Mediha Sahin

Migrant entrepreneurship from the perspective of cultural diversity

The phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship refers to business activities undertaken by migrants with a specific socio-cultural and ethnic background or migrant origin. The studies on migrant entrepreneurship in both the US and Europe have recognized the significant share of immigrants in SME activities. In the context of migrant entrepreneurship several scholars have highlighted the impact of different migrant group cultures on entrepreneurship. They emphasize the importance of values like social or business attitude, close family and religious ties and trust, which enable some immigrant groups to compete successfully in business. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to review and evaluate migrant entrepreneurship from the perspective of cultural diversity. The paper investigates key socio-economic and cultural aspects of migrant entrepreneurship and next addresses different migrant group entrepreneurs in the Netherlands in order to compare the differences between various migrant groups and to explore cultural diversity in migrant entrepreneurship.

Cultural diversity and urban innovativeness: Personal and business characteristics of urban migrant entrepreneurs

This article studies the driving forces for successful migrant entrepreneurship in Amsterdam. Three categories of migrants are investigated: Moroccans, Surinamese and Turks. Particular attention is paid to their personal and business characteristics. An extensive field survey was undertaken to identify the main background factors which influence the success or failure of migrant entrepreneurs. It turns out that personality, work discipline and business ambition are the critical success factors for a good business performance on the part of migrant entrepreneurs. Contrary to our assumption, migrant networks and support systems have no positive or negative influence on business performance.

Migration Impact Assessment

During the last few decades the world has experienced an unprecedented level of cross-border migration. While this has generated significant socio-economic gains for host countries, as well as sometimes for the countries of origin, the costs and benefits involved are unevenly distributed. Consequently, growing global population mobility is a hotly debated topic, both in the political arena and by the general public. Amidst a plethora of facts, opinions and emotions, the assessment of migration impacts must be grounded in a solid scientific evidence base. This analytical book outlines and applies a range of the scientific methods that are currently available in migration impact assessment (MIA). The book provides various North American and European case studies that quantify socio-economic consequences of migration for host societies and for immigrants themselves.

Contrasts and similarities in economic performance of migrant entrepreneurs

In recent years, migrant entrepreneurs have come to occupy a prominent place in the SME sector in many cities in developed countries, with varying degrees of success. The concept of migrant entrepreneurship suggests a homogeneous set of actors, but it remains to be seen whether differences in cultural and ethnic backgrounds, in education, in age and gender, and in motivational profiles lead to contrasting business outcomes. The present paper aims to identify and compare differences in the economic performance of individual migrant business firms on the basis of a quantitative assessment of the drivers of their efficiency profiles. In this context, we will address in particular the drivers and barriers for the heterogeneous business strategies of specific classes of migrant entrepreneurs. After the use of a multivariate statistical analysis, a modern operational approach–originating from organizational theory–that aims to make a comparative study of quantitative efficiency differences between individual decision-making units (DMUs), viz. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is employed. DEA is used here to assess relative performance differences between distinct categories of migrant entrepreneurs in the city of Amsterdam. A wealth of relevant data has been collected by systematic, personally-supervised interviews and questionnaires, and these contain a variety of efficiency-oriented indicators, on both the input and the output side. Several additional analyses ─ using multivariate cross-analysis methods ─ are also carried out to test the robustness of our findings by, inter alia, investigating the influence of specific socio-cultural ethnic groups, levels of education, first-and second-generation migrants, and age. Finally, the paper offers some lessons on entrepreneurship strategies.Jel codesR10, O15, L26.

Bright stars in the urban galaxy – the efficiency of ethnic entrepreneurs in the urban economy

An issue of continuous debate over recent decades has been the impact of migration on the development of both destination and origin countries of migrants. Migration is a form of optimal allocation of production factors in both sending and receiving countries. In the sending countries some positive effects could be the economic growth attributed to the remittances and to the return migrants, who are regarded as engines of change and innovation. On the other hand, migration could be a cause of increasing disparities in origin and host countries. Some negative effects in the origin countries could be the amplification of consumerist, nonproductive and remittance-dependent behavior. The goal of this paper is to assess the importance of migration in the currently globalizing world, with special attention being paid to the entrepreneurial behavior and performance of immigrants. In line with the main purpose of this paper, we provide some theoretical insight into the impact of ethnic diversity on the economic performance of receiving and origin countries, this being further narrowed down to the entrepreneurial behavior of the migrants. The empirical part consists of a migrant impact analysis of ethnic entrepreneurs, and presents the results of a cross-correlation and Data Envelopment Analysis.

Socio-cultural drivers of innovation

Entrepreneurship is based on a permanent and sustained search for new ways of acquiring or maintaining a competitive advantage. It presupposes an exceptional ability to start new activities and leave behind established and successful strategies. Thus, the ‘‘animal spirit’’ of entrepreneurs is fuelled by ‘‘innovative genes’’. The literature in the past half-century has produced thousands of contributions on the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship. These studies have sometimes been conceptual in nature, but at times also taking an applied and empirical approach. Together these efforts reflect a wealth of insight into the foundations of a modern market system, its agents and its institutional support mechanisms. An intriguing question that has received far less attention is whether the ‘‘innovative genes’’ of a competitive entrepreneur are exogenous, or whether innovative abilities and traits may be ascribed to underlying socio-cultural factors. Clearly, since the period of Karl Marx and Max Weber cultural, ethnic and religious constituents of innovation and entrepreneurship have been considered to be critical elements of a business-oriented society. This has generated a wealth of socio-cultural research on economic systems. But in the past several decades, the demographic and sociological composition in many countries, regions and cities has drastically changed, to the extent that our world has become a ‘‘melting-pot’’ of cultures, behaviors and attitudes (Jacobs 1961, Florida 2005), which has created much social stress and new challenges and opportunities for creative minds as well. Against this background, this special issue on ‘‘Innovation and Socio-cultural Factors’’ brings together an original collection of mainly applied studies on the determinants and impacts of innovative behavior, from the perspective of social, cultural, religious and ethnic factors present in modern society. It is this cultural diversity that may offer an unprecedented impetus to new modes of entrepreneurship and governance. Most of the articles in this issue were presented at one of the Tinbergen Institute Workshops, which are regularly organized around the theme of public policy, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth in cities and regions. The articles in this issue were selected after a double review and refereeing process. We now briefly discuss the main elements of these contributions.

Economic performance of migrant entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector: design and application of the GALAXY model

During the last few decades the world has experienced an unprecedented level of cross-border migration. While this has generated significant socio-economic gains for host countries, as well as sometimes for the countries of origin, the costs and benefits involved are unevenly distributed. Consequently, growing global population mobility is a hotly debated topic, both in the political arena and by the general public. Amidst a plethora of facts, opinions and emotions, the assessment of migration impacts must be grounded in a solid scientific evidence base. This analytical book outlines and applies a range of the scientific methods that are currently available in migration impact assessment (MIA). The book provides various North American and European case studies that quantify socio-economic consequences of migration for host societies and for immigrants themselves.