Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Sweden: The Liability of Newness

Henrik Barth and Ghazal Zalkat
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Henrik Barth: Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning research (CIEL), Halmstad University, Box 823, 301 18 Halmstad, Sweden
Ghazal Zalkat: Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning research (CIEL), Halmstad University, Box 823, 301 18 Halmstad, Sweden

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: Immigrant entrepreneurs face many challenges in the various early phases of their companies’ existence. These challenges are often referred to as “the liability of newness”. While some of these challenges are common to all entrepreneurs, the immigrant entrepreneur has an additional set of challenges. This article describes those challenges in the immigrant entrepreneurial experience in the Swedish agri-food industry. A qualitative research design is used. Interviews were conducted with 25 immigrant entrepreneurs who planned a business, had started a business, or had exited a business. Various websites and tax reports provided secondary data. The research, which covered a two-year time frame, identifies the strategies and actions the immigrant entrepreneurs adopted and used to try to overcome those challenges. The following strategies and actions were identified: use of business support, virtual embeddedness, family and ethnic groups, entrepreneurial experience, and niche markets. The companies in which the entrepreneurs recognized the gravity of those challenges early in their life cycle were more likely to survive beyond the start-up phase. The article, which also reviews much of the current literature on immigrant entrepreneurship, has implications for business support advisory services and policymakers who are involved in the effort to achieve economic (and social-cultural) integration of immigrants into their host countries.

Keywords: immigrant entrepreneurs; liability of newness; survivability; niche market; virtual embeddedness; previous experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6478-:d:397565

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