The ingredients of a success recipe

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents of successful South Asian opportunity diaspora entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it examines the successful South Asian diaspora opportunity entrepreneurs’ (DOE) interactions with their country of origin and country of residence. Design/methodology/approach – With a qualitative approach, this study employs the NVivo software to examine a set of semistructured interviews of eight South Asian diaspora entrepreneurs. Findings – The qualitative analysis in this study suggests that a South Asian DOE with a college education, previous industry-related experience, prior startup experience, and a tendency to attribute entrepreneurship talent to training rather than birth exhibits a high-entrepreneurial venture growth rate. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis suggests that a south Asian DOE who emphasizes market analysis, accentuates building the right team of employees, and pursues adventurous choice of financing (i.e. bootstrapping or small bank) exhibits a high-entrepreneurial venture growth rate. Research limitations/implications – Due to the small sample and exploratory nature of the study, results may not be generalized. Future research is encouraged to test the robustness of the findings. Practical implications – The findings of this qualitative study offer implications for immigrant individuals who might have interest in starting a new business and wonder what the ingredients of a diaspora entrepreneurship success recipe might be. Originality/value – This study provides an enhanced understanding of diaspora opportunity entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it contributes to the qualitative approach by offering a novel research design to avoid common problems of researcher bias and mono-method bias.