Veni, Vidi, Vici: Immigrant entrepreneurship at the historical town of Melaka and Venice

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore the strategies and influences of immigrant entrepreneurship at the
Melaka and Venice World Heritage Sites. It concentrated only on immigrant entrepreneurs who were
directly engaged in the tourism industry in both towns. A qualitative theoretical-building method has been
pursued. The data was collected by conducting twelve semi-structured interviews at the historic sites of
Venice and Melaka. It embraced a thematic analysis to analyse the transcript interview data stored in
NVivo. The discussion was narrated from a comparative perspective. The original contributions indicated
that immigrant entrepreneurs: (1) applied market segmentation and niche products; (2) applied pricing
strategies; and (3) promoted their businesses through their strong immigrant-network ties in the host
country. There are also some similarities and differences that have been usually discussed in their strategy
compared to the local entrepreneurs. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the phenomenon
of immigrant entrepreneurship in both Venice and Melaka. Several constraints and suggestions for further
research have also been discussed.

Keywords: tourism marketing, immigrant entrepreneurs, historical site, strategy