Mixed embeddedness and new migrant enterprise in the UK

Abstract

How can the phenomenon of new migrant enterprise be explained? The arrival of new migrants to the UK in significant numbers is prompting a new wave of business activity. This expression of ‘super-diversity’ poses challenges for existing modes of theorizing, or so it seems. We venture outside the cosmopolitan metropolis of London to examine the experiences of 165 new migrant business owners in the East Midlands region of the UK. Mixed embeddedness theory is used to illuminate the business activities of these new arrivals. We find that new migrants are indeed ‘diverse’ in many respects; but importantly, the onerous nature of structural constraints limit the scope of new migrant enterprise. There is more than a faint of echo of predecessor ethnic minority communities; and racism continues to cast influence on the business activities of new migrants.

Keywords::

• mixed embeddedness
• new migrant businesses
• racism

Notes

^1. Present address: De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.

^2. This does not necessarily preclude the possibility that informal family resources might still be employed to run marginally profitable businesses.

^3. A more recent study (Ram et al. 2013) of migrant entrepreneurs and their workers, also conducted in the Midlands, suggests that the findings from the present research are still relevant to the region, and indeed in the UK.