Mixed Embeddedness Re-assembled

Mixed embeddedness has been an important approach in the field of migrant entrepreneurship research in the past two decades. In these two decades, both the societal context and the field itself have changed. This contribution aims to provide a few building blocks for a reflection on these changes and their implications for the mixed embeddedness approach. It starts with a brief positioning of mixed embeddedness. It then sketches the transformation of the societal context that has impacted on patterns of migrant entrepreneurship, thereby distinguishing between changes on the supply side – the (aspiring) migrant entrepreneurs – and those on the demand side or opportunity structure. This is followed by observations regarding the field of research itself which has expanded and has become much more diverse. It concludes by suggesting how the basic model of mixed embeddedness can be used to address transnational migrant entrepreneurship and also proposes to explore the opportunity structure.