Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Immigrant entrepreneurship is on the rise. Immigrant businesses have traditionally comprised mainly small stores confined to the lower segment of markets, but high-value activities are on the rise. This transformation has resulted in part from the increasing level of educational attainment of many immigrants and members of ethnic minorities. But it has also been driven by recent structural shifts from industrial to post-industrial economies. This chapter first sketches the development of immigrant entrepreneurship in Europe. It then provides an overview of the various ways in which scholars have described and explained this phenomenon. Finally, it presents a framework for analysing immigrant entrepreneurship and its potential contribution to migrants' social incorporation based on the mixed embeddedness approach. This approach stresses the interplay between opportunities for businesses and immigrant entrepreneurs and their resources, while exploring how regulation may affect markets and therefore opportunities.