Growth The Missing Ingredient of Immigrant Entrepreneurship
(2015)- Abstract
- This thesis muses the question; how do we understand firm growth in immigrant owned firms? Two literature streams are proposed to be relevant. Firstly, the
immigrant entrepreneurship field, which is developing and becoming increasingly
sophisticated. Though despite appeals from within the field, that we need a wider
span of concepts to explain the changing heterogeneity and fabric of immigrant
entrepreneurship in 2015, an understanding of firm growth in immigrant firms is
conspicuous in its relative absence from the field. This conspicuousness is amplified
by a recent flurry of interest in the mainstream media, who are quick to point to the
standout examples and success stories of firm growth by immigrant firms.... (More) - This thesis muses the question; how do we understand firm growth in immigrant owned firms? Two literature streams are proposed to be relevant. Firstly, the
immigrant entrepreneurship field, which is developing and becoming increasingly
sophisticated. Though despite appeals from within the field, that we need a wider
span of concepts to explain the changing heterogeneity and fabric of immigrant
entrepreneurship in 2015, an understanding of firm growth in immigrant firms is
conspicuous in its relative absence from the field. This conspicuousness is amplified
by a recent flurry of interest in the mainstream media, who are quick to point to the
standout examples and success stories of firm growth by immigrant firms. Immigrant
entrepreneurs are no longer confined to low-value and competitively saturated
activities, ethno-cultural niches and arduous survival orientations. Though, we can
find immigrant entrepreneurs growing their firms in the whole spectrum of
industries. The immigrant entrepreneurship research field has a hard time explaining
this progressive trend. Extant literature has tended to present a skewed image of
immigrant entrepreneurship; one explanation for this is that the field is theoretically
ill suited and has lacked the conceptual precursors to grasp the phenomenon of firm
growth in immigrant firms. The second relevant stream of research is that of
‘mainstream’ firm growth, which is undoubtedly valuable in explaining firm growth
in general. However, it is understood to be unsympathetic to the nuances and
specificity of immigrant entrepreneurship, which remains infused with ethno-cultural
characteristics and circumscribed by negative structural impediments, including
discrimination and racism. Thus, merely casting a blanket of previous ‘mainstream’
growth research over a population of immigrant entrepreneurs is an inadequate
approach. It is proposed, given these limitations that these streams of literature need
to be considered together. This thesis builds an integrated approach to understand
firm growth in immigrant firms, which is steeped in the firm growth literature, but
remains sensitive to the specificity of immigrant entrepreneurship. A number of
research propositions are made and discussed, the culmination of which is a suggested research agenda for firm growth in immigrant owned firms. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/76277b3f-b97a-4e90-bd58-16fcbd7706c9
- author
- Mitchell, Craig LU
- supervisor
-
- Hans Landström LU
- Tobias Schölin LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 76277b3f-b97a-4e90-bd58-16fcbd7706c9
- date added to LUP
- 2017-08-30 15:32:53
- date last changed
- 2018-11-22 14:27:31
@misc{76277b3f-b97a-4e90-bd58-16fcbd7706c9,
abstract = {{This thesis muses the question; how do we understand firm growth in immigrant owned firms? Two literature streams are proposed to be relevant. Firstly, the<br/>immigrant entrepreneurship field, which is developing and becoming increasingly<br/>sophisticated. Though despite appeals from within the field, that we need a wider<br/>span of concepts to explain the changing heterogeneity and fabric of immigrant<br/>entrepreneurship in 2015, an understanding of firm growth in immigrant firms is<br/>conspicuous in its relative absence from the field. This conspicuousness is amplified<br/>by a recent flurry of interest in the mainstream media, who are quick to point to the<br/>standout examples and success stories of firm growth by immigrant firms. Immigrant<br/>entrepreneurs are no longer confined to low-value and competitively saturated<br/>activities, ethno-cultural niches and arduous survival orientations. Though, we can<br/>find immigrant entrepreneurs growing their firms in the whole spectrum of<br/>industries. The immigrant entrepreneurship research field has a hard time explaining<br/>this progressive trend. Extant literature has tended to present a skewed image of<br/>immigrant entrepreneurship; one explanation for this is that the field is theoretically<br/>ill suited and has lacked the conceptual precursors to grasp the phenomenon of firm<br/>growth in immigrant firms. The second relevant stream of research is that of<br/>‘mainstream’ firm growth, which is undoubtedly valuable in explaining firm growth<br/>in general. However, it is understood to be unsympathetic to the nuances and<br/>specificity of immigrant entrepreneurship, which remains infused with ethno-cultural<br/>characteristics and circumscribed by negative structural impediments, including<br/>discrimination and racism. Thus, merely casting a blanket of previous ‘mainstream’<br/>growth research over a population of immigrant entrepreneurs is an inadequate<br/>approach. It is proposed, given these limitations that these streams of literature need<br/>to be considered together. This thesis builds an integrated approach to understand<br/>firm growth in immigrant firms, which is steeped in the firm growth literature, but<br/>remains sensitive to the specificity of immigrant entrepreneurship. A number of<br/>research propositions are made and discussed, the culmination of which is a suggested research agenda for firm growth in immigrant owned firms.}},
author = {{Mitchell, Craig}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Licentiate Thesis}},
title = {{Growth The Missing Ingredient of Immigrant Entrepreneurship}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/30321410/Immigrant_Entrepreneurship_and_Firm_Growth.pdf}},
year = {{2015}},
}