Migrant Entrepreneurship and Multicultural Enterprises

Starting from a theoretical overview of the phenomenon and of the fundamental role played by social capital in such entrepreneurial activities, this study presents a range of multicultural enterprise experiences, by alternating explanatory sections with extracts from interviews. In this view, various topics, ranging from perceived advantages to obstacles encountered in everyday business,are addressed with the entrepreneurs interviewed, while different stages of business development are analysed. In its conclusion, the study presents recommendations on how to adjust support actions to the specific needs of multicultural enterprises. Finally, this qualitative examination of multicultural entrepreneurship raises a new point: there is variety among multicultural enterprises; in fact, not all multicultural enterprises are multicultural for strategic or value reasons, while other enterprises are not even aware of being multicultural. Still others could embark on a path to leveraging cultural diversity, but they do not have the means to do so. To conclude by quoting Taylor Cox, being multicultural requires more than just including diversity, as there is a difference between containing diversity and leveraging it, which essentially depends on being aware of the limits of a varied organization. Multicultural organizations are organizations that have not only become aware of these limits but have also managed to overcome them.