**1. Introduction**

In the development of entrepreneurial activities—particularly in the migrant and returnmigrant business operations that occur in places (countries) characterized by problematic comarket or living conditions—the business pattern tends to operate in two dimensions: social and economic. Anthropologist Barth [1], p. 3, regards entrepreneurship, both socially and practically, as being closely associated with general leadership and the social structures of communities. He portrays entrepreneurship practices as frequently involving the relationships of persons and institutions in one society with those in another, more economically advanced, society, in which the entrepreneur essentially becomes a broker in the context of culture contacts. In the activities of the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship, we may recognize processes that are fundamental to questions of social stability and change—or that create change in normative orders, such as those noted by Stewart [2], p. 73—that are one of concern to anyone wishing to pursue a dynamic study of society. From this perspective, the profit-seeking aspect has been generalized in a model of social organization based on transactional relations, while the entrepreneurial aspect has been promoted to the status of explaining social behavior (or change). Behavior and change can be perceived as a social function of entrepreneurship/entrepreneurs [3].

Therefore, based on the description above, this study specifically addresses two fundamental

From Entrepreneurship to Social Activist: The Role of Indonesian Migrant Entrepreneurs…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72013

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**1.** How does the interaction between Indonesian co-migrants and entrepreneurs and migrant worker conditions shape the roles and social functions that Indonesian entrepreneurs play in Taiwan? How does their social-cultural entrepreneurial activity affect migrant (worker)

In the other part, as observed cases of return-migrant entrepreneurship in Indonesia. In my research location, two villages in Malang Regency, an East Java province, recently, migrant economic empowerment (entrepreneurship) has been encouraged. I found that returnmigrant entrepreneurship influences the villages' economic and social activities. It can lead to job opportunities and empower the migrant household economy, as well as establish former migrant cooperatives that financially support return migrants while they develop their businesses. To some extent, return-migrant entrepreneurs become role models for co-

By focusing on Indonesian return-migrant entrepreneurship activities in their home vil-

**2.** How do return migrants adjust to village conditions and apply the knowledge and experience they acquired as migrants to entrepreneurial activities in their home villages? What structural and individual conditions affect entrepreneurship? How does the entrepreneur and entrepreneurial activity affect a community and their economic reintegration

This study on Indonesian migrant entrepreneurship in Taiwan and return-migrant entrepreneurship in Indonesia deals with the relationships between entrepreneurs' social environment, their socio-economic adjustments, the circumstances of individual entrepreneurship, and the role/social functions of entrepreneur(ship). On the one hand, they are products of socio-economic opportunity; on the other hand, they have the potential to make a significant impact on individual economic improvements, social status elevation, and social embeddedness through their economic behaviors. The simple graph below depicts the framework underpinning the reasoning process for this thesis, which combines entrepreneurship activities in Taiwan (host) with those in Indonesia (home). In this framework, the elements of migrant and return-migrant entrepreneurship are interconnected. I define their interconnection as being the social organizations that comprise Indonesian migrant and return-migrant entrepreneurships. This approach examines how the socio-economic conditions of entrepreneurship (e.g., structural opportunities, livelihood strategies, and migrant conditions), the role of entrepreneurs (e.g., patrons, brokers, and social activists), and the entrepreneurs' conditions (e.g., social networks, knowledge, and experiences) interact within entrepreneurs' living conditions in Taiwan or in the Indonesian

questions regarding Indonesian migrant entrepreneurship in Taiwan:

migrant candidates, as former successful migrant business persons.

lages, this study will answer the second question:

**2. Framework and research method**

society conditions?

at home?

On the economic side, Drucker [4], p. 28, suggests in a study on innovation and entrepreneurship that entrepreneurs are not necessarily agents of change themselves, but rather that they are canny and committed exploiters of change (and opportunity). According to Drucker, 'the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity', a premise observed up by academicians who study migrant entrepreneurship (e.g., [5]) and identify structure and cultural opportunities—and focus on individual (entrepreneur) intentionality, agency, and willful goal-seeking and strategic behavior—as study concerns [6–8].

In this study, I discussed on some ideas from these practical concepts of entrepreneurship, to apply in the Indonesian migrant entrepreneur in Taiwan and return-migrant entrepreneurship activities in home country village (Malang, East Java). First, I consider the societal functions of entrepreneurship, such as creating stability and change, and the societal role of the entrepreneur, such as being a leader or a broker/middleman. The second idea concerns the entrepreneurial mechanism, that is, entrepreneurship as a strategy for making an economic profit and a living. However, the scope of this study is not to examine entrepreneurship as a process of developing social stability and acting as a change agent in a society's formation. Instead, I wish to explore the roles of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in migrant and return-migrant group, as individuals who set up a business or businesses, and who manage entrepreneurship while performing their social roles/functions. Doing so involves seeing a migrant and a return-migrant entrepreneur as someone who carries out a task with a certain degree of autonomy in a specific market; someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business; someone who is transformed from worker to business person, someone who builds an economic institution through his/her social activities; and whose enterprise activities are connected to the local society and social situation in a number of ways.

Therefore, based on the description above, this study specifically addresses two fundamental questions regarding Indonesian migrant entrepreneurship in Taiwan:

**1.** How does the interaction between Indonesian co-migrants and entrepreneurs and migrant worker conditions shape the roles and social functions that Indonesian entrepreneurs play in Taiwan? How does their social-cultural entrepreneurial activity affect migrant (worker) society conditions?

In the other part, as observed cases of return-migrant entrepreneurship in Indonesia. In my research location, two villages in Malang Regency, an East Java province, recently, migrant economic empowerment (entrepreneurship) has been encouraged. I found that returnmigrant entrepreneurship influences the villages' economic and social activities. It can lead to job opportunities and empower the migrant household economy, as well as establish former migrant cooperatives that financially support return migrants while they develop their businesses. To some extent, return-migrant entrepreneurs become role models for comigrant candidates, as former successful migrant business persons.

By focusing on Indonesian return-migrant entrepreneurship activities in their home villages, this study will answer the second question:

**2.** How do return migrants adjust to village conditions and apply the knowledge and experience they acquired as migrants to entrepreneurial activities in their home villages? What structural and individual conditions affect entrepreneurship? How does the entrepreneur and entrepreneurial activity affect a community and their economic reintegration at home?
