Migrant entrepreneurship: Reflections on research and practice

Abstract

This article assesses recent developments in the research and practice of migrant entrepreneurship by examining the powerful contribution that the perspective of ‘mixed embeddedness’ has provided to this field. We identify key themes emerging from mixed embeddedness, particularly in relation to the role of the institutional and market contexts, and highlight areas that could strengthen the perspective, such as (1) the role of regulation, (2) the incorporation of racist exclusion and (3) gendered structures of migration and labour market processes, (4) market ghettoisation and (5) greater sensitivity to historical context. We also consider the extent to which growing interest among practitioners in supporting migrant enterprise has been influenced by developments in the academic domain.

Leveraging symbolic capital: the use of blat networks across transnational spaces

“…In this case, we see how Ira's interaction with work colleagues in the formal work sphere generated social capital. She saw an opportunity to mobilize an entrepreneurial practice, which was now complementing her formal work employment (Williams 2011) and providing a business to develop through access to migrant networks, not tied together solely by ethnicity (Crowley and Hickman 2008;Koning and Verver 2013;Ram et al 2016), but through shared Russian language use and associated cultural values . Similarly, Antoliy (INT: 10), a joiner, highlighted how being a member of the Russian-speaking community in his city had provided him with more business opportunities than solely engaging with fellow Moldovans (I have several guys from Russia, Ukraine and Latvia working with me.…”

Blurring boundaries: informal practices in formal employment in Ireland

“…Quite interestingly, while in other European countries such practices in the hospitality sector are often associated with ethnic entrepreneurship (e.g. Ram, ), the migrant division of labour (e.g. Wills et al ., ) or with ‘superdiversity’ and its consequences (Vertovec, ), in the Irish hospitality sector these patterns affected workers across ethnic divisions.…”

“…These, for example, include unpaid informal work provided by family workers (usually childcare or elderly care) or voluntary work provided within communities. Informal and often unpaid work can also be an important feature in migrant and ethnic entrepreneurship, in which systems of privilege and oppression can be interdependent, racialised and gendered (Ram et al ., ). Informal activities, particularly the non‐compliance with national minimum wage, are also argued to constitute a survival strategy of such small enterprises (e.g.…”

“…Their irregular status has also been often associated with migrant work and can be further linked with the migrant division of labour or so‐called superdiversity (e.g. Ram et al ., ; Vertovec, ; Wills et al ., ).…”

Urban Politics On Ethnic Entrepreneurship

“…Moreover, it puts the institutional context centre stage (Ram et al . ). Individual or collective resources, on the other hand, comprise qualifications, socio‐economic and socio‐cultural characteristics of the entrepreneur and networks, which are often place‐specific.…”