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The chapter outlines the main forms of diasporas' contributions to the economic development and growth along with the determinants of their scale and scope. It then focuses on the diasporas' economic potential through participation in labour markets as an international staffing option at the level of individual organizations. Both the opportunities and threats of using diaspora members in international staffing are discussed. Finally, possible directions for future research are identified.

Mobilization by diaspora activists against illiberalism in their country of origin and by immigrants for equality in their country of settlement has received widespread attention in political science and sociology, respectively. However, because extant studies treat these mobilizations as distinct types, little is known about the relationship between diaspora and immigrant mobilization. This chapter addresses this theoretical gap using 167 interviews with Syrian and Yemeni activists in the United States and Britain. The findings demonstrate how Syrian and Yemeni diaspora mobilization in support of the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions facilitated their visibility and voice as immigrants. Syrians built an organizational field with the capacity to contest host-country discrimination and local extremism; Yemenis instituted protests and brokerage that shaped the context of reception for home-country elites and challenged intragroup inequality. At the same time, economic disparities between national groups shaped their capacities to diversify tactics and sustain efforts over time. My chief claim is that diaspora mobilization facilitates immigrant voice and visibility but is mitigated in important ways by group-wise resources. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of voice and visibility among marginalized groups subjected to intersecting repressions.

Within the growing study of transnational entrepreneurial practice, existing conceptualisation of diaspora entrepreneurship has often lacked engagement with the particularities of the diaspora condition. This paper seeks to advance theoretical understanding and empirical study of diaspora entrepreneurship through identifying the processes that generate diaspora entrepreneurship across economic, social and political spheres.

To analyse the relationship between the development of venture activity and diaspora (re)production, in depth, qualitative biographical analysis was undertaken with UK-based diaspora entrepreneurs embedded within the particular contexts of the Sri Lankan Tamil and Kurdish diasporas. Skilled and active diaspora entrepreneurs were purposively selected from these extreme case contexts to explore their entrepreneurial agency within and across the business, social and political realms.

Results identified key dimensions shaping the development of diaspora entrepreneurship. These comprised the role of diaspora context in shaping opportunity frameworks and the mobilisation of available resources, and how venture activity served to sustain collective diaspora identity and address diaspora interests. These findings are used to produce an analytical model of the generation of diaspora entrepreneurship to serve as a basis for discussing how heterogeneous and hybrid entrepreneurial strategies emerge from and shape the evolving diaspora context.

By placing the reproduction of social collectivity centre-stage, this paper identifies the particularities of diaspora entrepreneurship as a form of transnational entrepreneurship. This recognizes the significance of a contextualised understanding of entrepreneurial diversity within wider processes of diaspora development, which has important implications for policy and practice development in homeland and settlement areas.

The current study aims to map the existent modes of engagement used by both individual and organisational actors of Romanian diaspora community in the UK to build public legitimacy and social value in the host society. This study focuses on two main questions: (1) What are the forms of engagement by which diaspora members enact their role as diplomats for ethnic diaspora communities? (2) What is the nature of their communication practices that sustain these forms of diasporic engagement?

This study is based on an analysis of online public documents extracted from different websites, blogs and public social media accounts, complemented by primary data. The research design is a multi-levelled case study.

The main findings are that Romanian diaspora in the UK develops a specific model of diplomacy, focused on cultural and political forms of engagement. Firstly, equality and belonging are two key dimensions that clearly define this diasporic community diplomatic actions and practices. Secondly, the communication that fosters its networked and associative features has shifted towards a more democratic and strategic model.

This paper has multiple original points. Firstly, it deepens the understanding of diaspora diplomacy, connecting the concept with strategic communication. Secondly, the identification and theorisation of specific forms of engagement of diasporic communities reflects a process which is yet underdeveloped in both types of literature. Findings may be instrumental in providing strategies for relationship building, cultivation and the engagement efforts of the UK institutions regarding immigrant integration.

This chapter contributes to the study of social capital in international business from a perspective of diaspora networks. Previously secure within the domains of academic fields of history and sociology, diaspora is now an essential concept across business disciplines influencing economic development policy. Diaspora networks are argued to be the first movers carrying a promise of robust entrepreneurial activity, potentially transferring unique skills and knowledge by way of formal and informal engagements with their ancestral lands. Stitching global value chains into the development structures of weaker economies, diaspora networks are hypothesized to be strengthening homeland's competitive advantage and macroeconomic resilience. With much enthusiasm for the strong potential of diaspora networks, this study calls for a realistic caution and against mechanistic interpretation of the phenomenon. Three key elements formulate a diaspora network operational sustainability requiring deeper reflection in the business literature: identity, trust, and engagement infrastructure. Such triangularity of diaspora networks is in parallel with the three dimensions of social capital: bonds, bridges, and linkages. Connecting with the literature and informed by a unique survey, this contribution also sketches an analytical framework for future research and meaningful policy approach.

The development of cities and regions is important for the economy. The most of the possible beneficial mechanisms of this growth can be achieved through the improved organizational performance. This chapter proposes the triadic analysis to the ethnic diversity with the implementation of talent and diversity management practices, in which diasporans serve as mediators. The research contributes to both theory and practice. First, since diasporans create spillover effect and provide transfer of knowledge and other capacities to destinations, their positive impact on cities and firms' performance is introduced. Second, we emphasize the specific practices, which are important to manage diversity issue and attract more skilled individuals, who can be further turned into diasporas. The research has implications for managers and policymakers emphasizing the benefits of diverse talent diasporans and possible strategies on how to leverage their skills and expertise.

– This chapter aims to increase our understanding on how the language diversity of multiethnic Central Asian countries and their diasporas constitutes a talent and resource-base for local and global businesses. We revisit the role of ‘language capabilities’ for boundary-spanning abilities and the particular challenges and opportunities posed by linguistically diverse contexts among diaspora members and their homeland.

– This chapter provides an overview of prior research and uses qualitative interviews and ethnographic data.

– The findings indicate that language diversity is an important multi-layered resource and a socio-economic link that allows culturally distant markets to interact and bridges the gaps across geographic boundaries. Individuals with multiple languages and migrant ties may develop alternative ways of communicating for business, such as translanguaging and cultural communication mode-shifting.

– The administrative ‘imperial’ languages are often perceived as the oppressor's instrument, however, the alternate perspective presents it as a resource for economic relations and international business development that exists in parallel to the indigenous language heritage. We introduce a concept, on diaspora ‘language portfolio’ that is a toolbox of communication assets that allows migrants to connect and operate interculturally and inter-regionally.

– We deviate from the English language dominance of the international business literature and address how another geographic and linguistic context such as the Russophone business provides a contextual lens to understand how language capabilities of diaspora members is an asset to both, their home and host nations. We illustrate how both the Russian language and the regional and minority languages offer a great potential for entrepreneurial and trade relations. By introducing a Framework of Diaspora ‘Language Portfolio’ this study underlines that minorities and diasporas are key boundary spanners and connectors in new markets and enhance the development of trade in the region.

Diasporas can play a vital role in enhancing a country's international competitiveness. They can act as catalysts to enhance human capital development in their country of origin (COO), use their transnational social networks in both the COO and country of residence (COR) as conduits for trade and investment, introduce COO culture and products in the COR, enhance the COO's soft power and use their social networks to favourably affect the COO effect. In this paper, we examine the vital roles that modern diasporas play, as well as the issues that have led to their increasing importance. These issues are illustrated by looking at the experiences of two of the largest modern diasporas, the Chinese and Indian diasporas. The paper concludes by examining some of the emerging issues for diasporas in the fast changing current global environment, and discusses some of their implications for the diasporas themselves, their COOs and their CORs.

To understand how diaspora entrepreneurship evolves and becomes a small-scale emerging market multinational and how this process is enabled.

Case study and ethnographic methods were employed.

Diaspora entrepreneurs can act as change agents who create and penetrate markets under difficult conditions. They are less influenced by institutional voids in home and host countries when they have strong international diaspora networks that enable a connection to resources, overcoming such voids. Diaspora entrepreneurs may be resource-embedded socially in a way that creates superior competitive advantages and reduces liabilities of foreignness and of outsidership.

Diaspora entrepreneurship incorporates invisible and idiographic potential, such as social capital and knowledge networks. These are not available for other non-incumbent companies (e.g., foreign entrants) and are difficult to research due to access barriers.

Perception and active management of network-based resources is important for opportunity and business development. Management in a transition economy context requires holistic views, deep understanding, and working linkages across markets.

Transgenerational entrepreneurship and ethnic traditions are important for the community. Entrepreneurship provides continuity and identity, such as using ethnic language, as well as prosperity and solidarity that are important for supporting cultural identity.

This study connects diaspora entrepreneurship in Central Asia and emerging market multinationals that are small and medium-sized enterprises. Both are underexplored domains, but may share particular institutional settings. Growth and internationalization into a multinational enterprise with an emerging market origin, especially by women entrepreneurs, are rarely studied. This case illustrates the need to capture the processual dynamics, resources, and actor networks, including sociocultural and spatiotemporal factors for better contextualization.

This paper aims to discuss the notion of displacement, which refers on the one hand to the displacement faced by a diaspora and on the other hand to the diaspora’s hijacking of brands from their home country.

This is a conceptual paper supported by empirical evidence in the form of three case vignettes of brand hijacks by diasporas or reverse diasporas.

The three case vignettes show how the displacement does not only exist on the side of the brands; it is also found in the culture of the host country or the country of origin which is changed by the appropriation of the brand made by the (reverse) diaspora.

This paper argues why it is important for both consumer culture studies and brand culture research to pay more attention to the role of the “invisible diaspora hand.” Although sustained by some qualitative evidence, the paper is a theoretical construction that needs to be discussed and challenged.

This paper answers calls to go beyond space and place when it comes to market spatiality and to introduce other geographical concepts like diaspora.