دانلود رایگان مقاله کارآفرینان مهاجر و شبکه های محلی در مناطق صنعتی

abstract

Migrant firms are increasing in local manufacturing systems. Their presence is expected to generate bene- ficial effects inhost regions by stimulating tradeflows andknowledgediffusion.However,the opportunity for migrant entrepreneurs to prosper depends on their ability to establish linkages with the local firm networks. Using an innovative database on Italian micro and small businesses, this paper investigates the performance of a sample of migrant and indigenous firms, providing evidence of a significant gap. The results suggest that manufacturing systems that exclude migrant firms are missing a key opportunity to integrate a valuable source of diversity.

6. Conclusion

This paper provides new empirical evidence of the survival and performance dynamics of migrant firms in Italian industrial districts: in these contexts, the successful performance of migrant entrepreneurs is expected to generate sustained benefits to the local network in terms of trade flows and diverse knowledge diffusion, in addition to providing a domestic alternative to offshore outsourcing. The investigation proposed in this work contributes to fill the existing gap in the literature of migrant entrepreneurship, addressing the need for new evidence on migrant firms(tm) performance in specific contexts that is claimed by both the academic literature and policy makers (Baycan-Levent and Nijkamp, 2009; Desiderio and Mestres-Domenech, 2011). Contrary to previous empirical research on this topic, which is generally focused on small samples, this investigation is implemented on a large database extracted from the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance Annual Survey. The study explores migrant firms’ performance looking at different local systems within the same country: indeed, firms facing the same legislative and institutional framework can still perform differently given the peculiar conditions of the local environment in which they operate. This approach is in line with the recent trend of policy makers promoting regional rather than national or supra-national interventions to support migrant entrepreneurship, regardless of the source of the funding used (Desiderio and Mestres-Domenech, 2011, p. 161).