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The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology Be good with your neighbours Support networks of immigrant entrepreneurs in a microstate JUDITH PAMPALONA TARRÉS Supervisors: José Luís Molina Miranda Jessica Lubbers To my parents and my partner Xavi, who always provided me unconditional support Als meus pares i al meu company Xavi, que sempre m’han brindat suport incondicional Abstract The field of immigrant entrepreneurship has been widely studied along the last decades (Kurtoglu, 2007; Min & Bozorgmehr, 2000; Pütz, Schreiber, & Welpe, 2007; Iglesias, 1998; Solé & Parella, 2005; Valenzuela- García et al., 2014; Villares Varela, 2010), contributing to the literature with studies about motivations and strategies of immigrants to start up and develop new entrepreneurial activities in the destination country. Literature about personal and social networks further contributes in this field, emphasizing on the relevance of contacts and support networks for business starting up, development and success (García-Macías, 2013; Granovetter, 1983; Solano, 2016; Sommer & Gamper, 2017; Valenzuela- García et al., 2014). In this vein, the mixed embeddedness model proposed by Kloosterman, Van der Leun and Rath (1999) postulates the importance of the embeddedness in different institutional, economic and social backgrounds of the host community, as well as in both transnational and local co-national communities (Kloosterman, Van der Leun and Rath, 1999). However, these studies have only been conducted in larger nations, or in particular regions or cities within larger nations (García-Macías, 2013; Solano, 2016; Sommer & Gamper, 2017). These have a broader legislative structure that makes it possible for businesses to operate in different areas with new opportunity structures and a wider and heterogeneous variety of resources. So far, little attention has been paid to microstates, which are characterized by a smaller opportunity structure and by distinctive legislative systems. This dissertation is thus focused on businesses managed by immigrants in a microstate, more precisely in the Principality of Andorra. The main purpose of the research is to observe the effects of the particularities of a microstate on the structure and composition of migrant and non-migrant entrepreneurial networks. Also, through the analysis of personal networks of both immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs we aim to obtain further information about the embeddedness of four different profiles of entrepreneurs (Andorran natives, immigrant entrepreneurs who started their business before year 2012 under a restrictive law, immigrant 5 entrepreneurs who began after 2012 under the economic opening law, eliminating previous restrictions, and cross border entrepreneurs). Businesses are classified in different stages of growth (existence, survival, success, take off and maturity; according to Churchill & Lewis, 1983). More precisely, the research questions on which this thesis is based on are as follows: RQ1- What are the effects of the legislative structure in microstates on the support networks and access to institutions of immigrant entrepreneurs? RQ2- What are the effects of the small size of the country on the support networks and access to institutions of immigrant entrepreneurs? RQ3- Does the mixed embedded theory apply to migrant entrepreneurship in microstates? In order to find a response to the former research questions, thirty three immigrant and ten native entrepreneurs have been interviewed, all of them holding businesses in the Principality of Andorra (a microstate in the Pyrenees between France and Spain). This research has been based on a semi- structured interviewing, in order to obtain experiences on migrations, entrepreneurial activities and life in Andorra from both immigrant and native perspectives, which was combined with some elements of structured interviewing to collect some information to delineate the personal networks of entrepreneurs in comparable ways. Results show that the restrictive legislative structure has several effects on the kind of support provided, depending on the area of settlement of contacts. For instance, cross-border support comes mainly from business-oriented collaboration, which mainly provide logistic support. In the first place, the biggest part of cross- border contacts are employees and thus cross-border commuters. In the second place, cross-border support also comes from collaborative networks between entrepreneurs from both sides of the border, in order to overcome the boundary’s restrictions as well as to be able to explode new business opportunities in a different legislative structure. These contacts need to be differentiate from transnationals, which also provide mainly logistic support, although their aids seem to be of a different nature since transnational relations are settled in a further and unlimited area. In general terms, contacts settled in Andorra provide main support for immigrant entrepreneurs’ networks. This group of contacts is made up by both native Andorrans and non-Andorrans, mainly developing the role of major shareholders, legal/administrative advisers and figureheads. Finally, transnational contacts are 6 more relevant in networks of new immigrant entrepreneurs, those not having created their businesses under legislative restrictions, so they did not found limitations for starting up their ventures. On the other hand, the clearest influence of the small jurisdictional area is the small size of the population, which also implies a small opportunity structure. Entrepreneurs’ networks reveal high density values of density and therefore low betweenness centralization. This facilitates access to the opportunity structure, although it also make resources of this structure more accessible and thus less exclusive, which could be seen as a limitation for business growth. This highlights the need of adding contacts from different social and geographical backgrounds, regardless of growth stage the business is in or the social group of the entrepreneur. Therefore, both immigrant and cross- border entrepreneurs of this research were found to have a mixed embeddedness in terms of their social networks. This was observed in businesses of all growth stages, since the networks of all the groups show a proportion of natives, compatriots and other immigrants settled in Andorra, as well as a proportion of transnational contacts. Interestingly, not only immigrant networks show mixed embeddedness, but very similar patterns of mixed embeddedness were found among Andorran natives’ networks. This result indicates that this theory is therefore not applicable in microstates, since similar relation patterns exist in both personal networks of immigrants and natives. 7 Resumen El campo del empresariado inmigrante ha sido ampliamente estudiado a lo largo de las últimas décadas (Kurtoglu, 2007; Min & Bozorgmehr, 2000; Pütz, Schreiber, & Welpe, 2007; Iglesias, 1998; Solé & Parella, 2005; Valenzuela- García et al., 2014; Villares Varela, 2010), contribuyendo a la literatura con estudios centrados tanto en las motivaciones de los inmigrantes para iniciar nuevos negocios en el país de destinación, como en las estrategias de estos emprendedores para mantener sus negocios y sacarlos adelante. Además, la literatura sobre redes sociales y personales también ha hecho su contribución a este campo, poniendo énfasis en la importancia de los contactos y las redes de soporte, tanto en el momento de la puesta en marcha como durante todo el desarrollo del negocio (García-Macías, 2013; Granovetter, 1983; Solano, 2016; Sommer & Gamper, 2017; Valenzuela- García et al., 2014). En este sentido, el modelo teórico de mixed embeddedness (arraigo mixto) propuesto por Kloosterman, Van der Leun y Rath (1999) defiende la importancia de las relaciones y el arraigo simultáneo de los emprendedores inmigrantes a distintos ámbitos institucionales, económicos y sociales, tanto en la comunidad de acogida como en la comunidad local y transnacional de compatriotas. Este arraigo mixto tiene efectos positivos para la puesta en marcha y el desarrollo de negocios migrantes (Rath, 2000). A pesar de lo mucho que se ha investigado sobre estas cuestiones en los últimos años, la mayoría de estos estudios se han centrado en regiones o ciudades que forman parte de países más extensos, con una estructura legislativa más amplia que permite a los negocios poder operar en distintas áreas que pueden formar parte de nuevas estructuras de oportunidades y con una variedad más heterogénea de recursos (García-Macías, 2013; Solano, 2016; Sommer & Gamper, 2017). Por otro lado, se ha puesto poca atención a los contextos de microestado, que están caracterizados por una estructura de oportunidades más reducida y limitada y por sistemas legislativos distintos de los establecidos en países más grandes. 9 Esta tesis doctoral está enfocada hacia los negocios regentados