Transnational entrepreneurial activities: A qualitative network study of self-employed migrants from the former Soviet Union in Germany

Abstract

During their careers, migrant entrepreneurs may get involved in different types of transnational entrepreneurial activities and use their social capital to activate transnational business-related ties. Based on content analysis of semi-structured interviews and networks maps with self-employed migrants from the former Soviet Union in Germany this study identified four empirically grounded types of migrant transnational entrepreneurial activities and analysed transnational networking strategies for each type. The study demonstrates that different types of social capital are mobilised for different types of transnational business strategies, with intensive transnational entrepreneurial activities requiring larger pre-existing networks in the country of origin of both strong and weak ties, that are gradually extended, while a more limited set of mostly informal weak ties suffice for more sporadic transnational activities in the country of origin. Transnational entrepreneurial activities with other countries or with multiple countries, on the other hand, involved a more formal network of relationships.