Purpose -This paper seeks to understand the role played by transnational family networks in ethnic minority business development. Design/methodology/approach -The Vietnamese nail-care sector is taken as a case study. The research involved interviews with ten owner-managers and four key informants involved in this industry in London. The analysis draws on concepts of "strong" and "weak" network ties and "mixed embeddedness" to explain why the Vietnamese continue to enter such a competitive sector. Findings -The results highlight the importance of transnational family networks within all aspects of the business and suggest that these links can sometimes provide a fertile source of new business ideas, but can equally limit innovation. The presence of innovative and well-educated members within the entrepreneurs' "strong-tie" network appeared to encourage more successful business development and diversification.Research limitations/implications -The research challenges the traditional "strong/weak" ties thesis and suggests that, while it has some general value, in the context of groups from more collectivist societies and with family links overseas, it is necessary to take account of the human and social capital resources of the extended family rather than just those of the individual entrepreneur. Practical implications -To maximise the potential of these links it suggests that business advisers need to undertake a comprehensive audit of entrepreneurs' networks and assist them in assessing how their family ties can best contribute to the development of the business. Originality/value -The paper focuses on a new community (the Vietnamese), and a new sector of study (transnational family networks), both of which have received little attention in the entrepreneurship literature.

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Summary. Neo-liberalism may intensify competition, not only between, but also within cities, as local authorities collaborate with commercial and third-sector organisations to nurture emerging visitor economies. This article considers reimaging strategies that trade upon features of the place-product that include ethnic cuisine, street markets and festivals, set against the backdrop of an exoticised urban landscape. Through longitudinal case studies of two multicultural districts in east London, the authors examine the public policy rationale for their selection and redefinition as new destinations for leisure and tourism, identifying the key agents of change and the range of techniques used to market ethnic and cultural difference. This leads to a critical discussion of the issues arising for urban governance and the reconciliation of their role as social and commercial hubs for minority groups, with the accommodation of high-spending leisure consumers from the dominant culture and, in some cases, international tourists.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relevance of the mixed embeddedness thesis (Kloosterman, 2010; Rath and Kloosterman, 2002) to businesses with a more transnational mode of operation. Design/methodology/approach Interviews with the owner managers of a sample 24 Vietnamese businesses in London were undertaken to develop an understanding of how micro (individual resources: social, financial and cultural/human capital, and history of migration), meso (local, regional and national markets) and macro (politico-institutional) factors in the UK and overseas influenced business development. Findings The findings illustrate how business development is influenced not just by the interaction of the local (UK) opportunity structure and the entrepreneur’s resources, as suggested by the mixed embeddedness thesis, but also by institutional regimes, economies and markets in key countries of the diaspora, and the interaction of these. The extent to which new transnational opportunities can be exploited, however, depends on access to the necessary local and transnational forms of capital. Practical implications The empirical evidence presented is used to present a re-working of the mixed embeddedness thesis to provide a framework for understanding the drivers of transnational entrepreneurship. Originality/value The paper presents new empirical knowledge of transnational activity amongst the UK Vietnamese business community – a little known refugee community. Conceptually, the paper offers a theoretical development of the mixed embeddedness thesis to enable it to provide an explanation of transnational entrepreneurship amongst new migrant communities.