How does Informtion and Experiences Play a Role in the Discovery Process of Entrepreneurial Opportunities? The Case of Latin-American Immigrants in Barcelona

Abstract:     
In the vast literature of immigrant entrepreneurship, there are some approaches trying to explain this phenomenon. Therefore, little attention has been paid to the discovery process of entrepreneurial opportunities among immigrants; which represent an important milestone in the process of entrepreneurship. In this sense, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge related to immigrant entrepreneurship, through a qualitative study on the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities by immigrants. An exploration is performed based on the pattern matching analysis, taking into account the two major approaches to explain the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities, “Alertness” and “Systematical Search.” Our sample consisted of eight cases of Latin-American immigrants; five are entrepreneurs and three are potential entrepreneurs. The results show Latin-American immigrants of our sample tend to search systematically for entrepreneurial opportunities, considering their prior knowledge such as experiences and information acquired in migrations periods.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: Alertness, Systematic Search, Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Pattern Matching

JEL Classification: L26, F22

Accepted Paper Series