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Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid-sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

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  • Lucia Lo
  • Carlos Teixeira

Abstract

Lacking a tradition of settling immigrants and the appropriate infrastructure to integrate them, small- and medium-sized cities often face the challenge of attracting and retaining immigrants. Using a mixed methods approach, this study compares the experiences of immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs in a mid-sized Canadian city, Kelowna, British Columbia. A survey reveals different experiences between these two groups, with immigrants facing more challenges. In the absence of institutionally complete communities or strong ethnic economies, immigrants do not rely extensively on their own community resources, an element considered instrumental for immigrant business development in large cities. Compared to non-immigrants, immigrant entrepreneurs have a more optimistic outlook on doing business in Kelowna; this is encouraging for a city trying hard to attract immigrant investment. Key informants recommended transforming the city into a more welcoming community, establishing appropriate support infrastructure, and removing potential institutional offsets. This paper adds new theoretical insights to the literature on immigrant entrepreneurship; all socio-cultural, political-institutional, and economic-structural considerations are embedded in geography. The findings also have implications for growth strategies in small- and medium-sized cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucia Lo & Carlos Teixeira, 2015. "Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid-sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 631-653, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:growch:v:46:y:2015:i:4:p:631-653
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/grow.12103
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Carlos Teixeira, 2001. "Community Resources and Opportunities in Ethnic Economies: A Case Study of Portuguese and Black Entrepreneurs in Toronto," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(11), pages 2055-2078, October.
    2. Craig S. Galbraith & Carlos L. Rodriguez & Curt H. Stiles, 2007. "Social capital as a club good: the case of ethnic communities and entrepreneurship," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 1(1), pages 38-53, April.
    3. Jock Collins & Angeline Low, 2010. "Asian female immigrant entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized businesses in Australia," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 97-111, January.
    4. Carlos Teixeira & Lucia Lo & Marie Truelove, 2007. "Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Institutional Discrimination, and Implications for Public Policy: A Case Study in Toronto," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 25(2), pages 176-193, April.
    5. Robert C. Kloosterman, 2010. "Matching opportunities with resources: A framework for analysing (migrant) entrepreneurship from a mixed embeddedness perspective," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 25-45, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Craig Wesley Carpenter & Scott Loveridge, 2018. "Differences Between Latino-Owned Businesses and White-, Black-, or Asian-Owned Businesses: Evidence From Census Microdata," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 32(3), pages 225-241, August.
    2. Sandeep Agrawal & Pradeep Sangapala, 2021. "Does Community Size Matter in the Settlement Process? The Experience of Syrian Refugees in Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 653-672, June.

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