ABSTRACT

For quite some time, empirical and theoretical research on entrepreneurship among immigrants has focused on the concentration of the phenomenon in certain industries. Empirically speaking, the tendency to cluster has been observed over a long period of time, in different countries and against the backdrop of different theories. The most comprehensive corpus of material comes from the United States, but European research picked up the gauntlet in the late 1990s and in the run-up to the millennium.1 One general characteristic is that immigrant entrepreneurs from poor countries have tended to go into businesses with low barriers to entry and which involve highly liquid assets, making it equally easy for the immigrant entrepreneurs to get out again. Food retailing and catering2 are two examples. Other types of services are also common, e.g. businesses that meet the demands of particular groups of immigrants.