Title: An empirical study of Indian entrepreneurs in Christchurch, New Zealand

Authors: Edwina Pio; Léo-Paul Dana

Addresses: School of Business & Law, Auckland University of Technology, WF 811, 42 Wakefield Street, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, Aotearoa, New Zealand ' Montpellier Research in Management, Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier Business School, 2300 avenue des Moulins, Montpellier, France

Abstract: This qualitative exploratory study seeks to present a deeper understanding of entrepreneurs of Indian ethnicity operating firms in the formal sector in Christchurch, New Zealand. Our over-arching guiding question was: Why do first generation ethnic minority immigrants become entrepreneurs? Sub questions included the exploration of the why and what of entrepreneurship for these first generation immigrants, in particular why these immigrants choose to be exporters. In-depth interviews were conducted with a dataset of 58 entrepreneurs of Indian origin of whom 11 were involved in exporting from New Zealand. With increasing geographical mobility of the Asian population, our study contributes to the growing need for host societies to comprehend in a more sophisticated manner the reasons for entrepreneurship by immigrants, and the importance of putting in place appropriate policies and learning programmes to reap the benefits of immigrant entrepreneurship in a globalised world.

Keywords: Asian business; first generation immigrants; ethnic entrepreneurs; exporters; Indian entrepreneurs; New Zealand; immigrant entrepreneurship; ethnic minorities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2014.062128

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2014 Vol.22 No.1, pp.17 - 35

Published online: 07 Jun 2014 *

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