Tüzin Baycan-Levent

Characteristics of migrant entrepreneurship in Europe

The present paper aims to investigate and compare various modalities of migrant entrepreneurship in European countries in order to design a systematic classification of migrant entrepreneurship and to highlight key factors of migrant entrepreneurship in Europe. The paper is based on a comparative assessment of available quantitative data and qualitative information derived from a broad review of findings from previous studies in the literature. Our quantitative evaluation includes the European OECD countries, while our qualitative investigation addresses migrant entrepreneurship experiences in eight European countries: Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK. The results of our comparative analysis show that the general picture of European migrant entrepreneurship is determined by some distinct push factors such as high unemployment rates and low participation rates or low status in the labour market as well as by an accompanying factor, namely mixed embeddedness. The results of our comparative evaluation are summarized in a systematic typological table. These show that, while an informal and labour-intensive sector, an underground economy, and small companies and traditional households prompt migrant entrepreneurship in Southern European countries, an over-representation of non-Western immigrants among the self-employed, as well as relatively lower income levels of self-employed immigrants compared to both self-employed natives and employed immigrants are decisive for migrant entrepreneurship in Northern European countries.

Diversity and Creativity as Seedbeds for Urban and Regional Dynamics

The present study aims to investigate: (i) whether, why and how diversity affects the creative capacity of cities and regions, (ii) under which conditions diversity can be the source of urban and regional competitive advantage in knowledge-intensive activities and (iii) which are the key assets, infrastructures and policy tools required to foster the development of creative, competitive and cohesive places. Diversity and creativity are complex and multi-faceted issues, and to understand their roles and effects, contributions from various social sciences are required. Therefore, the study examines the dynamics of diversity and creativity at different levels from individual to group and society, at different scales from team or organization to cities and regions and from different perspectives including the disciplines of psychology, sociology and economics. While underlying the interconnection between diversity and creativity, the study specifically focuses on the direct economic, social and spatial implications of diversity and creativity in cities and regions. Why some places (cities and regions) are more attractive than some others for diverse and creative people and innovative and creative activities? The paper aims to put current debates about diversity and creative cities in context and perspective. The discussion considers the policy roadmap to the creative city and challenges for governments.

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.

Measuring Regional Creative Capacity: A Literature Review for Rural-Specific Approaches

Recent theories on regional creative capacity often focus on urban regions without taking into account rural regions. In addition, the application of such analyses to rural regions may lead to misrepresentation or misunderstanding of rural creative capacity. Against this background, the aim of the present study is to integrate the existing literature on different components of creative capacity, namely, knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship and networks, in order to build a more comprehensive framework for rural creative capacity and its evaluation. In the light of the perspective from the empirical literature review on the evaluation of creative capacity in rural regions, various empirical measurements seem to misrepresent or underestimate the creative capacity of rural regions. Therefore, there is a clear need to use the locality in relation to its dynamics, i.e. tacit knowledge, cultural heritage and social and physical environment as the main and basic measurement unit for creative capacity analysis.

Motivation and driving forces of Turkish entrepreneurs in Switzerland

Over the past decades many Turkish immigrants have entered the Western European economies and a number of them and their descendants have started their own businesses. Gradually, Turkish entrepreneurs have become an indigenous and significant part of the local economy, in particular in the major cities of Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Although many studies have been conducted to understand the “Turkish entrepreneurship phenomenon”, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, the studies on migrant entrepreneurship have been limited in Switzerland. One reason for this limited interest may be the decreasing trend in recent years in the total entrepreneurial activity rate in Switzerland. Factors such as socio-cultural norms, government policy and the education system of the country have led people to prefer working in paid jobs rather than become entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, in these circumstances Turkish entrepreneurs in Switzerland attract attention by their high level of entrepreneurial activities. The present article aims to investigate the phenomenon of Turkish entrepreneurship in two major cities in Switzerland, Geneva and Zurich, which have high levels of foreign population, by addressing the motivation and driving forces of Turkish immigrants to become entrepreneurs. The data and information used for the evaluation are based on in-depth personal interviews held in 2005 among Turkish entrepreneurs in the service and catering sectors. The results of our study show that, following the immigration wave in the 1980s, entrepreneurship among Turkish immigrants emerged in the 1990s and accelerated in the 2000s. The results of our study also show that, unlike the general trend in Switzerland, the movement from wage employment to self-employment is very common among Turkish immigrants.

Migrant Female Entrepreneurship: Driving Forces, Motivation and Performance

The present paper investigates migrant female entrepreneurship on the basis of driving forces, motivation and performance of migrant women entrepreneurs. We review the factors that push migrant females towards entrepreneurship and that determine their entrepreneurial performance. In order to understand and test the determinant factors behind the motivation towards entrepreneurship as well as the economic and survival performance of migrant women entrepreneurs, this paper addresses in the empirical part Turkish female entrepreneurs in Amsterdam. The data and information used for evaluation are based on in-depth personal interviews. As a rather novel methodological contribution, a recently developed artificial intelligence method, i.e. rough set analysis, is deployed to assess and identify the most important factors in motivation and performance of migrant females.

Success Conditions for Urban Networks: Eurocities and Sister Cities

The present paper investigates the role of urban networks in interaction and integration of cities by means of the “sister city” movement. The paper addresses the relationships of “Eurocities” with their “sister cities” to highlight the main factors behind the successful relationships. The data and information used for evaluation are based on the extensive survey questionnaires filled out by relevant departments or experts of municipalities in Eurocities. A logistic regression method is deployed to identify the most important factors in the success of sister city relationships. The results of our study show that the existence of any former relation with the sister cities affects the success of the relationship positively. This former relation makes it easier to have a future relation with an economic partnership while shortening the process and accelerating the economic partnership. The results also show that two factors, viz. similarities in urban problems and contributions of Eurocities to their sister cities stimulate the willingness of Eurocities to improve the relationship. The contributions as well as economic benefits provided from the sister city relationship and new business and investment opportunities have emerged as the most important factors in sister city relationship.

Migrant Entrepreneurship in a Diverse Europe: In Search of Sustainable Development

This paper aims to emphasize the importance of entrepreneurship for the European innovation system and addresses in particular the opportunities offered by migrant (or ethnic) entrepreneurship. After a concise review of the European ‘entrepreneurial economy’, the economic significance of self-employment is highlighted. It is argued that migrant entrepreneurship offers many possibilities for coping with socio-cultural diversity and may contribute to a sustainable socio-economic development. Several data are presented to support these views, while the paper also offers promising policy guidelines.

Diversity and Creativity as a Research and Policy Challenge

This special issue of European Planning Studies on “Diversity and Creativity as a Research and Policy Challenge” aims to take a close look at the complex relationship between cultural–ethnic diversity, creativity and innovation. Diversity and creativity are two broad streams of literature on contemporary structural changes in a modern society. However, the link between cultural and professional diversity on the one hand, and the creative sector and innovation on the other, is largely missing in the literature. The available evidence concerning the relationship between diversity and creativity is not only scarce, but also mixed, and does not suggest a straightforward unambiguous relationship between diversity and creativity. Therefore, this special issue aims to link and integrate these two strands of literature and to provide a forum for discussion on the question whether, why and how diversity may lead to higher innovation—and, more broadly, knowledge production and creativity—and affects the creative capacity of cities and regions. The collection of papers in this issue considers diversity as an essential element of creativity that broadens our vision and makes us appreciate the different ways of thinking, seeing, imagining and creating. In particular, cultural–ethnic diversity is assumed to be important in the knowledge-creation process, since more differentiated knowledge increases the possible combination of knowledge and knowledge networks. The special issue addresses modern theories and concepts relating to research on diversity and creativity, and provides a valuable overview and introduction to this fascinating field

Changing Trends in Rural Self-Employment in Europe and Turkey

This study evaluates rural self-employment in the EU countries, while comparing them with self-employment in Turkey. The study focuses on self-employment trends in the agricultural sector on the basis of changing motivations and participations of males and females. The data used for comparison and evaluation are based on Eurostat and Turkstat data. The results show that agricultural employment and self-employment exhibit a slight decrease over time and that the impact of this decrease in male and female employment differs among countries. The results also show that the motivation of Turkish women towards self-employment is higher than that of European women and of Turkish men.