Across the border: Immigrants’ economic opportunities, social capital and informal business activities

Kloosterman, Robert C.; J, Van Der Leun; Rath, Jan

doi:10.1080/1369183x.1998.9976632

Cited by 131 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The influx of foreign migrants has certainly brought about economie advantages (e.g., the fullïlment of structural vacanties in various segments of the labour market). but it bas also caused a multiplicity of social and economie tensions (e.g., in the local housing market, ghetto formation in cities, differences in lifestyle and behaviour and socio-cultural stress situations) (see, e.g., Borjas 1990, Kloosterman et al 1998, Pahl 1984, Pinch 1993, Piore and Sabel 1984. With a few exceptions aside, ethnic groups belong in genera1 to the lower socio-economie segment of European cities, mainly as a result of their lack of education and ski&.…”

Section: Ethnic Entreprenenrshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although their focus was not on ethnic female entrepreneurship, the research conducted by Cowling and Taylor (2001') Although ethnic groups are not uniform and display much variation in their motives, attitudes and behaviour, there are sume similar characteristics of ethnic enterprises and ethnic entrepreneurs (CEEDR 2000, Deakins 1999, Kloosterman et al 1998, Lee et al 1997, Masurel et al 2002. The most important personal characteristics of ethnic entrepreneurs are considered in many studies to be their lower educational levels.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diversity in entrepreneurship: ethnic and female roles in urban economic life

Levent

Masurel

Nijkamp

2003

International Journal of Social Economics

115

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of ethnic female entrepreneurship in urban economie life. The focus of the research is on the attitudes and behaviour of Turkish female entrepreneurs in Amsterdam. The main question we pose is: Are ethnic jèmale entrepreneurs special ethnic entrepreneurs or special female entrepreneurs? This paper provides an answer to this question on the basis of field surveys. The results of the case study research on Turkish female entrepreneurs in Amsterdam show that the "ethnic fernale projìle" is a "special female profile" and that Turkish female entrepreneurs are "special female entrepreneurs", particuiarly in terms of their personal and business characteristics, and their driving forces and motivations. They appear to combine their ethnic opportunities with their personal characteristics (and other opportunities) in the urban market, and to perform successfully. This is also due to the fact that they have become service providers for not only their own ethnic groups, but also for other groups in the city. , PNOSSTBLEM '3 I Introduc:ionMetropo!iian areas in many countries have increasingly turned into pluriform and muiticultural societies. Ethnic entrepreneurship and, increasingly, female entrepreneurship have become poptilar concepts in modem multi-cultural society. In a modem "multi-color" city ethnic anti female entrepreneurship tend to become an indigeneous and significant part of the local economy. Ethnic entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs can be identifïed as having untapped job-creating potential; while they reflect different cultures and open-ended capacities for creating economie growth in cities, they are also special in urban economie life because of their growing numbers and their contributions to economie diversity.There are many similarities between these two groups in terms of their opportunities, business features, management styles, networks and associations, and the niches they have obtained in cities. Both of these groups tend to fínd opportunities for their creative economie roles in big cities and metropoles and to have different management styles and different approaches to urban economie life, which reflect their cultural diversity. They also face common barriers and problems when setting up and running businesses. There are, however, distinct differences betwekn them in terms of problems and needs, management styles andnetworks. Yet a number of problems and issues that they face are common to both groups regardless of their gender or ethnicity. Moreover, ethnic and female entrepreneurs tend to suffer fiom some diffïculties more intensively than smal1 businesses in genera1 do. The most important commonality between ?hese two groups is that they are "minorities" in urban economie life. While ethnic groups are "minorities" since they are non-natives, females are another kind of "minority", often participating less in urban economie life in the face of a male-dominared business world. However, each of the groups is itself heterogeneous...

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Section: Ethnic Entreprenenrshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity in entrepreneurship: ethnic and female roles in urban economic life

Levent

Masurel

Nijkamp

2003

International Journal of Social Economics

115

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Section: Ethnic Entrepreneurship In the Informal Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, a variety of ethnic groups may bring new ideas, competencies, entrepreneurship and innovation, from which the urban society and economy may benefit (cf. Bovenkerk en Ruland 1992; Kloosterman et al 1998).It has been argued by several urban scientists (see e.g. Gershuny 1979; Pugliese 1993) that new forms of creative entrepreneurship appear to flourish in particular in an informal economy.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

In Search of Ethnic Entrepreneurship Opportunities in the City: A Comparative Policy Study

Delft¹,

Gorter²,

Nijkamp³

2000

Environ Plann C Gov Policy

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The rapidly rising inflow of foreign migrants confronts policy-makers with many socio-economic problems. The negative externalities of uncontrolled immigration are well known and often hard to cope with. In recent years we have seen many policy initiatives based on self-reliance principles for ethnic groups. Against this background ethnic entrepreneurship has become a popular strategy, as it stimulates and encourages migrants to look after themselves with a limited support of the government. Such a policy becomes an increasingly important endeavour in many large cities. Besides the conventional educational support and training programmes, such a strategy would need to implement policy strategies aiming at self-employment. An emphasis on ethnic entrepreneurship seeks to exploit the economic potential and opportunities instead of focusing on the problems minorities encounter when entering the labour market. In ethnic entrepreneurship, this potential can be utilised in a creative way, especially if well-organised projects and initiatives are set up.In this paper, various assistance programmes and urban policies in several European cities aiming at favouring ethnic entrepreneurship will be systematically compared with the aim to draw lessons for effective labour market policies. The methodological approach will employ a systematic information base concerning selfemployment strategies in the cities under investigation. A newly developed comparative statistical method for categorical information, viz. rough set analysis, will be used in order to identify critical success factors. The results suggest that utilisation of social networks is most helpful to enhance self-employment among ethnic minorities. Finally, the paper offers some lessons for the establishment of socio-cultural and ethnic networks, for strategies for improving training and education and for improvement of access to facilities and financial resources. 1 Ethnic Entrepreneurship in a Multi-cultural SocietyModern societies are moving away from a stable social and established structure toward a state of fluidity in which mobility of people (commuters, migrants) tends to become a visual landmark. The action radius of spatial mobility is steadily increasing from the local or regional scale to national and global levels (Sassen 1991;Scott 1990). The current globalisation trend, which has only recently started, will mean an even more diffuse pattern of community life, in which complex network configurations seem to play a dominant role. It seems also plausible that uniformity in society will increasingly be replaced by diversity, so that future societies will be characterised by a 'multi-colour' composition with a great cultural, social, ethnic and religious variety (cf. Cross 1992;Esping-Andersen 1993;Massey and Denton 1993;Storper 1997).The above mentioned dynamics manifests itself in particular in cross-border migration (see Nijkamp and Spiess 1994;Gorter et al 1998). It should be recognised however, that international migration as such is not a ne...

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“…The regions of origin use these associations as vectors for the promotion of economic activities, in particular the promotion of local products and tourism. It is not only an instrumental relation that explains this new orientation towards economic issues (Kloosterman et al 1998), but also the will to legitimate the group's own identity outside the association through the selling of specific products and through highlighting the attraction of the region of origin for tourists.…”

Section: Traditional Associations Of Mobile Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%