12th Annual International Business Research Forum
DIASPORA INVESTMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE ROLE OF PEOPLE,
THEIR MOVEMENTS, AND CAPITAL IN THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY
Organizers: Masaaki Kotabe, Liesl Riddle, Petra Sonderegger
and Florian Ta
¨
ube
October 15, 2011
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
USA
Significant scholarly attention in international business has been paid to cross-border movements of financial capital through
foreign direct investment, portfolio invesment, and international entrepreneurship. The transnational flows of people and the different
types of capital that they possess has received lesser attention. Communication and transportation innovations associated with
globalization now enable migrants to stay in contact with and visit their countries of origin more easily and cheaply than ever before.
This has given rise to the pheonomenon of ‘‘diasporas,’’ groups of emigrants who leave their countries of origin for a prolonged period
of time but still demonstrate a strong link with their migration history and sense of co-ethnicity with others of a similar background.
Diasporans often invest in their home countries throught direct and portfolio investment or through the establishment of new
ventures in their homelands. Diaspora capital—human, social, and financial—may be a useful development resource for migration-
sending countries, many of which are among the most capital needy in the world. With the help of the Chinese diaspora, China has
won the race to become the world’s factory. In a similar vein, with the help of the Indian diaspora, India could become the world’s
technology lab. Capital from diaspora investment and entrepreneurship also has played an important role in industrialized
countries, such as Israel, Ireland, and Italy, furthering economic growth and innovation.
Diaspora investment and enterpreneurship are now recognized as a new frontier in the literature regarding foreign invest-
ment and developing countries. This conference will bring together scholars from around the world investigating this growing
area of international business research.
The Research Forum encourages the submission of research aimed at understanding the causes, processes and impacts of
diaspora investment and entrepreneurship. Both theoretical and empirical pieces will be considered. We are open to both
quantitative and qualitative methodologies; theory-building case studies are invited (teaching cases cannot be considered).
Possible areas of reseach inquiry include but are not limited to:
Impact of Diaspora Networks on Diaspora Investment and Entrepreneurship. Diasporas are often conceptualized as networks of
people, and research on diasporas builds on this notion and flows of and within such networks. Networks help diasporans
overcome various challenges such as language, foreignness etc., that result in positive economic effects in the homeland, such as
the evolution of the IT industry in India. To what extent do diasporan investors and entrepreneurs benefit from these networks
and knowledge about their country of origin markets? To what extent—if at all—do they suffer the liability of foreigness when
operating in their countries of origin?
Diaspora Investment Motivation. Diaspora investment has been driven by both pecuniary and non-pecuniary investment
interests. More recent work has examined the social and emotional motivations for diaspora investment in conflict-affected
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of International Management
Journal of International Management 16 (2010) 319–320
doi:10.1016/S1075-4253(10)00052-9