Matching opportunities with resources: A framework for analysing (migrant) entrepreneurship from a mixed embeddedness perspective

Abstract

In this article, an innovative analytical framework for the analysis of (migrant) entrepreneurship is presented. The approach combines the micro-level of the individual entrepreneur (with his or her resources), with the meso-level of the local opportunity structure and links the latter, in more loose way, to the macro-institutional framework. This way, insights on the necessary resources of an (aspiring/nascent) entrepreneur with views on opportunity structures can be combined. A simple typology of the opportunity structure is presented which distinguishes between different kind of openings based, on the one hand, on differences in entry barriers (in terms of human capital), and, on the other, on their dynamics (growing or stagnating). This comprehensive analytical framework relates (shifts in) opportunities, resources and outcomes of immigrant entrepreneurship in a systematic way.