The Role of Local Partners for Descending Diaspora Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Liability of Foreignness
The Role of Local Partners for Descending Diaspora Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Liability of Foreignness

Summary/Abstract: Diaspora entrepreneurs who conduct business in their country of residence face numerous challenges as outsiders in the target market in the early phase of their migration. These difficulties are caused mainly by information asymmetries and institutional differences between their country of origin and country of residence. In this paper, I investigate a specific type of diaspora entrepreneur whose existence and economic activities have been mostly overlooked by previous scholars: diasporans who originate from developed countries and migrate to economically less-developed contexts to become entrepreneurs. This paper argues that, while such entrepreneurs possess some advantages over the local population based on their diaspora resources, they face certain hazards characterized by the liability of foreignness, and they overcome such difficulties with the help of local partners in their country of residence. Based on previous studies on diaspora entrepreneurship and the liability of foreignness, a set of preliminary research propositions are developed and discussed along with multiple case studies of Japanese entrepreneurs in four different emerging countries. Since this paper is based on interpretivism, the aim is to develop an understanding of the particular context of Japanese entrepreneurs in emerging countries. pp. 66–88

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