Purpose

This paper contributes to the development of an enhanced understanding of the breakout strategies of immigrant entrepreneurs within a transnational context. It develops a dynamic notion of breakout by placing it within a wider understanding of immigrant entrepreneurial strategy characterised by multifocal embeddedness within transnational space.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a qualitative research methodological approach. In-depth interviews were completed with 30 first- and second-generation UK-based Nigerian entrepreneurs and key informants, to provide data on business growth strategies of individual immigrant entrepreneurs in the context of opportunity structures across host, home and third countries.

Findings

Nigerian immigrant entrepreneurs adopted distinctive entrepreneurial strategies related to the complex and diverse transnational context within which they were embedded. Findings demonstrated how the realisation of diversification and differentiation strategies was particularly influenced by locational and spatial strategies, the specific contextual embeddedness of the entrepreneur and generational differences across entrepreneurs.

Originality/value

Conceptualising immigrant entrepreneurship from a standpoint of transnational, multifocal embeddedness produces a complex and multi-layered understanding of business breakout as a dynamic process. Drawing together the unifocal, bifocal and multifocal dimensions of embeddedness with findings on the breakout strategies being pursued by immigrant entrepreneurs, an original typology is presented which identifies different approaches to breakout across varied contexts. This has significant policy and practice implications for the content, targeting and access of business support and wider social issues, relating to the identities, social mobility and integration of immigrant entrepreneurs.

中文翻译：

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跨国背景下的移民商业：对突破过程的多焦点理解

目的

本文有助于加深对跨国背景下移民企业家的突破策略的理解。它通过将其置于对以跨国空间内的多焦点嵌入为特征的移民创业战略的更广泛理解中，发展了一种动态的突破概念。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究采用了定性研究方法。对 30 名第一代和第二代英国尼日利亚企业家和关键知情人进行了深入访谈，以提供在东道国、本国和第三国的机会结构背景下个人移民企业家的业务增长战略的数据。

发现

尼日利亚移民企业家采取了与其所处复杂多样的跨国环境相关的独特创业战略。研究结果表明，多元化和差异化战略的实现尤其受到区位和空间战略、企业家的特定背景嵌入以及企业家之间的代际差异的影响。

原创性/价值

从跨国、多焦点嵌入的角度来概念化移民创业，可以产生对企业突破作为一个动态过程的复杂和多层次的理解。将嵌入性的单焦点、双焦点和多焦点维度与移民企业家所追求的突破策略的发现结合在一起，提出了一种原创的类型学，该类型确定了在不同背景下突破的不同方法。这对于商业支持的内容、目标和获取以及与移民企业家的身份、社会流动性和融合有关的更广泛的社会问题具有重大的政策和实践影响。