Small Business and Entrepreneurship in Sparse Ecosystems: Immigrant Ventures, Innovation and Resilience in Peripheries

Editors

• Nafisa Yeasmin, University of Oulu
• Anisur Faroque, University of Vaasa
• Mohammad Osman Gani, University Canada West
• Waliul Hasanat, University of Lapland
• Hiran Roy, Canadian University

Description

Arctic and remote peripheral regions face demographic decline and labour shortages alongside emerging economic opportunities. Immigrant entrepreneurs play a vital role in sustaining these communities through ventures in tourism, food, logistics, and digital services, yet this phenomenon remains understudied in mainstream entrepreneurship research focused on metropolitan areas.

This special issue examines how immigrant entrepreneurs develop ventures in sparse, geographically isolated, and institutionally thin environments where they navigate regulatory complexity and fragmented support systems. The issue integrates perspectives from entrepreneurship, migration studies, regional development, and sustainability to generate new theoretical insights into entrepreneurial ecosystems in peripheral and extreme contexts.

The special issue welcomes empirical, conceptual, comparative, and policy-oriented contributions exploring how immigrant enterprises mobilize resources, adapt to uncertainty, and shape Arctic and global peripheries. It seeks to expand understanding of entrepreneurial opportunity creation, resilience strategies, and the role of digitalization in these distinctive contexts.

Potential topics

• Entrepreneurial experiences in extreme environments
• Identifying opportunities in sparse, remote contexts
• Seasonal, climatic and infrastructure constraints on entrepreneurship
• Hybrid identities, transnational strategies and placemaking
• Indigenous and migrant cooperation and governance
• Local development agencies and support structures in remote areas
• Impacts of regulatory and migration policies on entrepreneurship
• Migrant enterprises in rural revitalization
• Circular economy models and sustainable business practices
• Tourism, food systems and creative industries in peripheries
• Digital entrepreneurship in the Arctic
• Remote work and hybrid business models
• E-commerce ecosystems in remote areas
• Arctic comparative studies and comparative perspectives from other global peripheries
• Entrepreneurial ecosystems in thin markets and institutionally thin environments
• Mixed embeddedness theory in Arctic contexts
• Peripherality, rurality, spatiality and mobility
• Micro-resilience and sustainable entrepreneurship
• Resource mobilisation and opportunity creation under spatial and institutional constraints
• Demographic renewal and regional sustainability through immigrant ventures