Introduction

The international business and economics literature investigates the concepts of foreignness and outsidership as a source of liabilities for foreign firms. This introductory chapter discusses the genesis of this book and its structure, explaining the reasons for its multidisciplinary approach to studying the liabilities emerging in local contexts and relating to the separation between the immigrants and the native firms and communities. Immigrant entrepreneurship is an increasingly important phenomenon driven by growing immigration, entrepreneurial attitude diffusion among the immigrants, and the globalization of markets and supply chains. Immigrant entrepreneurs can experience liabilities similar to the liabilities of foreignness and of outsidership in their local networks, while being insiders to the global networks that are dominant in their specific industries and markets. Native entrepreneurs can experience a relative outsidership from the new global networks dominated by international entrepreneurship. The focus on local liabilities affords a unique perspective on the nature of globalization. Although the book applies the theme in reference to the case of Prato in Italy, the goal is to provide useful information to address a global phenomenon.