Business strategies among East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto: The role of group resources and opportunity structure

Marger, Martin N.

doi:10.1080/01419870.1989.9993651

Cited by 31 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Market conditions are commonly perceived to determine business access and development for immigrants. The few extant studies emphasize the appropriateness of the social embeddedness approach (Bauder ; Chan and Cheung ; Dalziel ; Hiebert ; Marger ; Teixeira , ; Teixeira, Lo, and Truelove ) although a few recent studies have hinted at the appropriateness of mixed embeddedness (Hiebert , ; Ley , ). However, as suggested earlier, these studies have two limitations.…”

Section: Background and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid‐sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

Lo¹,

Teixeira²

2015

Growth and Change

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Lacking a tradition of settling immigrants and the appropriate infrastructure to integrate them, small‐ and medium‐sized cities often face the challenge of attracting and retaining immigrants. Using a mixed methods approach, this study compares the experiences of immigrant and non‐immigrant entrepreneurs in a mid‐sized Canadian city, Kelowna, British Columbia. A survey reveals different experiences between these two groups, with immigrants facing more challenges. In the absence of institutionally complete communities or strong ethnic economies, immigrants do not rely extensively on their own community resources, an element considered instrumental for immigrant business development in large cities. Compared to non‐immigrants, immigrant entrepreneurs have a more optimistic outlook on doing business in Kelowna; this is encouraging for a city trying hard to attract immigrant investment. Key informants recommended transforming the city into a more welcoming community, establishing appropriate support infrastructure, and removing potential institutional offsets. This paper adds new theoretical insights to the literature on immigrant entrepreneurship; all socio‐cultural, political‐institutional, and economic‐structural considerations are embedded in geography. The findings also have implications for growth strategies in small‐ and medium‐sized cities.

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Section: Background and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid‐sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

Lo¹,

Teixeira²

2015

Growth and Change

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“…The role of contextual factors such as the influx of immigrant population and offshore capital in the creation of the ethnic sub-economy was also confirmed in a study of Chinese businesses in Richmond, British Colum bia (Li, 1992). A study of East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto also found that although ethnic networks and communal ties were important in the development of business strategies, their effect was not as consequential as class resources (Marger, 1989). However, another study of ]halo-Canadian-owned construction businesses inVancouver found that family-based and ethnically based economic strategies facilitated growth in ownership in construction and construction materials businesses (Walton-Roberts & Hiebert, 1997).…”

Section: Ethnic Enclave Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social capital and economic outcomes for immigrants and ethnic minorities

2004

Int. Migration & Integration

124

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The ambiguities of"social capital"can be clarified by reformulating it as a groupbased resource derived from social relations, the effectiveness of which is contingent upon the extensity and intensity of social ties and the group's resources, and the creation of which may involve a potential cost to an individual. This paper reviews the literature on immigrants and ethnic nzinorities to see how ethnic attachment as a form of social capital has affected the economic well-being of immigrants and nzinorities, and refines &e concept of sociaI capital. Studies of"ethnic attachment" and of the"ethnic mobility trap"have stressed the"penalty" of ethnic ties and affiniO/. However, studies on the ethnic enclave economy and transnational comnzunities have attributed the prosperity of the enclave economy and the economic success of sonze ethnic diasporas to ethnic networks. The paper concludes that social capital can be enabling for individuals and groups, subject to the level of other forms of capital present. But social capital cannot replace other for~ns of capital to produce unrealistic outcomes beyond the nzaterial limits of its contextual boundaries. Thus, social capital is a useful concept, not as a universal virtue, but as a situation-based capacity bounded in specific social and class contexts. Les anzbiguitds du capital social peuvent ~tre clarifides en le reformulant en tant que source ddrivde des relations sociales dont l'efficacitd ddpend de l' extensitd et l'intensitd des liens sociaux et des ressources du groupe et dont la crdation peut entrafner un cofit potentiel pour un individu. D'une part, cet article ptvpose une critique de la litt&ature sur les inznzigrants et les minoritds ethniques afin de voir comment l'attachenzent ethnique en tant que fornze de capital social a touchd le bien-~tre des immigrants et des minoritds; et d'autre part, l'article cherche h raffiner le concept de capital social. Des dtudes portant sur l'attachement et le pibge de la mobilitd ethnique ont accentual la " pdnalisation'associde aux liens ethniques. Cependant, les ~;tudes sur l'dconomie de l'enclave ethnique et les comnzunautds transnationales ont attribud h des rdseaux ethniques la prosp&itd et le succbs dconomique de certaines diasporas. Cet article en conclut que le capital social peut reprdsenter une capacitd habilitante pour les individus et les groupes, selon le niveau des autres formes de capital social prdsent. Mais le capital social ne peut pas remplacer d'autres formes de capital pour donner des rdsultats irrdalisables au-delh des linzites matdrielles de ses frontibres contextuelles. Le capital social est un concept utile, non pas en tant que vertu universelle, nzais conzme situation de base encadrde dans un contexte spdc!fique de classes sociales.

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“…Education, capital start-up, previous experience, and parental occupation (class resources) have been found to be more important in business success than ethnic involvement (Marger 1989), while highly successful entrepreneurs have been found to make less use of social capital (Shin and Han 1990). Others have analysed the relative contribution of immigrants to entrepreneurial activity in their host country (Light and Rosenstein 1995;Kim et al 2003;Hammarstedt 2001;Levie and Smallbone 2006).…”

Section: Entrepreneurial Regions In Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of urban conditions on firm performance of migrant entrepreneurs: a comparative Dutch–US study

2010

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Recent studies on ethnic entrepreneurship have pointed at an increasing share of migrants in urban small-and medium-sized entrepreneurial businesses. These migrant activities are crucial to the urban economy in many countries, as they employ a significant part of the workforce. The main objective of our study is to identify success conditions of ethnic entrepreneurship by using concepts from social capital and human capital from the literature on empirical factors that are responsible for successful ethnic entrepreneurship. The empirical part of the paper is based on a survey questionnaire among migrant entrepreneurs in the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and in Fairfax, County in the state of Virginia in the US. We present an overview of cultural, ethno-psychological and motivational aspects that contribute to the understanding of similarities and differences between ethnic entrepreneurs in both locations. The analysis is structured around several dimensions of social and human capital including personal and business characteristics, and network participation for improving business performance. The findings of the two studies are compared to explore a possible correspondence in business performance patterns. The research tool used to assess performance is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a technique for comparative efficiency analysis in various types of corporate organizations. Finally, concluding remarks are presented and possible extensions of the analysis are suggested.

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Business strategies among East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto: The role of group resources and opportunity structure

Cited by 31 publications

References 11 publications

Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid‐sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid‐sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

Social capital and economic outcomes for immigrants and ethnic minorities

Impact of urban conditions on firm performance of migrant entrepreneurs: a comparative Dutch–US study

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