Immigrants and Entrepreneurs in São Paulo, Brazil: Economic Development in the Brazilian ‘Melting Pot’

Abstract

When examining anecdotal evidence of migration processes, from historical and geographical perspectives, stories of individual immigrants that became successful entrepreneurs in the host country are commonplace. These narratives help individualize and romanticize the usually crude statistics of the increasingly common population movements across political borders. They also serve a number of purposes within the ethnic community, most of them associated with the creation and nurturing of the group's social capital. This critical ethnic resource has been consistently shown to provide significant benefits to immigrant communities, particularly in environments with higher levels of perceived risk (e.g., Portes, 1998; Martes & Rodriguez, 2004).

Citation

Renato de Campos Araújo, J., da Cruz Paiva, O. and Rodriguez, C.L. (2006), "Immigrants and Entrepreneurs in São Paulo, Brazil: Economic Development in the Brazilian ‘Melting Pot’", Galbraith, C.S. and Stiles, C.H. (Ed.) Developmental Entrepreneurship: Adversity, Risk, and Isolation (International Research in the Business Disciplines, Vol. 5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 297-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1074-7877(06)05016-1