is that those two types are not necessarily mutually exclusive: the highly-skilled immigrants create firms in the mainstream of the economy, resulting in equal or higher economic performance that the native entrepreneurs, while the low-skilled migrants create small, unstable and less profitable businesses in the enclave economy (Curci, Mackoy 2010). Consequently, in their case the self-employment can be a necessity-driven strategy also for skilled immigrants, which serves as a self-defence measure against unsuccessful economic integration at host country.…”

Economic Integration of Immigrant Entrepreneurs

“…Immigrant clients tend to buy cheaper goods that can reduce revenue of immigrant businesses. Reliance on co-ethnic markets can constrain market penetration and growth of business since its potential for sustainable economic growth is limited by the size of such market (Curci & Mackoy, 2010;Danes et al, 2008;Ibrahim & Galt, 2011).…”