Abstract
Social networks are vital to the start-up and development of new businesses. In immigrant entrepreneurship research, the key role of co-ethnic networks has been particularly highlighted. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the networking practices of immigrants who start businesses in a rural context where co-ethnic communities do not exist. In order to address this gap, this article highlights the experiences of female Russian immigrant entrepreneurs living in Finnmark in northernmost Norway. Finnmark in fact represents a particularly interesting geographical context for such an empirical focus. The article considers how social, economic and cultural contexts configure network relationships and reveals the important role of the family, and in particular the male spouse, representing a network of resources that may alleviate migrant disadvantage through affective ties. Moreover, it shows that the family of the immigrant entrepreneurs may be located both locally in the new context of settlement and transnationally in the country of origin, and in addition may be of both co-ethnic and cross-ethnic character.
Highlights
A growing body of literature has considered the importance of networks for starting and developing new businesses (Hite, 2005; Partanen et al, 2014; Rasmussen et al, in press; Sullivan and Ford, 2014)
This research indicates the key role of local co-ethnic relations in the initiation and development of immigrant businesses
There is a lack of knowledge about the networking practices of immigrants who start businesses in a rural context where co-ethnic communities do not exist
Summary
A growing body of literature has considered the importance of networks for starting and developing new businesses (Hite, 2005; Partanen et al, 2014; Rasmussen et al, in press; Sullivan and Ford, 2014). Network studies are based on the idea that entrepreneurs use private and business contacts to acquire information and resources they would not necessarily have the capability to obtain in the market (Granovetter, 1973). Seven of the interviewees in this study can be categorised as marriage migrants. Their main motivation for moving to Finnmark was that they had met their future spouse, who lived there. Two of the participants can be defined as dependent migrants These participants arrived with their mothers in their late teens and later decided to stay in Finnmark and to start businesses there, one of them in partnership with her mother
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