Immigrant business breakout in a transnational environment: A study of Nigerian immigrant entrepreneurs

A glaring aftermath of the emergence of a diverse transnational global space is the multiple embeddedness of immigrant entrepreneurs. Unlike in the past where immigrant entrepreneurship was shaped by local and ethnic market conditions, advances in globalisation and mobility infrastructure have made it possible for immigrant entrepreneurs to deploy multiple identities, operate in multiple locations, and use heterogeneous social networks. Until recently, immigrant business growth was frequently conceptualised by the narrow notion of ‘breakout’ from constrained ethnic markets within host countries. However, understanding immigrant entrepreneurship from a transnational perspective requires a reconceptualisation of immigrant business breakout to embrace the emergent strategies for immigrant business growth across host, home, and third countries. This thesis on immigrant entrepreneurship is positioned at the intersection of transnational mixed embeddedness as an explanatory framework and breakout practices of immigrant entrepreneurs from a developing country context. The use of transnational space, heterogeneous social networks, and an increasing number of second-generation immigrant entrepreneurs dominate the contemporary breakout environment. This context, however, differs from the previous contexts where earlier immigrant breakout conceptualisation emerged.
Drawing upon a study of 30 first- and second-generation Nigerian immigrant entrepreneurs in London, this exploratory study examined the different breakout strategies adopted by immigrant entrepreneurs and how the changing structural, relational, and cognitive embeddedness shape those strategies. The study compared breakout strategies of first- and second-generation entrepreneurs and how heterogeneous social networks of immigrants facilitate breakout. Expert and key informant in-depth interviews were conducted to capture data on Nigerian entrepreneurs in different UK business sectors who have either broken out, struggling to break out, or failed to break out. The study concretises the meaning of transnational space by identifying a continuum of markets and resource sources beyond ethnic and host country markets. Through a breakout typology developed from the study, insights into emerging breakout trajectories of immigrant entrepreneurs that resulted from their diverse spatial mobilities were provided. From a theoretical perspective, findings from the PhD yielded rich data that will build upon the mixed embeddedness framework and deal with breakout challenges in home and host countries.