Do young firms owned by recent immigrants outperform other young firms?

► Young firms owned by immigrants outperformed young domestically-owned firms whether or not the domestic firms exported. ► Immigrant-owned young enterprises that did not export underperformed other young firms. ► Owner-level factors such as gender, growth intentions and experience also influenced growth performance among young SMEs. ► Immigrant owners may have access to international networks that provide competitive advantage over non-immigrants. ► Not all immigrant business owners, however, are able to lever export-related advantages.