IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/intemj/v17y2021i3d10.1007_s11365-021-00746-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Key locational factors for immigrant entrepreneurs in top entrepreneurial ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Isidre March-Chordà

    (University of Valencia)

  • Consolación Adame-Sánchez

    (University of Valencia)

  • Rosa María Yagüe-Perales

    (University of Valencia)

Abstract

This study describes the locational factors that are most valuable and useful to immigrant entrepreneurs in the Bay Area, which is also referred to as Silicon Valley in this paper. Silicon Valley is the world’s leading entrepreneurial and technological ecosystem. As such, it attracts thousands of entrepreneurs with outstanding technical skills and talent from all over the world. Through enduring leadership, Silicon Valley is able to set the pace of entrepreneurship, and the trends that emerge in this ecosystem rapidly spread to establish themselves as rules almost everywhere. Silicon Valley’s appeal to foreign entrepreneurs is based on their hopes of finding investors and markets to scale up their companies. The goal of this study is to identify the locational factors of Silicon Valley that are most valued by immigrant entrepreneurs and to classify and rank the factors that are most closely linked to the successful performance of new ventures founded by immigrant entrepreneurs. Empirical analysis was conducted in 2014 through personal interviews with 54 new ventures that were founded or co-founded by Spanish entrepreneurs in the Bay Area. A follow-up was performed in 2019 to track their performance. This sample is representative of the population of new ventures founded by Spanish entrepreneurs in the Bay Area. Eight top-ranked locational factors cited in the literature were included in the analysis model, together with variables related to the personal profile of the founding team and the markets served by the companies under analysis. After just five years (2014–2019), almost half of the companies had failed. Around 30% remained active but were failing to meet expectations, and only 12 of the 54 companies could be deemed fully successful. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) reveals some locational factors as necessary conditions: the capacity to rapidly build a solid network of investors, firms, and other stakeholders; and the unique nature of the Bay Area market, which is especially conducive to testing new products, business models, and technologies. The findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing new evidence of the resources and locational factors that are most valued by immigrant entrepreneurs in top entrepreneurial hubs. Several managerial implications follow directly from the findings. These implications include a ranking of the environmental factors that appeal most to immigrant entrepreneurs running high-growth new ventures, together with the conditions to which they are indifferent. This study also provides valuable clues and guidelines for policymakers to enhance their entrepreneurial hubs and make them more attractive. The principal limitation of this study is the coverage of the empirical analysis, which was based only on entrepreneurs from Spain. The intention is to expand the data set in future research by including immigrant entrepreneurs from other regions, starting with Latin American countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Isidre March-Chordà & Consolación Adame-Sánchez & Rosa María Yagüe-Perales, 2021. "Key locational factors for immigrant entrepreneurs in top entrepreneurial ecosystems," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1049-1066, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:intemj:v:17:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11365-021-00746-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11365-021-00746-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11365-021-00746-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11365-021-00746-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bird, Miriam & Wennberg, Karl, 2016. "Why family matters: The impact of family resources on immigrant entrepreneurs' exit from entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 687-704.
    2. Stephens, Bryan & Butler, John Sibley & Garg, Rajiv & Gibson, David V., 2019. "Austin, Boston, Silicon Valley, and New York: Case studies in the location choices of entrepreneurs in maintaining the Technopolis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 267-280.
    3. Roundy, Philip T. & Bradshaw, Mike & Brockman, Beverly K., 2018. "The emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems: A complex adaptive systems approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-10.
    4. Christina Theodoraki & Karim Messeghem, 2017. "Exploring the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the field of entrepreneurial support: a multi-level approach," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 31(1), pages 47-66.
    5. Ron Adner & Rahul Kapoor, 2010. "Value creation in innovation ecosystems: how the structure of technological interdependence affects firm performance in new technology generations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 306-333, March.
    6. Christina Theodoraki & Karim Messeghem, 2017. "Exploring the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the field of entrepreneurial support: a multi-level approach," Post-Print hal-02279520, HAL.
    7. Ragin, Charles C., 2000. "Fuzzy-Set Social Science," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226702773, January.
    8. Ruolian Fang & Blaine Landis & Zhen Zhang & Marc H. Anderson & Jason D. Shaw & Martin Kilduff, 2015. "Integrating Personality and Social Networks: A Meta-Analysis of Personality, Network Position, and Work Outcomes in Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 1243-1260, August.
    9. José María García Álvarez-Coque & Francisco Mas-Verdú & Norat Roig-Tierno, 2017. "Technological innovation versus non-technological innovation: different conditions in different regional contexts?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1955-1967, September.
    10. Eric Liguori & Josh Bendickson & Shelby Solomon & William C. McDowell, 2019. "Development of a multi-dimensional measure for assessing entrepreneurial ecosystems," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1-2), pages 7-21, January.
    11. Paula Andrea Nieto Alemán & Norat Roig-Tierno & Francisco Mas-Verdú & José María García Álvarez-Coque, 2018. "Multidimensional paths to regional poverty: a Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of Colombian departments," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 499-520, October.
    12. Kenney, Martin & von Burg, Urs, 1999. "Technology, Entrepreneurship and Path Dependence: Industrial Clustering in Silicon Valley and Route 128," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 8(1), pages 67-103, March.
    13. Bengtsson, Ola & Hsu, David H., 2015. "Ethnic matching in the U.S. venture capital market," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 338-354.
    14. Boyd Cohen, 2006. "Sustainable valley entrepreneurial ecosystems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, January.
    15. Malik Fal, 2013. "Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Africa," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 8(3-4), pages 149-168, December.
    16. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226702766 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Monder Ram & Nicholas Theodorakopoulos & Trevor Jones, 2008. "Forms of capital, mixed embeddedness and Somali enterprise," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(3), pages 427-446, September.
    18. Cédric Schneider & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2010. "On young highly innovative companies: why they matter and how (not) to policy support them," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 969-1007, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Theodoraki, Christina & Dana, Léo-Paul & Caputo, Andrea, 2022. "Building sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: A holistic approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 346-360.
    2. Han, Jin & Ruan, Yi & Wang, Yanmin & Zhou, Haibo, 2021. "Toward a complex adaptive system: The case of the Zhongguancun entrepreneurship ecosystem," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 537-550.
    3. Reis, Germano Glufke & Villar, Eduardo Guedes & Prado Gimenez, Fernando Antonio & Maiolino Molento, Carla Forte & Ferri, Priscila, 2022. "The interplay of entrepreneurial ecosystems and global value chains: Insights from the cultivated meat entrepreneurial ecosystem of Singapore," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Laurence Cloutier & Karim Messeghem, 2022. "Whirlwind model of entrepreneurial ecosystem path dependence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 611-625, August.
    5. Quoc Hoang Thai & Khuong Ngoc Mai & Tung Thanh Do, 2023. "An Evolution of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Studies: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    6. Susanne Pankov & Vivek K. Velamuri & Dirk Schneckenberg, 2021. "Towards sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: examining the effect of contextual factors on sustainable entrepreneurial activities in the sharing economy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1073-1095, February.
    7. Christina Theodoraki & Alexis Catanzaro, 2022. "Widening the borders of entrepreneurial ecosystem through the international lens," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 383-406, April.
    8. Chaudhary, Sanjay & Kaur, Puneet & Ferraris, Alberto & Bresciani, Stefano & Dhir, Amandeep, 2024. "Connecting entrepreneurial ecosystem and innovation. Grasping at straws or hitting a home run?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    9. Stephens, Simon & McLaughlin, Christopher & Ryan, Leah & Catena, Manuel & Bonner, Aisling, 2022. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems: Multiple domains, dimensions and relationships," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    10. Angelo Cavallo & Antonio Ghezzi & Raffaello Balocco, 2019. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem research: present debates and future directions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1291-1321, December.
    11. Allan O’Connor & David Audretsch, 2023. "Regional entrepreneurial ecosystems: learning from forest ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1051-1079, March.
    12. Grégory Guéneau & Didier Chabaud & Marie-Christine Chalus Sauvannet, 2022. "Opening entrepreneurial ecosystem’s black box: the power of networks in African low-income countries," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 753-772, June.
    13. Maksim Belitski & Ana-Maria Grigore & Anca Bratu, 2021. "Political entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship ecosystem perspective," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1973-2004, December.
    14. Bessagnet, Arnauld & Crespo, Joan & Vicente, Jérôme, 2021. "Unraveling the multi-scalar and evolutionary forces of entrepreneurial ecosystems: A historical event analysis applied to IoT Valley," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Brian J. Bergman & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2022. "Helping Entrepreneurs Help Themselves: A Review and Relational Research Agenda on Entrepreneurial Support Organizations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 688-728, May.
    16. Emily C. Bacon & Michael D. Williams, 2022. "Deconstructing the ivory tower: identifying challenges of university-industry ecosystem partnerships," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 113-134, January.
    17. Zhiyuan Dong & Zenglian Zhang, 2022. "Does the Business Environment Improve the Sustainable Development of Enterprises?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Hamid Etemad, 2023. "The increasing prevalence of multi-sided online platforms and their influence on international entrepreneurship: The rapid transformation of entrepreneurial digital ecosystems," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-30, March.
    19. Xiangfei Yuan & Haijing Hao & Chenghua Guan & Alex Pentland, 2021. "What are the key components of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a developing economy? A longitudinal empirical study on technology business incubators in China," Papers 2103.08131, arXiv.org.
    20. Hernández-Chea, Roberto & Mahdad, Maral & Minh, Thai Thi & Hjortsø, Carsten Nico, 2021. "Moving beyond intermediation: How intermediary organizations shape collaboration dynamics in entrepreneurial ecosystems," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:intemj:v:17:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11365-021-00746-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.