Exploring the entrepreneurial barriers and coping strategies of highly academically skilled immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden: ethnic minority perspectives

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the entrepreneurial barriers and entrepreneurial coping strategies that highly academically skilled ethnic minority entrepreneurs [EMEs] experience in operating a start-up in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 participants to support the inductive nature of this study and to better understand the entrepreneurial experiences of this population group. Kloosterman, Van der Leun and Rath’s (1999) Mixed Embeddedness Theoretical Framework is used to understand perceived entrepreneurial barriers and coping strategies across social, political-institutional and economic domains. Findings from this study indicate that the majority of entrepreneurial barriers are directly related to social and political-institutional embeddedness. These were related to: racial / ethnic discrimination, lack of local network, accessibility of information, administrative difficulties, language and culture. Whereas, the majority of entrepreneurial coping strategies refer to social embeddedness: network, networking activities, teaming up with Swedes and engaging in entrepreneurial education. While the ability for highly academically skilled immigrant EMEs to operate their venture is not solely subjected to the acquired human capital from entrepreneurial education, in some cases, it impacted how entrepreneurs operated their ventures in Sweden. As a result, further research is suggested, with a larger sample, to: (1) draw more representations for increased generalisability to grasp contributors to venture continuity; (2) better understand the role of entrepreneurial education for start-up activity in Sweden; (3) determine the impact of each entrepreneurial barrier and entrepreneurial strategy for venture growth.