Immigrant entrepreneurship and strategy: a systematic literature review

Abstract

This paper examines developments in the research on immigrant entrepreneurship and strategy based on a systematic literature review of the Web of Science and Scopus databases. This aims to recognise the issues around strategy approached by academic research on immigrant entrepreneurship and furthermore identify the strategies applied by immigrant entrepreneurs in the creation, survival, and growth of their businesses. The results demonstrate how seven themes span the core of the 67 selected studies: i) Opportunity recognition and business creation processes, ii) Adaptation and survival strategies, iii) Ethnicity influences on immigrant entrepreneur strategies, iv) Multicultural and breaking-out strategies, v) Internationalisation strategies and transnational business, vi) Differences between immigrants and non-immigrants as entrepreneurs, and vii) Governmental and support organisation policies. Our key findings reveal that the competitive advantage of immigrant entrepreneurs derives from their ability, firstly, to gain benefits from their communities (the ethnic enclave strategy), before then integrating with the mainstream market in their host country (break-out strategy) and, finally, expanding to other countries, mainly through transnational business dealings (internationalisation strategies).