From Ethnic Enclaves to Transnational Landscapes

From Ethnic Enclaves to Transnational Landscapes: A Review of Immigrant Entrepreneurship Research reviews the existing literature on immigrant entrepreneurship by focusing on immigrant entrepreneurs’ personal characteristics, their immigrant ethnic community networks, and the external eco-system. These three broad sets of factors help to explain immigrants’ motives for becoming entrepreneurs, their business strategies relating to resource acquisition and markets, and their business performance. In addition, this monograph review research investigating the diversity among immigrant entrepreneurs and their economic and social impact. The aim is to trace the evolution of immigrant entrepreneurship research from studies focused on immigrant entrepreneurs operating within ethnic enclaves to studies examining entrepreneurs engaged in transnational activities. The authors synthesize the existing body of knowledge in immigrant entrepreneurship to infer the main themes, identify research gaps and methodological challenges, and suggest a future research agenda. This monograph will be of value to scholars at the crossroads of immigrant entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship, and international business. It will also be of interest to graduate students and early career researchers seeking to identify the research gaps in the immigrant entrepreneurship literature and develop a roadmap for future research.