Transnational Entrepreneurship Research Articles

Cross-cultural arbitrage through acculturation: the opportunity lens of transnational entrepreneurs

PurposeThis study aims to integrate entrepreneurship theories and acculturation perspectives into a unified lens to understand opportunity development by transnational entrepreneurs (TNEs).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a conceptual method, considering how acculturation strategies of TNEs influence cross-cultural arbitrage.FindingsWe develop six propositions that define how acculturation strategies relate to different levels of cultural embeddedness of transnational entrepreneurs and ultimately influence the process by which the entrepreneur engages in cross-cultural arbitrage.Originality/valueWe are one of the first to integrate the sociology of immigrants with entrepreneurship to better understand how TNEs engage in cross-cultural arbitrage.

Transnational pioneers: Swedish-American returnee migrants and the shaping of the late 19th-century Swedish beauty salons

This article explores how self-employed migrant women, particularly Swedish Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, established beauty salons in Stockholm upon their return from the United States. It highlights their often overlooked contributions to cross-border business and their skillful application of international business experience to the beauty industry. Using a microhistorical approach and qualitative sources, the study sheds light on the opportunities and challenges these women faced as they reshaped the Swedish beauty market. Influenced by their American experiences, they introduced innovative beauty treatments and products. This article highlights the dynamic nature of transnational entrepreneurship and its enduring impact on local and global economies, illustrating the transformative narrative these women initiated in Stockholm. Their efforts introduced international aesthetics and hygienic treatments to the city’s salons, appealing to a diverse clientele and showcasing the lasting appeal of such transnational enterprises.

The influence of entrepreneurs’ multi-country resources and mobility on transnational entrepreneurship survivability

Abstract This study examines the role of entrepreneurs’ multi-country resources and mobility in achieving transnational entrepreneurship survivability. Outlined by the Forms of Capital model through the context of transnational entrepreneurship, this research provides a layer of understanding on the individual-opportunity-venture nexus in entrepreneurship through to exploring the way individual resources contribute towards venture survivability in a dynamic environment. The findings indicate that there are four core configurations associated with long-term entrepreneurial survivability, with geographical mobility is present as the necessary condition in achieving the outcome of interest. Theory-wise, this study speaks to the discourse of individual-opportunity-venture nexus through the configurations revealed from the findings. Practice-wise, the configurations will be useful for transnational entrepreneurs and policymakers interested in developing policies to encourage transnational venture sustainability.

FORMAL AND LEGAL BASIS FOR THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION: 100 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

The article reveals the formal-legal basis for the institutionalisation of international commercial arbitration. It is found that states are still far from a unified understanding of the basic scope of human rights, but they have a clear common vision of the mechanism for protecting the interests of international commerce. Against the background of the economic and innovative successes of the EU and other countries in the world that have made human rights a priority, it would appear that the source of modern transnational trade problems lies precisely in another group of states in which commercial interests dominate human rights. This second type of state nourishes its development at the expense of the innovations of the first type of state, its constructive and passionate representatives. Innovative solutions are formulated by the freest people, whose freedom is legally and organisationally guaranteed, which becomes a source of release for their creative, productive existential energy. Therefore, the contradictions between these two types of entrepreneurs of nations give rise to commercial disputes regarding the path of development, as well as legal conflicts within each of these types of nations regarding the vector of development or decline. Strategically, it is an ontology of modern problems of international commercial disputes. It is emphasised that the institutionalisation of international commercial arbitration is conceived as the creation of legal models for interpretation, determination of cause-effect relations, assessment of all essential circumstances of commercial relations, about which the parties of this type of social interaction have not reached an agreement and are forced to turn to mediators, to whom they entrust jurisdiction over the dispute between them. It was noted that the legal reality of the institutionalisation of international commercial arbitration reflects the path of human development, which at the present stage is marked by crisis. Logical, rational, clear law is in a permanent process of critical evaluation of the synergy of creative, risky, adventurous, pragmatic entrepreneurship. Ideal legal models absorb the constructive activity of entrepreneurship, foreseeing its long-term prospects as positive. At the same time, it is the task of lawyers to reject those types of economic relationships that threaten common humanity. In conclusion, the UN Commission on International Trade Law is the only global body designed to ensure the optimal course of correlation processes between private international law and transnational commercial activity. At the same time, however, this Commission suffers from all the consequences of the UN's dysfunction. This is particularly evident in the UN's inability to prevent wars, famines, environmental disasters, military crimes and other global crises. It is advisable for the states to create a separate organisation in which they can coordinate their legal standards of joint entrepreneurship in the extractive industries, production, trade, finance, as well as the global environmental, national economic and other consequences of commercial projects. This organisation would become a convenient platform for honest parity in the unification of the legal practice of transnational entrepreneurship and the settlement of its disputes, based on the legal customs and traditions of different nations. This would provide a significant impetus for the healthy creation and application of international private law, capable of determining the vector both of global progress and of appropriate transformations in domestic national economic policies.

Mexican Migrant Elite Empresarios: Transnational Entrepreneurship and Elite Formation

This essay analyzes an emerging transnational Mexican migrant elite – a new social and economic group that has emerged not from established elites or privileged backgrounds, but from poor campesino families. Most of these (male) entrepreneur migrants entered the United States without documents and worked in unskilled jobs for extended periods. Eventually, they began to establish their businesses in New York and New Jersey and, within 20 years, accumulated unprecedented wealth. The entrepreneurs are successful in the US and Mexico, distinct from other transnational migrant groups. They have constructed transnational forms of class mobility and citizenship and innovative socio-economic, political, and solidarity networks shaped by neoliberalism. The essay examines how these transnational entrepreneurs became part of such a recent emerging elite in the US and Mexico. Furthermore, these entrepreneur migrants have established political relations with local politicians on both sides of the border. They have gone from being undocumented workers to becoming “Tortilla Kings” or millionaire importers of Mexican goods. 

Transnational networks and mobilities of IT migrant entrepreneurs in a globalizing world

ABSTRACT Transnational entrepreneurship has its origins in studies on IT entrepreneurs in the US, and on the role of contextual influences that enable the emergence of vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. In this paper, we look at the role of institutional actors and their transnational connections on transnational entrepreneurship. Based on interviews with institutional actors in two IT hubs of the Californian Silicon Valley and the Maltese Silicon Valletta, we reveal how the transnational connectedness of entrepreneurial ecosystems emerges from the transnational connections of these institutional actors. We further map the connectedness between industry-specific entrepreneurial ecosystems, and we conceptualize these as intra- and cross-categorical transnational connections. This illustrates the mechanism of IT, industry-specific entrepreneurial ecosystems, differing from the logic of other industries, such as finance. This industry-specific perspective of entrepreneurial ecosystems reveals how they are transnationally connected and how transnational entrepreneurship ‘from below’, and its associated mobility contribute to the overall global economy.

Transnational entrepreneurship. Insights from female entrepreneurs in the modest fashion industry

Transnational entrepreneurship. Insights from female entrepreneurs in the modest fashion industry

Knowledge mapping of entrepreneurship research during COVID-19 and forecasting research directions for the post-pandemic era

PurposeThe COVID-19 crisis has adversely affected entrepreneurs, innovators and their ventures and, arguably, entrepreneurship research. This study aims to map the knowledge of entrepreneurship research during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide evidence of literature evolution in the field with the purpose of supporting future decision-making for policymakers, academics and practitioners in the post-COVID-19 era.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines various bibliometric and scientometric indicators of entrepreneurship research in the Web of Science database using bibliometric techniques and visualization tools. Using the information gained, the scientometrics of entrepreneurship research during the COVID-19 time slice (2020–02-12 to 2022–10-15) are synthesized and comprehensively presented, and future research avenues for the post-COVID-19 era are suggested.FindingsThe results of rigorous quantitative analyses show that entrepreneurship research activities were not disrupted by COVID-19, although entrepreneurial activities themselves were impacted worldwide. In addition to providing key insights into the research field, including the most relevant keywords, keyword co-occurrences, publication sources, countries' contribution and collaboration, and source co-citations, the conceptual structural analysis separates the current trends (hotspots) into ten themes. Based on the evolution of author keywords and research themes, the study identified numerous future research directions, including 1) entrepreneurship in emerging countries, 2) firm performance in different categories of enterprises, 3) immigrants and transnational entrepreneurs, 4) technology in entrepreneurship education and 5) the impact of COVID-19 on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurship.Research limitations/implicationsBy building firm foundations for advancing the field in innovative and systematic ways, this timely study contributes to entrepreneurship literature and facilitates the understanding of the features and structures of entrepreneurship research towards the end of the pandemic. The research also has important implications for research management and entrepreneurship policymaking. The study's main limitation is that the results can only represent the time slice between 2020-02-12 and 2022-10-15.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and managers of research and development can utilize this research to prepare a crisis-related minimization handbook in advance.Originality/valueThis first data mapping and thematic analysis research for entrepreneurship during the period of COVID-19 provides the latest knowledge in the field at the beginning of the end of the pandemic. It empowers scholars by 1) providing a one-stop literature overview for this global crisis time slice, 2) identifying research focuses and gaps, 3) developing new research avenues for investigation and 4) contributing conceptual structure for specific entrepreneurship research projects.

Transnational Entrepreneurship in Business and Management Research

Transnational Entrepreneurship in Business and Management Research

Social networks for cross-border business activities: a comparison between transnational and domestic Moroccan migrant entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT The existing literature shows that social contacts and resources available through social networks are particularly important for migrant entrepreneurs. This seems to apply also to transnational migrant entrepreneurs, who are migrants involved in entrepreneurial activities crossing national borders. It is still not entirely clear which kind of social contacts they use, nor the differences with migrant entrepreneurs conducting a domestic (namely, non-transnational) business. The paper focuses on the use of social networks by transnational and domestic entrepreneurs, by illustrating the case of Moroccan migrant entrepreneurs in Amsterdam and Milan. The research reveals that transnational entrepreneurs have more heterogenous, geographically dispersed and territorially articulated support networks, which are both more extensive and less dense than those of domestic entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurs exploit their capacity to have contacts with different people in different places. In contrast, domestic entrepreneurs tend to mobilize resources within their dense, homogeneous, and locally based networks.

Intercultural resource arbitrageurs: A review and extension of the literature on transnational entrepreneurs

This paper takes stock of a decade of empirical insights on transnational entrepreneurs and probes how these uniquely positioned actors leverage a variety of tangible and intangible cultural, social, and economic resources across national borders to create opportunities. We synthesize findings and articulate how transnational entrepreneurs generate constructive approaches and capabilities through their experiences of foreignness, not despite them. We chart how this has implications for mainstream questions of ongoing interest in entrepreneurship more broadly. Our novel contributions to this domain are twofold. We are the first to probe how the intercultural experiences and aptitudes transnational entrepreneurs cultivate enable them to function as valuable resource arbitrageurs for venturing. Second, we explore how their ‘underdog status’ in the home or second-home country contexts oftentimes can inculcate a sociocultural ‘antenna’ for generating innovative outsider insights that can provide advantages over purely domestic or monocultural entrepreneurs.

Outward foreign investment by transnational entrepreneurs: Insights from emerging economies

AbstractThis research considers how transnational entrepreneurs in emerging economies identify and develop opportunities for investment into international ventures. Specifically, this study seeks to identify common drivers for outward investment by transnational entrepreneurs from their country of origin (Brazil and India) to their adopted country (the US). Findings indicate three common drivers of this type of internationalization: formal education, effectual logic, and the leveraging of perceived market differences. Furthermore, the data show that entrepreneurs prefer a gradual process of investment rather than a large‐scale initial investment during the exploitation of international opportunities in the adopted country. The results of this study have important practical implications and are valuable additions to the scholarly understanding of the growing field of transnational entrepreneurship.

How do institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition drive female and male entrepreneurship from a configuration perspective?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the gender differences in entrepreneurship driven by configurations of institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition, and provide theoretical guidance and practical reference for promoting female and male entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachBased on a configuration perspective, six antecedents of institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition are integrated to explore multiple concurrent factors and causally complex relationships affecting female and male entrepreneurship.FindingsThis study indicates that the configurations of institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition can achieve high female and male entrepreneurship. There are similarities and differences between female and male entrepreneurship from a configuration perspective. Perceived opportunity plays an important role in entrepreneurship for both women and men, and the absence of fear of failure is also important for male entrepreneurship. There is a complementary effect among entrepreneurial cognitions in the absence of institutional environment. In the configurations of institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition, female entrepreneurship benefits more from informal institutions, whereas regulative and cognitive institutions play a greater role in male entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and individuals should take a holistic and complex view of the impact of institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition, and differentiated measures should be taken for female and male entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis research responds to the call for multilevel transnational entrepreneurship research, enriches research on institutional environment and entrepreneurial cognition, deepens the application of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to the field of entrepreneurship and strengthens the understanding of the similarities, differences and complexities of female and male entrepreneurship.

Positioning Diasporans as Change Agents in the SME Sector

Within an entrepreneurial ecosystem, diasporans are transnational entrepreneurs that bring new ideas, beliefs, norms and behaviors acquired in their country of residence to engage differently in business activities in their home countries. The state of an institutional environment influences the extent of entrepreneurial opportunities and threats perceived about doing business in that country of origin. It is useful to understand the extent to which being involved in entrepreneurial activities in a country of origin is perceived as an asset or liability by transnational individuals, particularly as governments seek effective ways to support SMEs, especially when existing challenges are further compounded by crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the paper seeks to understand whether transnational entrepreneurs are likely to develop new ways of reframing these issues. The paper draws insights from the perspectives of diasporans about their resources and the country of origin’s business environment for business investments. It concludes that relative to entrepreneurial ecosystem attributes and diasporans resources, diasporans do not approach the opportunities and threats of entrepreneurial activities differently.

Transnational digital entrepreneurship and enterprise effectiveness: A micro-foundational perspective

Transnational digital entrepreneurship (TDE), the establishment of digital enterprises by combining home- and host-country value creation to serve domestic and foreign customers, is increasing. In order to understand the role of entrepreneurs in transnational digital enterprise effectiveness, we investigate how the competencies of transnational digital entrepreneurs influence social interactions among stakeholders that contribute to enterprise effectiveness. We apply the micro-foundations perspective of management and entrepreneurship and semi-structured interview data from transnational entrepreneurs from six countries—Finland, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, and the USA—and their partners in Pakistan. We find that entrepreneurs’ digital knowledge, skills, and abilities—versatile cognitive capabilities, digital managerial capabilities, and multicultural capabilities—affect social interactions through four socio-structural mechanisms—structural support, trust-building, knowledge sharing, and resource configuration—that enhance enterprise effectiveness. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for transnational entrepreneurship, policymakers, and migrant entrepreneurs.

The transnational dimension of the Pakistani ethnic economy in Barcelona

ABSTRACT The city of Barcelona has become a nodal point of the transnational social space of the Pakistani diaspora. Despite being quite invisible, Pakistanis stand out for their entrepreneurial activities, especially in the food and telecommunication sectors. This paper aims to shed light on the transnational dimension of Pakistani ethnic businesses of Barcelona through the lens of ‘transnational mixed embeddedness’ and a multi-level approach that combines analytical levels (macro, meso and micro) and territorial levels (local/national and transnational). This is within the theoretical debate around globalization from below, immigrant entrepreneurship and transnational entrepreneurship, and by using a mixed-methods design. The results show how migrant entrepreneurs can be placed in a ‘continuum of transnational embeddedness’, depending on the interrelation of agency and micro-sociological processes entailing in-group differences with meso-market and macro-structural factors from a dynamic point of view.

The community of Chinese “expat-preneurs”: understanding the challenges of doing business abroad

PurposeTo date, research on migration and entrepreneurship has rarely focused expat-preneurs. Based on recent developments in both fields, this paper aims to investigate the under-researched phenomenon of Chinese self-initiated expatriates who choose to temporarily live and do business abroad on their own volition.Design/methodology/approachTo address this research gap, 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Chinese expat-preneurs living in Portugal were conducted, exposing their narratives about their multiple challenges.FindingsThe findings corroborate the theoretical need to look beyond narrow economic explanations for why individuals engage in transnational entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial itinerancy. A collective identity and ethnic community are important because they influence how opportunities are identified and pursued.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a qualitative and interpretative study in a limited geographical area, which does not intent to ensure generalizability. More research is needed to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurial itinerancy in Europe and among other ethnic communities.Practical implicationsThe findings provide insightful inputs to Portuguese policymakers and locals on how to support ethnic entrepreneurship. Chinese expat-preneurs also benefit from understanding how to strength their ethnic social ties in connection with local communities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the entrepreneurship and international mobility literatures by providing new insights into the nature and dynamics of Chinese “expat-preneurs”, including their entrepreneurial itinerancy, necessary to properly understand entrepreneurs’ diversity and assist in extending transnational entrepreneurial theory.

Internationalization of transnational entrepreneurial firms from an advanced to emerging economy: the role of transnational mixed-embeddedness

PurposeThis study investigates the role of transnational mixed-embeddedness when transnational entrepreneurial firms (TEFs) become internationalized. First-generation immigrant entrepreneurs who maintain business arrangements in their home and host countries own TEFs. In many cases, they internationalize from emerging economies to advanced economies. Nevertheless, this study focuses on TEF cases that internationalize from an advanced to an emerging economy, which prior transnational entrepreneurship studies have largely overlooked.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a qualitative approach based on six TEF case studies from Canada and the UK venturing into China to explore TEFs' internationalization.FindingsThe case studies explore the elements that constitute TEFs' cognitive and relational embeddedness—two main types of embeddedness—in home and host countries and how TEFs exploit such embeddedness for their internationalization. The results suggest that high levels of transnational mixed-embeddedness help TEFs reduce resource and institutional distance barriers in home countries, thereby assisting their internationalization. A framework that visualizes the role of transnational mixed-embeddedness in TEFs' internationalization and novel categorizations of transnational mixed-embeddedness is proposed.Originality/valueAlthough there has been a growing demand for research on the emergence of internationalized smaller firms, there have been few empirical efforts on TEFs' internationalization. It is still unclear how TEFs internationalize differently than homegrown entrepreneurial firms. This study fills this gap in transnational entrepreneurship literature by examining the influence of transnational mixed-embeddedness on TEFs' internationalization.

Back to the Future: How the Convergence of Globalization and Technology is Changing Labour and Mobility

Abstract Throughout this research we reflect on how the convergence of technology and migration is changing highly skilled labour mobility and the relationship between place and value production. We reflect on the impact of these transformations on the tech sector and IT labour market in Cluj-Napoca. We aim to understand how the pandemic coupled with the current trends in labour mobility and value production have affected labour markets and highly skilled labour migration. The paper stems as reflection from a fieldwork which are currently conducting in Romania with a focus on transnational entrepreneurship, social networks of innovation and labour migration in the tech industry. The article brings forward findings from the field, drawing on the developments that accelerated and changed the way we work in the post-pandemic period and analysing what implications these trends could have on the nature of migration and the connection between value production and place.

How Far Can Chicken Feet Travel?

Abstract This article analyses Chinese women's e-entrepreneurship of trading nostalgic and/or contested goods in the disputed sovereign borders and virtual marketplace in the borderland between China and Taiwan. Using physical and digital ethnography, and drawing on the case study of the journey of chicken feet and other goods traded through WeChat by Chinese women in Taiwan, this article shows how the online and offline trails of these goods and the virtual marketplace generate new forms of transnationalism and connectedness between the two rivaling societies. Calling attention to Chinese women's emotions and nostalgia embedded in their e-entrepreneurship, their goods’ geographical movements, and their social networks, these findings enrich our understanding of transnational entrepreneurship as well as migrants’ agency-making and digital connectivity. However, highlighting how the worsening Taiwan-China relationship has diminished micro e-entrepreneurship, this article also reveals the vulnerability, instability, and uncertainty of the virtual marketplace, which is threatened by the politics of sovereignty contestation.