Voici les éléments 1 - 10 sur 66
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Globalizations from below : understanding the spatialities, mobilities and resources of transnational migrant entrepreneurs across the globe
    (2024) ;
    Natasha A. Webster
    ;
    ;
    Giacomo Solano
    ;
    Sakura Yamamura
    Transnational corporations have been long recognized as the building blocks of global system theory and their impact is widely acknowledged and studied. By comparison, we have insufficient understanding of transnational practices ‘from below’. We argue that focusing on transnational migrant entrepreneurship is a novel opportunity to gain insights into the social and economic processes of ‘globalization from below’. Such processes refer to the dynamics and practices initiated by actors outside the hegemonic socioeconomic spheres who, using various resources, move people, goods and ideas across national borders to create small-scale enterprises thus connecting distant places and people around the world. This special issue brings together a transdisciplinary group of researchers who examine the spatialities, mobilities and resources of transnational migrant entrepreneurs in Asia, Europe, North Africa, South America and the USA. The rich empirical base, coupled with diverse research methods, provides new insights into the phenomenon to scholars, policymakers and practitioners.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    A Review of Transnational Migrant Entrepreneurship: Perspectives on Unequal Spatialities
    The spatialities of migrant entrepreneurship have changed dynamically in recent decades. Movements and exchanges transcend national borders more than ever, and transnational migrant entrepreneurship has become a burgeoning field of research. Yet, knowledge is dispersed across disciplines, and an understanding of contemporary spatialities is limited. We review 155 articles published in English, French, German, and Spanish since 2009, thereby providing an overview of existing knowledge on transnational migrant entrepreneurship and suggesting avenues for future research. We identify five current topical areas of research: (1) the business advantages of transnational migrant entrepreneurship, (2) the determinants of becoming a transnational migrant entrepreneur, (3) the transnational networks of migrants, (4) the economic impacts of transnational migrant entrepreneurship on home and host countries, and (5) whether local environments enable or deter entrepreneurial success. Building on our synthesis of the most recent literature, we propose three crucial dimensions which have been under-researched in past and current work, and which address the diversity of geographical locations, spatial connections, and spatial mobilities involved in transnational migrant entrepreneurship. Moreover, we put forward a set of questions for future research which will advance a comprehension of unequal opportunities among transnational migrant entrepreneurs.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Spatial Mobility Capital: A Valuable Resource for the Social Mobility of Border-Crossing Migrant Entrepreneurs?
    Spatial mobility is considered a valuable resource for social mobility. Yet, we still have an insufficient understanding of the extent to which and under what conditions geographical movement across national borders represents an asset for social advancement. Addressing this research gap, we offer a theoretical contribution to the fields of transnationalism, migration/mobility, and social geography. We focus on 86 cross-border migrant entrepreneurs who live in Barcelona (Spain), Cúcuta (Colombia), and Zurich (Switzerland), and combine geographical and mental maps, biographical interviews, ethnographic observations, and participatory Minga workshops. Our results show significant inequality in opportunity among the studied entrepreneurs and reveal different geographies of risk and uncertainty for their cross-border mobilities. We theoretically propose that the ability to use spatial mobility as a resource for social mobility depends largely on three intersecting factors: the entrepreneur’s social position, his or her location in geographical space, and his or her strategies. Moreover, we have formulated the concept of spatial mobility capital to define the necessary conditions for spatial mobility to become a valuable resource for social advancement: individuals must be in control of their spatial mobilities, such mobilities need to match their socio-economic needs and personal aspirations, and they must be able to move safely.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    LIVING THE DREAM? Ou l'odyssée d'une migrante entrepreneuse
    (Neuchâtel: Université de Neuchâtel, nccr-on the move, 2022) ; ; ;
    Leveugle, Jean
    Le rêve entrepreneurial, c’est pour qui ? Faut-il être une entrepreneuse innovatrice et à succès pour être accueillie en Suisse ? Luisa, créatrice de mode colombienne installée à Zurich, se pose des questions. Au fil de ses expériences et rencontres, elle prend conscience des obstacles qui jalonnent le parcours entrepreneurial et nuance les récits simplistes de réussite. La bande-dessinée est issue d’un projet de recherche réalisé à l’Université de Neuchâtel.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Transnational migrant entrepreneurs: understanding their dependencies, fragilities, and alternatives
    Recent research highlights that the activities of migrant entrepreneurs increasingly extend beyond national borders, thus making them relevant actors of globalization. Nevertheless, the socio-spatial conditions that frame their cross-border activities are still poorly understood. The aim of this article is twofold: first, we apply the lens of ‘globalization from below’ to study small-scale transnational migrant entrepreneurs (TMEs), thereby providing new insights into less visible globalization processes; second, we show that TMEs are not simply free economic agents but depend on connections in local and transnational spaces. Inspired by the literature on dependencies and feminist approaches, we develop a typology to address the following research question: Under which conditions is relying on others beneficial for transnational migrant entrepreneurship, and under which conditions does it lead to precariousness? Building on 86 semi-structured interviews in Colombia, Spain, and Switzerland, we uncover the diverse nature ofdependencies and reveal the unequal opportunities TMEs face.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Worker Cooperatives’ Potential for Migrant Women‘s Self-Empowerment. Insights from a Case Study in New York City
    (Neuchâtel : nccr - on the move, 2021-06)
    Komposch, Nora
    ;
    Pohl, Nicholas
    ;
    Many migrant women in New York City face structural discrimination and administrative hurdles that complicate their access to safe and well-paid labor. Worker cooperatives have been shown to reduce the precarity and economic exclusion of marginalized groups. However, although much is known about worker cooperatives’ economic potential for improving workers’ lives, other social effects remain far less well explored. The present research contributes to exploring this gap by examining how joining a worker cooperative empowers migrant women in their everyday lives. We apply the concept of self-empowerment to several spheres of the everyday lives of migrant women. At an empirical level, the study focuses on migrant women who are members of nine cleaning- or care-worker cooperatives in New York City. The data were gathered using a participatory research approach and consist of interviews, participant observations, and a quantitative survey. The findings are that worker cooperatives have empowering effects on migrant women beyond the sphere of paid work. Although the additional unpaid workload as co-owners of cooperatives represents an extra burden for many migrant women, they now have better wages, more flexibility, and safer workplaces. Furthermore, they acquire a range of leadership skills, enlarge their social network beyond their ethnic communities, and earn increased esteem as co-owners of businesses. Through worker-ownership, migrant women thus increase their economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capital, which enables them to exercise more agency not only in their paid work but also in their families and leisure time.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    How to explain migration policy openness in times of closure? The case of international students in Switzerland
    Since the 1990s, Swiss immigration policies have placed increasing restrictions on non-European Union (EU) immigrants. However, in 2011, based on the initiative of Jacques Neirynck, the Swiss Parliament approved a law facilitating the admission and integration of non-EU nationals with a Swiss university degree. How can this policy openness in times of closure be explained? Drawing on the narratives of stakeholders during parliamentarian debates, and interviews with key political actors, we propose a unique explanatory approach combining: (1) the convincing narratives of steering crafted by parliamentarians, (2) an appropriate temporal and geographical context, and (3) the biographical capacity of the policy initiator to effect policy change. This model will be useful for studies of migration policy change in general.