The Role of Economic Factors and Guanxi Networks in the Success of Chinese Shops in Johannesburg

Willemse, Lodene

doi:10.2307/j.ctvh8r45r.10

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Many are resold in Chinese-owned wholesale malls in major cities and border towns across South Africa (Dittgen 2015(Dittgen , 2017. This is a major market with over 20 such malls in Johannesburg alone and others opening in cities and towns across the country (Harrison et al, 2012: 919;Willemse, 2014). The malls are typically secure complexes hosting multiple entrepreneurs each managing their own small shop front.…”

Section: An Emerging Entrepô T Amidst Johannesburg's Urban Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An enclave entrepôt: The informal migration industry and Johannesburg’s socio-spatial transformation

Zack

Landau

2021

Urban Studies

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The spatial concentration of production in cities attracts international and domestic labour in ways that change the character and scale of urban space. Drawing on two decades of research on migration and informal trading in Johannesburg, South Africa, this article argues that the global trade in Chinese ‘fast fashion’ interacts with South Africa’s immigration policy, transportation networks, informal trade and established migration infrastructures to transform the city’s Park Station neighbourhood into an enclave entrepôt. Operated and supported by a network of informal logistics services that keep the enclave within but apart from the city, it is exquisitely tailored to cross-border shoppers. At the social and legal margins but at the city’s geographic core, it enables fluidity in an otherwise hostile space; it is at once highly visible and invisibilising. Formed in the shadows of formal institutions and law enforcement, this entrepôt is migrant-driven and serves the needs of people often seeking to remain invisible from the South African state and citizenry. As such, its services are adapted from the infrastructures that service legal and irregular migration in the subcontinent. Unlike ethnic enclaves or neighbourhoods that work as arrival zones, it provides the means to move ‘through’ rather than ‘into’ the city. The entrepôt is a form of migrant space-claiming by vulnerable and mobile people wishing to be in but not of the city. It acts as portal into, through and beyond national territory.

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Section: An Emerging Entrepô T Amidst Johannesburg's Urban Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An enclave entrepôt: The informal migration industry and Johannesburg’s socio-spatial transformation

Zack

Landau

2021

Urban Studies

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“…There has been a growing population of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs settling in South Africa and starting up businesses. Increasingly, small businesses owned by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are being set up in South Africa drawing from the gradual influx of Chinese-made products in South Africa (Willemse 2013). It can be noted that these small businesses are entrepreneurial and competitive in the business environments in which they operate (Willemse 2013).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increasingly, small businesses owned by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are being set up in South Africa drawing from the gradual influx of Chinese-made products in South Africa (Willemse 2013). It can be noted that these small businesses are entrepreneurial and competitive in the business environments in which they operate (Willemse 2013). However, little is known about the communication channels adopted by the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs that facilitate their entrepreneurial endeavours, specifically the identification of opportunities in the South African business environment.…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several scholars (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014;Tengeh, Ballard & Slabbert 2012;Toli & Tengeh 2017) suggest that immigrant-owned small businesses create opportunities that have important implications for the South African economy. Moreover, in South Africa, immigrant-owned small retail businesses have increasingly been perceived as competitive and entrepreneurial relative to local businesses (Willemse 2013). It is suggested that the performance of immigrant-owned small businesses is attributed to the various practices that immigrant entrepreneurs adopt in obtaining information from various sources about opportunities in the business environment (Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014;Toli & Tengeh 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

2018

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Orientation: There is a growing prevalence of entrepreneurial activity by immigrant entrepreneurs in different sectors of various economies across the world. Immigrant entrepreneurs seek to identify opportunities to grow and sustain their businesses in hostile business markets. Immigrant entrepreneurs use an array of channels of communication to gain insight of the opportunities in the market.Research purpose: The study sought to investigate the communication channels used by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs to identify opportunities in the host community market.Motivation for the study: The study was undertaken given the dearth of research on the role of communication channels in enabling the identification of opportunities by immigrant entrepreneurs.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design was adopted in which purposive and snowball sampling were adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs operating small businesses in the South African context.Main findings: The results indicate that the immigrant entrepreneurs identified opportunities in the business environment through establishing channels of communication that manifested as networks with family members, customers, local employees and competitors. Building relationships through networks was key for the process of identifying opportunities.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides evidence that information about opportunities in the market is identified through dynamic channels of communication characterised by networks with different stakeholders.Contribution/value-add: Communication channels are pivotal in enabling the identification of opportunities in the business environment. Immigrant entrepreneurs actively create and sustain their relationships with various stakeholders in the business environment to be able to identify opportunities in the business environment.

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“…Research that does address the corruption experiences of individuals in turn focus on public bureaucracies (Ivković and Shelley, 2005) or elites (Grødeland, 2010). There is limited attention to everyday life accounts of common people and small-time entrepreneurs who are on the client side of a transaction involving bribery (but see Jancsics, 2013; Vorley and Williams, 2015) and even a great lack of attention to the impact of corruption on newcomers such as migrants in the transition countries of CEE (although there have been several studies on the impact of corruption on migrants in the developing countries of Africa; for example, Madsen, 2004; Willemse, 2015). This study aims to contribute to this literature by examining the everyday corruption experiences of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs in Romania.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The client side of everyday corruption in Central and Eastern Europe: The case of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs in Romania

Hiah

2019

European Journal of Criminology

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This article provides an in-depth understanding of the corruption experiences of migrant entrepreneurs in transition economies. Drawing from ethnographic research, including 50 qualitative interviews with Chinese migrant entrepreneurs active in wholesale markets, nongovernmental organizations, and supervisory agencies in Romania, this article demonstrates that normalization of corruption by migrant entrepreneurs should be understood in the historical context of the wholesale market as a product of post-1989 transition in Central and Eastern Europe. At a social-interactional level, normalization of corruption is revealed through how migrants use decriminalizing language to refer to corruption and perceive corruption as a survival strategy by public officials. Moreover, the legal and outsider status of migrants and their knowledge of the language, rules and laws further determine migrants' position as clients of 'on the spot' corruption.

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The Role of Economic Factors and Guanxi Networks in the Success of Chinese Shops in Johannesburg

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

An enclave entrepôt: The informal migration industry and Johannesburg’s socio-spatial transformation

An enclave entrepôt: The informal migration industry and Johannesburg’s socio-spatial transformation

Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

The client side of everyday corruption in Central and Eastern Europe: The case of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs in Romania

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