Roberto Pessoa de Queiroz Falcão

Exploring the evolution of ethnic entrepreneurship: the case of Brazilian immigrants in Florida

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze Brazilian entrepreneurial communities in Florida, through the capitals theory approach. Design/methodology/approach By adopting a comparative case study approach, the researchers conducted 80 in-depth interviews with Brazilian entrepreneurs in two different communities – Pompano Beach (Miami area) and Orlando, Florida. Data triangulation was performed through interviews with community stakeholders, secondary sources of data and surveys. Findings Authors propose a framework of 27 contexts, based on immigrant entrepreneurs’ capital provisions. Evidence points to different evolutionary paths of the two communities of Brazilian immigrants that were compared. Some of these contexts were found in other ethnicities from extant literature, which shows that it might be generalizable to other cases. Research limitations/implications The limitations relate to the fact that the comparative study was conducted in one ethnic group. Nevertheless, the paper brings insights to support future studies on immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurship as a building block for future comparative studies on other immigrant communities. Practical implications The work presents a guideline for future entrepreneurs in Florida. Social implications Implications of practice will arise after further studies in the contexts of economic, human and social capital. The cases of successful immigrant communities enlightened by the capitals theory might be useful to newly born ethnic enclaves. Originality/value The originality of the paper lies on the comparison of two entrepreneurial communities of the same ethnicity in Florida, showing different behaviors due to the internal and environmental factors. Moreover, the Brazilian entrepreneur’s particularities add up to the general theory of immigrant or ethnic entrepreneurship.