International Journal of Public Sector ManagementEmerald Article: The impact of policy on immigrant entrepreneurship and businesses practice in IsraelSibylle Heilbrunn, Nonna Kushnirovich

Article information:

To cite this document: Sibylle Heilbrunn, Nonna Kushnirovich, (2008),"The impact of policy on immigrant entrepreneurship and businesses practice in Israel", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 7 pp. 693 - 703

Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513550810904514

Downloaded on: 17-02-2013

References: This document contains references to 33 other documents

To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

This document has been downloaded 564 times since 2008. *

Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: *

Sibylle Heilbrunn, Nonna Kushnirovich, (2008),"The impact of policy on immigrant entrepreneurship and businesses practice in Israel", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 7 pp. 693 - 703http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513550810904514

Sibylle Heilbrunn, Nonna Kushnirovich, (2008),"The impact of policy on immigrant entrepreneurship and businesses practice in Israel", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 7 pp. 693 - 703http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513550810904514

Sibylle Heilbrunn, Nonna Kushnirovich, (2008),"The impact of policy on immigrant entrepreneurship and businesses practice in Israel", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 7 pp. 693 - 703http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513550810904514

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by RUPPIN ACADEMIC CENTER

For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.

About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comWith over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

The impact of policy onimmigrant entrepreneurship

and businesses practice in IsraelSibylle Heilbrunn and Nonna Kushnirovich

Department of Business Administration, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine governmental support to immigrantentrepreneurs and its impact on their businesses. The study seeks to explore the needs ofimmigrant entrepreneurs as to government support schemes, and the impact of government policyupon mobilization of resources and growth of immigrant businesses.

Design/methodology/approach – Combining convenient and snowball sample, 218 former SovietUnion immigrant entrepreneurs from all over Israel and all business spheres were surveyed via aquestionnaire. Data analysis was conducted by quantitative statistical methods.

Findings – Entrepreneurs who encountered more problems at business start-up are more likely toreceive government support. Receiving support facilitates mobilizing resources and compensates forfewer opportunities of initially weak businesses.

Research limitations/implications – Further research might focus upon comparing the impact ofpolicy on immigrant entrepreneurs between countries. Utilization of the findings by policy makersmay improve the impact of policy and help to focus the allocation of resources more efficiently.

Originality/value – The paper provides valuable insight for academics and practitioners who areinterested to foster immigrant entrepreneurship as mechanism of economic integration.

Keywords Government policy, Immigrants, Entrepreneurs, Business development, Israel

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionGenerally, immigrants are population groups that encounter many barriers whenentering established labor markets. Entrepreneurship constitutes an alternative toemployment, enabling immigrants to earn a decent income and obtain quality of life.Governmental policy impacts immigrant entrepreneurship by either constraining orpromoting opportunities to establish businesses.

The purpose of this study is to examine governmental support to immigrantentrepreneurs and its impact on immigrant businesses.

More specifically our paper examines the following questions:

(1) What are the needs of immigrant entrepreneurs as to government supportschemes?

(2) Do immigrant businesses whose owners received governmental support differfrom businesses whose owners did not receive governmental support as toresources (labor and capital)?

(3) What is the impact of government policy upon growth of immigrant businesses?

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3558.htm

Immigrantentrepreneurship

693

International Journal of Public SectorManagement

Vol. 21 No. 7, 2008pp. 693-703

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/09513550810904514

Governmental support for immigrant entrepreneursA broad range of studies are devoted to different aspects of support for immigrantentrepreneurship (Davila and Mora, 2002; Mitchell, 2003; Constant, 2004; Rowley, 2004;Pearce, 2005); however, only some focus on governmental policy (Nordfors and Orren,1998; Pace, 2001; Kloosterman and Rath, 2002; Collins, 2003; Toussaint-Comeau, 2005).

According to the theory of entrepreneurship espoused by Light and Bonacich (1988)and Light and Rosenstein (1995), resources shape the opportunities for immigrantbusinesses. But, immigrant entrepreneurs are often at disadvantage in obtainingnecessary resources for setting up businesses. They are constrained in obtainingcapital (Collins, 2003; Constant, 2004; Kloosterman and Rath, 2002; Mitchell, 2003;Pearce, 2005; Rowley, 2004; Heilbrunn and Kushnirovich, 2007), are disadvantaged interms of a lack of knowledge about business norms, the market and legislations of thehost country (Collins, 2000; Kloosterman and Rath, 2002; Lowe, 2003; Mitchell, 2003;Pearce, 2005), are confronted with language barriers (Rowley, 2004), and encounterproblems associated with the external economic environment (Collins, 2003; Mitchell,2003). Thus, the focus of policy should be on facilitating immigrant entrepreneurs’access to resources.

Waldinger’s et al. (1990) model discussing ethnic aspects of entrepreneurshipasserts that governmental policy should concern not only resource mobilization, butalso the opportunity structure, defining access to ownership. According to Razin (1993)immigrant entrepreneurship is influenced by the opportunity structure rather than bythe ethnic resources.

Kloosterman and Rath (2002) introduced the concept of mixed embeddedness,which includes the supply side (the resources of immigrant entrepreneurs), the demandside (the opportunity structure) and the matching process between supply and demand.According to this concept, policy that contributes to immigrant entrepreneurshipdevelopment should be directed, firstly, at enhancing the chances for successfullystarting a business (focus on the supply side), increasing human and social capital.Second, demand side policies should be aimed at increasing opportunities for moving abusiness to growth markets by creating new markets (for example, by means ofprivatizations), or by reducing rules regulating business start-up and activity(deregulation). Third, policy concerning the matching of demand and supply shouldlower the threshold for business start-up.

van Delft et al. (2000) discussed the effectiveness of policies fostering entrepreneurialactivities of ethnic minorities. According to their results, policy should focus uponpotential of socio-cultural and ethnic networks, importance of training and education,availability of information on facilities and access to financial resources.

A number of researchers state that policy shapes opportunity structures forimmigrant entrepreneurs and impacts on rates of immigrant minorityentrepreneurship formation and survival (Collins, 2000; Garcıa y Griego et al., 2000;Collins, 2003).

Different theoretical approaches affect the choice of policy tools such as training,financial support and support for creating and maintaining of business links:

(1) Training:. language training (Davila and Mora, 2002; Toussaint-Comeau, 2005);. assistance with business plan development (Toussaint-Comeau, 2005);

IJPSM21,7

694

. entrepreneurial training (Toussaint-Comeau, 2005; Collins, 2003); and

. courses to improve financial literacy (Toussaint-Comeau, 2005), provideguidelines to business regulations (Pearce, 2005), and general businessconsultancy (Blanchard, 1999; Rowley, 2004).

(2) Financial support:. loans (Blanchard, 1999; Pearce, 2005; Min and Bozorgmehr, 2003);. increasing access to capital (Huck et al., 1999; Evans, 2003);. incentives to banks (Garcıa y Griego and Martin, 2000);. special funding scheme for start-ups (Constant, 2004); and. subsidies granted in form of tax relief, investment subsidies, support for job

creation, innovation grants, subsidized advice, and business developmentsupport (Saublens, 2004).

(3) Support for creating and maintaining of business links:. allocation of percentage of government contracts to immigrant businesses

(Min and Bozorgmehr, 2003);. streamlining regulations and reducing consolidation fees (Pearce, 2005); and. improving communication between immigrant entrepreneurs and

government institutions (Collins, 2003).

Although policy implementation can meaningfully contribute to immigrants’ businessdevelopment (Pearce, 2005), additional determinants affect growth of immigrantbusinesses. These are gender (Lerner and Hendeles, 1996; Pearce, 2005; Verheul et al.,2001), education and experience of immigrant entrepreneur (Lerner and Hendeles, 1996;Lerner and Khavul, 2003), ethnic networks (Kesavan, 2003), type of business(Smith-Hunter and Enqelhardt, 2004) and receiving government support (Collins, 2003;Lerner and Khavul, 2003; Lerner et al., 2005).

Israel is a typical immigration country, but immigration is limited to people of Jewishethnic origin. Therefore, immigrant entrepreneurs in Israel constitute a group separate tothe Israeli born entrepreneurs because of their immigration experience and not because ofethnic differences. This fact explains the unique policy of supporting immigrantentrepreneurs. Governmental policy in Israel includes all known types, offered through awidespread and developed system of public agencies. The core characteristic of the Israelisupport system is the close cooperation between government institutions andassociations. The largest and the most popular governmental institution is the Ministryof Immigrant Absorption, supporting immigrant entrepreneurs via a network ofassociations (Centers for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, in Hebrew MATI).Immigrant entrepreneurs in Israel can receive all types of governmental support: trainingand advice, financial support, and support for creating and maintaining business links.Financial support consists of designated loan on favorable terms. Non-financial supportincludes businesses courses, workshop and panels, courses on language proficiency,guidelines and brochures, guidance, business mentoring, assistance with development ofbusiness plans, business clubs, establishing business networks, and support in marketanalyses. Lerner and Khavul (2003) when studying immigrant businesses in Israel whichreceived some governmental support, found that diversity of received support does not

Immigrantentrepreneurship

695

affect their business’ survival, but emphasized that loans remain a significant factor forbusiness’ viability.

The available existing support for immigrant entrepreneurs in Israel is diverse andextensive, but reflects only the supply side of immigrant entrepreneurship, focusingupon increasing availability of resources. There seems to be little concern with thedemand side (opportunity structure) such as creating new markets or reducing rulesregulating business start-up and activity. Consequently, matching of demand andsupply is not sufficiently accounted for.

This study investigates the impact of existing support systems on immigrantbusinesses in terms of adequacy to needs of immigrant entrepreneurs, businessresources and business growth.

MethodData collectionThe target research population consisted of Former Soviet Union immigrantentrepreneurs who entered Israel between 1989 and 2006 and owned operatingbusinesses at time of survey. Based on a combination of convenient and snowballsamples, 218 FSU immigrant entrepreneurs from all regions of Israel and all businessspheres were surveyed via a questionnaire in the entrepreneurs’ native language.

Sample characteristicsBusinesses owned by immigrants were initiated both by men and women, of middleage, married, and with at least one child (Table I). More than 60.8 percent of allinterviewed entrepreneurs have academic degrees and nearly half of them havemanagement experience.

We divided the sample is into two groups: entrepreneurs who received some kind ofsupport (36 percent) and those who did not (64 percent). The two groups differsignificantly only as to two characteristics: immigrant entrepreneurs who received somesupport have more entrepreneurial and professional experience than those who did not.

We did not find differences between the businesses as to business type and duration ofbusiness activity. Immigrants are engaged in trade and personal services rather thanproduction and professional services. The mean length of immigrant entrepreneurs’residence in Israel is 11 years whereas duration of their business activity is nearly six years.Thus, most immigrants establish their businesses about five years after immigration.

As to the share of immigrant clients from the entrepreneur’s origin country (nearly71 percent of clients) no differences between the two groups were found. According tothe data of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (2005), FSU immigrants comprise17 percent of the Israeli population, and the concentration of immigrant residents inany single location does not exceed 61.2 percent. Thus, they are overrepresentedamong clients of immigrant businesses. Immigrant entrepreneurs are likely to createethnic-oriented networks of clients.

MeasuresVariables in our study describe the needs of entrepreneurs as to government support,businesses resources and business growth. Need for support evolved from problemsencountered by immigrant entrepreneurs. Problems were coded as “0” if theentrepreneur did not encounter any and “1” if he/she encountered barriers.

IJPSM21,7

696

Ch

arac

teri

stic

sR

ecei

ved

sup

por

tD

idn

otre

ceiv

esu

pp

ort

Tes

tS

ig.

Characteristics

ofentrepreneurs

Gen

der

:(p

erce

nt)

100

100

NS

1.M

ale

52.8

54.8

2.F

emal

e47

.245

.2A

ge

43.5

41.4

NS

Mar

ital

stat

us:

(per

cen

t)10

010

0N

S1.

Sin

gle

/div

orce

d/w

ind

owed

13.2

19.6

2.M

arri

ed/l

ive

wit

hp

artn

er86

.880

.4N

um

ber

ofch

ild

ren

1.8

1.6

NS

Ed

uca

tion

:(p

erce

nt)

100

100

NS

1.U

pto

am

atri

cula

tion

cert

ifica

te0.

01.

11.

Mat

ricu

lati

once

rtifi

cate

11.8

8.6

3.V

ocat

ion

alst

ud

ies

27.5

33.3

4.U

nd

erg

rad

uat

ed

egre

e25

.522

.65.

Gra

du

ate

deg

ree

33.3

32.3

6.D

octo

rd

egre

e2.

02.

2P

rev

iou

sw

ork

inth

esa

me

sph

ere

ascu

rren

tb

usi

nes

s(p

erce

nt)

59.6

39.6

x2¼

5.34

50.

021

For

mer

entr

epre

neu

rial

exp

erie

nce

:(p

erce

nt)

100

100

x2¼

3.02

10.

082

1.S

elf-

emp

loy

men

t50

.035

.22.

Sal

arie

dw

ork

er50

.064

.8P

rev

iou

sm

anag

eria

lex

per

ien

ce(p

erce

nt)

54.7

50.5

NS

Yea

rsof

exp

erie

nce

bef

ore

bec

omin

gen

trep

ren

eur

18.0

19.0

NS

Du

rati

onli

vin

gin

hos

tco

un

try

,y

ears

11.1

11.4

NS

Characteristics

ofbusinesses

Ty

pe

ofb

usi

nes

s(p

erce

nt)

100

100

NS

Pro

du

ctio

n7.

83.

3T

rad

e39

.242

.9P

erso

nal

serv

ices

33.3

41.8

Pro

fess

ion

alse

rvic

es19

.612

.1M

ean

du

rati

onof

bu

sin

ess

acti

vit

y,

yea

rs6.

35.

8N

SM

ean

shar

eof

co-e

thn

iccl

ien

ts70

.9p

erce

nt

71.3

per

cen

tN

S

Table I.Characteristics of FSU

immigrant entrepreneursand their businesses

Immigrantentrepreneurship

697

Variables describing business resources are: scope of capital invested at start-up(categorized on a scale of 1 to 4 – “1” ¼ up to 5,000 NIS; “2” ¼ 5,001–25,000 NIS;“3” ¼ 25,001–100,000 NIS; “4” ¼ more than 100,000 NIS, whereas $1 ¼ 4.2 NIS) andnumber of employees (not including the entrepreneur him/herself).

The variable describing business growth is a constructed index of growth.Respondents were asked to rate sales revenues, profit, number of customers andnumber of employees during the past year on a scale of 1 to 3 (1 – decrease; 2 – stable;3 – increase). The reliability coefficient of the four items showed internal consistency(Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.847); therefore, they were integrated into an index of businessgrowth calculated as mean value of the items. This index is similar to the growth indexof Lerner and Khavul (2003). Our index of growth was used in the regression analysisas dependent variable. Independent variables were gender, education (scale of sixlevels), former entrepreneurial experience (dichotomy), duration living in host country(in years), trade – type of business, professional services – type of business, number ofemployees, share of co-ethnic clients (in percent), receiving financial support(dichotomy), and receiving non-financial support (dichotomy).

ResultsNeeds of immigrant entrepreneurs as to government supportGovernmental support is intended to fit the needs of immigrant entrepreneurs and tohelp solve their problems. Need for support evolves from problems encountered byimmigrant entrepreneurs at start-up. Table II shows the distribution of problems facedby respondents, ranked by their frequencies while setting up a business.

The data reveal that the main problems encountered by immigrant entrepreneursare associated with the competition, environment, and lack of capital and availabilityof information.

ProblemsReceivedsupporta

Did notreceive

supporta Total Test Sig.

Competition 75.0 56.6 63.0 4.164 0.041Problems deriving from the macro economicenvironment 62.2 50.0 54.4 NSLack of financial capital 72.3 43.2 53.9 10.158 0.001Availability of information 57.1 48.8 51.6 NSLanguage problems 51.2 41.3 44.7 NSLack of management skills 39.5 36.8 37.8 NSFinding a physical site for the business 35.9 30.6 32.4 NSLaws and regulations 42.5 25.0 31.5 3.576 0.059

(marginal)Recruiting employees 43.9 21.2 29.9 6.211 0.013Problems in obtaining permits 29.3 21.1 23.9 NSObjections from the authorities 15.0 14.3 14.5 NSReligion requirements 15.4 9.5 11.5 NSLack of support from partner/family 17.1 6.8 10.4 NSProblems with suppliers 12.5 8.6 10.0 NS

Note: aThe values in the cells represent the percentage of respondents who reported having a problemwith the specific item

Table II.Problems reported byimmigrant entrepreneurs

IJPSM21,7

698

Immigrant entrepreneurs who received support encountered significantly moreproblems when setting up their businesses than those who did not receive support.They had significantly more problems with competition, recruiting start-up resourcessuch as capital and labor and laws and regulations. One possible explanation is thatthose who received support are more experienced (Table I), they may be less likely toask for government help.

Impact of receiving financial support on business resourcesThe classic types of resources in economic theory are labor and capital. Table III showsthe number of employees (labor) and the scope of start-up investment in business.

Table III shows that immigrant entrepreneurs, who did not receive support of anykind, mobilize and utilize less resource than those who received government support.This result is not surprising since receiving government support is aimed to helpmobilize resources for immigrants.

Impact of government policy on growthIn order to explore the impact of policy upon business growth, we conducted regressionanalysis. Dependent variable was the index of growth and the range of independentvariables covers features of the entrepreneur (gender, education, formerentrepreneurial experience, duration living in host country), the business (type of thebusiness, number of employees) of ethnic network (share of ethnic clients), andreceiving financial and non-financial government support. Since only 4.2 percent ofimmigrant entrepreneurs engaged in production, we examined only three types ofbusinesses: trade, professional services and personal services when the last is referencecategory. Table IV presents the results of the regression model.

The regression is significant and reveals that about 30 percent of the variance of thedependent variable (index of growth) is explained by the independent variables ofthe model. Factors influencing the growth of immigrant businesses are education of theentrepreneur, type of business and share of co-ethnic clients. Higher education ofimmigrant entrepreneur slows down business growth. Businesses engaged in tradegrow slower than businesses engaged in personal and professional services.Businesses dealing with co-ethnic clients grow quicker than others. Receiving bothfinancial and non-financial support does not influence the growth of immigrantbusinesses.

DiscussionIn our study, we investigated the needs of immigrant entrepreneurs as to governmentsupport schemes. We also examined differences between immigrant businesses whose

Characteristics Received support Did not receive support Test Sig.

Number of employees 4.7 2.5 t ¼ 2.403 0.018Scope of investment (percent) 100 100 x 2 ¼ 7.845 0.049Up to 5,000 NIS 19.7 9.95,001–25,000 NIS 29.9 25.925,001–100,000 NIS 41.9 44.4More than 100,000 NIS 8.5 19.8

Table III.Business resources

Immigrantentrepreneurship

699

owners received governmental support and those who did not, and the impact ofgovernment policy upon growth of immigrant businesses.

Need for support evolves from problems encountered by immigrant entrepreneurswhen setting up the business. The main problems encountered by immigrantentrepreneurs are associated with the environment, competition, lack of capital andavailability of information. These problems are resolvable via business advice, designatedloan on favorable terms, and guidelines. Problems concerning issues creating businesslinks such as dealing with suppliers, employees, and partners are of little significancefor immigrant entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, government policy in Israel seems toover-emphasize these kinds of support. Competition and the macro economic environmentconcern opportunity structure. Although perceived by immigrant entrepreneurs as aproblem, demand side policy does hardly exist in the Israeli context. The study revealedthat immigrant entrepreneurs who received support encountered significantly moreproblems at start-up than those who did not receive support. One possible explanation isthat those who received support are more experienced and they may be less likely to askfor government help. It seems that immigrant entrepreneurs who faced more problemstend to apply to public agencies and receive support.

The study revealed differences between businesses whose owners receivedgovernmental support and those whose owners did not. The scope of capital investedat start-up of businesses which received support is larger than that of their counterparts.Also, the number of employees of these businesses is higher. Hence, immigrantentrepreneurs who received support manage to mobilize and utilize more resourcesthan others.

We examined the impact of government policy upon growth of immigrantbusinesses in terms of increase of sales revenues, profit, number of customers andnumber of employees. We did not find significant impact of receiving support ongrowth of immigrant business. Nevertheless, we found a number of factors that doinfluence business growth of immigrant entrepreneurs: education, type of business and

Unstandardizedcoefficients

Standardizedcoefficients

Independent variables B SE b t-test Sig.

Gender (female ¼ 0; male ¼ 1) 0.149 0.122 0.121 1.223 0.225Education 20.128 0.062 20.229 22.062 0.043Former entrepreneurial experience (no ¼ 0;yes ¼ 1) 20.064 0.135 20.052 20.471 0.639Duration living in host country 20.001 0.016 20.009 20.082 0.935Dummy – Trade 20.534 0.149 20.434 23.586 0.001Dummy – Professional services 0.282 0.178 0.190 1.586 0.117Number of employees 0.012 0.014 0.086 0.822 0.413Share of co-ethnic clients 0.006 0.003 0.234 1.999 0.049Receiving financial support (did notreceive ¼ 0; receive ¼ 1) 0.013 0.143 0.009 0.090 0.928Receiving non-financial support (did notreceive ¼ 0; receive ¼ 1) 0.134 0.159 0.086 0.845 0.400Constant 2.129 0.306 6.969 0.000

Notes: R 2 ¼ 0.304; Sig. ¼ 0.001

Table IV.Regression results forindex of growth ofimmigrant business

IJPSM21,7

700

the share of co-ethnic clients. Businesses owned by higher educated entrepreneurs areless likely to grow which is probably due to the fact that many immigrantentrepreneurs do not rely upon their professional experience. While half of immigrantentrepreneurs have academic degrees, only 12.1-19.6 percent of them are engaged inprofessional services, meaning that about 30 percent of immigrant entrepreneurs donot utilize their human capital when setting up their business. Dealing with co-ethnicclients facilitates, the growth of immigrant businesses.

At first sight, it seems that receiving support does not influence growth ofimmigrant businesses. But, immigrants who had more problems at start-up are morelikely to apply and receive support, thus they start out initially weaker than others.Entrepreneurs who met a fewer problems tend to not to apply for support. Immigrantentrepreneurs, who encountered more problems, have fewer chances of success andtheir businesses should be less likely to grow than others.

In sum, the study revealed that entrepreneurs who encountered more problems atbusiness start-up are more likely to receive government support. Receiving supportfacilitates mobilizing resources and can compensate for fewer opportunities of initiallyweak businesses.

Further studies should investigate the impact of policy on additional groups inIsrael, such as the Israeli Arab minority and women entrepreneurs. Then also acomparison between these groups is possible, investigating whether there is equalallocation of government resources to the various groups.

References

Blanchard, B. (1999), “Wisconsin department of commerce fills in the gaps”, EconomicDevelopment News & Views, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 1-2.

Collins, J. (2000), “Ethnicity, gender and Australian entrepreneurs: rethinking Marxist views onsmall business”, Journal of Social Change and Critical Inquiry, Vol. 2, pp. 137-49.

Collins, J. (2003), “Cultural diversity and entrepreneurship: policy responses to immigrantentrepreneurs in Australia”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 15, pp. 137-49.

Constant, A. (2004), Immigrant versus Native Businesswomen: Proclivity and Performance,Discussion Paper No. 1234, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn.

Davila, A. and Mora, M.T. (2002), English Proficiency and Immigrant Entrepreneurial Income inthe US Department of Economics & Finance, University of Texas – Pan American,Edinburg, TX.

Evans, S. (2003), “Business assistance partnership help minority entrepreneurs – and boostbank profits”, Community Development, Community Affairs Online New Articles, availableat: www.occ.treas.gov/cdd/CD_winter03/images/business.PD

Garcıa y Griego, M. and Martin, P. (2000), “Immigration and immigrant integration in California:seeking a new consensus”, California Policy Research Center Brief Series (CPRC Brief),Vol. 12 No. 6, p. 4, available at: www.ucop.edu/cprc/immintegbrf.pdf

Heilbrunn, S. and Kushnirovich, N. (2007), “Immigrant and indigenous enterprises: similaritiesand differences”, International Journal of Business Performance Management, Vol. 344,p. 361.

Huck, P., Rhine, S., Bond, P. and Townsend, R. (1999), “Small business finance in two Chicagominority neighborhoods”, Economic Perspectives, Vol. II, pp. 46-62.

Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (2005), “National accounting 1995-2003”, available at:www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/?MIval ¼ cw_usr_view_SHTML&ID ¼ 710

Immigrantentrepreneurship

701

Kesavan, R. (2003), “The OREO model of immigrant entrepreneurship: application andhypothesis generation”, Conference papers of ASBE (Association for Small Business &Entrepreneurship).

Kloosterman, R. and Rath, J. (2002), Working on the Fringes. Immigrant Businesses, EconomicIntegration and Informal Practices, Executive Summary of International Network“Working on the Fringes” on Ethnic/Immigrant Entrepreneurship, available at: http://users.fmg.uva.nl/jrath/ImmEnt/tser.htm

Lerner, M. and Hendeles, Y. (1996), “New entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial aspirations amongimmigrants from the Former USSR to Israel”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 36,pp. 59-65.

Lerner, M. and Khavul, S. (2003), “Beating the odds in immigrant entrepreneurship: howdoes founder human capital compare to institutional capital in improving the survivalof immigrant owned businesses?”, Working Paper No. 4/2003, Babson College,Babson Park, MA.

Lerner, M., Menahem, G. and Hisrich, R. (2005), “Does government matter? The impact ofoccupational retraining, gender and ethnicity of immigrants’ incorporation”, Journal ofSmall Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 192-210.

Light, I. and Bonacich, E. (1988), Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles, 1965-1982,University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Light, I. and Rosenstein, C. (1995), Race, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship in Urban America,Aidine de Gruyter, New York, NY.

Lowe, J. (2003), “The truth behind entrepreneur condition removals”, paper presented atImmigration Seminar, Canadian Business Association.

Min, P.G. and Bozorgmehr, M. (2003), “USA: the entrepreneurial cutting edge”, in Koosterman, R.and Rath, J. (Eds), Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Venturing Abroad in the Age ofGlobalization, Berg, Oxford.

Mitchell, B. (2003), “The role of networks among entrepreneurs from different ethnic groups”,The Small Business Monitor, Vol. 1 No. 1.

Nordfors, D. and Orren, S. (1998), “Technological incubators in Israel – immigrants start uphi-tech companies”, Kunskapsutbyte i natverk. Forskning och utveckling som tillvaxtmoto,Swedish Office of Science and Technology (STATT – Sveriges Tekniska Attacheer), I,Los Angeles, CA.

Pace, G. (2001), “The role of development agencies for the entrepreneurial promotion:Israeli case studies”, Working Paper No. 11/2001, Istituto di Studi sulle Societadel Mediterraneo – CNR, Italia.

Pearce, S. (2005), “Today’s immigrant woman entrepreneur”, Immigration Policy in Focus, Vol. 4No. 1, available at: www.ailf.org/ipc/ipf011705.asp

Razin, E. (1993), “Immigrant entrepreneurs in Israel, Canada and California”, in Light, I. andBhachu, P. (Eds), Immigration and Entrepreneurship, Culture, Capital, and EthnicNetworks, Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, pp. 97-124.

Rowley, T. (2004), “Entrepreneurship means adaptation”, Editorials, available at: www.rupri.org/editorial/Default.asp?edID ¼ 91&ACTION ¼ READ

Saublens, C. (2004), “All money is not the same – SME access to finance”, Guidebook for PublicDecision-makers and Intermediaries, EURADA, Brussels.

Smith-Hunter, A. and Enqelhardt, W. (2004), “Determinants of economic success for womenentrepreneurs: an analysis across racial lines”, Journal of the Academy of Business andEconomics, January 2004, available at: www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-126933634.html

IJPSM21,7

702

Toussaint-Comeau, M. (2005), “Self-employed immigrants: an analysis of recent data”, Essayson Issues: Chicago Fed Letter, No. 213.

van Delft, H. et al. (2000), “In search of ethnic entrepreneurship opportunities in the city:a comparative policy study”, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 18,pp. 429-51.

Verheul, I., Wennekers, S., Audretsch, D. and Thurik, R. (2001), An Eclectic Theory ofEntrepreneurship, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper TI 2001-030/3.

Waldinger, R., Aldrich, H. and Ward, R. (1990), Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business inIndustrial Societies, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, p. 226.

Further reading

Lerner, M. and Menahem, G. (2003), “Decredentialization and recredentialization: the role ofgovernmental support in enhancing occupational opportunities of immigrants: the caseof Russian immigrants in Israel in the 1990s”, Work and Occupations, Vol. 30 No. 1,pp. 3-29.

Menahem, G. and Lerner, M. (2001), “An evaluation of the effect of public support in enhancingoccupational incorporation of former Soviet Union immigrants to Israel: a longitudinalstudy”, Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 307-31.

Corresponding authorSibylle Heilbrunn can be contacted at: sibylleh@ruppin.ac.il

Immigrantentrepreneurship

703

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.comOr visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints