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Culture as Opportunity: Skilled Migration and Entrepreneurship in Australia

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Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

The diversity of migration to Australia today and the shift to skilled migration render necessity-driven entrepreneurship an incomplete explanation of the motivations behind new patterns in immigrant entrepreneurship. This chapter presents the findings of a mixed-method comparative case study of entrepreneurial motivation amongst immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were utilised, including face-to-face interviews, thematic coding and descriptive statistics. The study found a preference for opportunity-driven entrepreneurship amongst participants in the study. Other factors included prior entrepreneurial experience, the desire for autonomy and opportunity recognition in the market and level of education. The four small business cases presented found a combination of skilled migration background, cultural and social capital and cultural values contributed to the entrepreneurs’ ability to identify opportunities. While one business catered to their co-ethnics as clientele, others hired their co-ethnics, another business utilised their cultural capital to market cuisine to a broader audience and, lastly, a cultural orientation to business risk and self-employment was identified. The findings of the comparative case study shed light on the black box of entrepreneurial motivation and map a shift in the pattern of immigrant entrepreneurship in Australia from necessity- to opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. New policy initiatives should identify how to serve and support immigrant entrepreneurs more effectively to start up their own businesses. This chapter observes a mindset change amongst skilled immigrant entrepreneurs and recommends strategies to facilitate immigrant entrepreneurship, build innovation and capitalise on diversity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Other business operators are defined as people who operate their own business, with or without employees, but who are not operating as independent contractors.

  2. 2.

    Canberra Multicultural Community Forum. (2017). https://cmcf.org.au/

  3. 3.

    The interviewees had to comply with specific selection criteria, including they had to be an owner manager of a business and they had to be first-, second- or third-generation entrepreneur’s immigrant entrepreneurs.

  4. 4.

    For a definition of SME, we used the Australian Department of Finance definition of SME’s and small businesses as being those fewer than 200 employees and operates independently of any parent organisation https://www.finance.gov.au/blog/2016/12/07/SMEs-and-Small-Businesses-%E2%80%93-winning-government-business/.

  5. 5.

    We used GEM’s definition of business maturity, which defines early stage as being 0–3 months, developing as 4–42 months, established as more than 42 months and exit as being out of business (Burns 2016).

  6. 6.

    We used the Australian and New Zealand Industry Classification (A-S).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, UNSW Canberra, Canberra, BC, Australia

    Nelia Hyndman-Rizk

  2. USC Business School, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, QLD, Australia

    Saskia de Klerk

Authors
  1. Nelia Hyndman-Rizk
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  2. Saskia de Klerk
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Correspondence to Nelia Hyndman-Rizk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Vanessa Ratten

  2. ICTE, Coventry University, Coventry, UK

    Paul Jones

  3. CIICESI, School of Technology and Management, Institute Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Vitor Braga

  4. CETRAD Unit Research, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

    Carla Susana Marques

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Hyndman-Rizk, N., de Klerk, S. (2019). Culture as Opportunity: Skilled Migration and Entrepreneurship in Australia. In: Ratten, V., Jones, P., Braga, V., Marques, C.S. (eds) Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12342-0_3

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