Handbook of Research on Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship: A Co‐evolutionary View on Resource Management

Citation

Mamman, A. (2009), "Handbook of Research on Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship: A Co‐evolutionary View on Resource Management", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 108-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552550910934486

Since the middle of the twentieth century there have been major movements of people across continents and across countries. Globalization has hastened these movements even further. These movements are not without permanent socio‐economic and demographic consequences. It is the aim of the volume to capture the experiences and success stories of ethnic minorities that migrated to different countries by focusing exclusively on ethnic minority entrepreneurship.

Given the difficulties of setting up and running a successful business, the “Handbook of Research on ethnic minority entrepreneurship” can help professors, researchers and policy makers to understand success factors for ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Professor Dana and his colleagues have carefully and successfully put together a collection of chapters on ethnic minority entrepreneurship from all parts of the world. The book comprises eight parts and 49 chapters. Undoubtedly, given the massive size and content of an 835‐page book, it is fair to ask, is it value for money? The answer is unequivocally yes! A further comment on the content of the book should probably reassure potential readers and buyers of the book.

The seven chapters of part I of the volume provides theoretical introduction to the volume. For example, Ivan Light in chapter one discussed the topic of global entrepreneurship and transtionalism. In this chapter the concept of middleman minorities is distinguished from transmigrants. Unlike the former category of immigrants who are non‐assimilating ethnic minorities, transmigrants “are resident in at least two societies between which they shuttle frequently enough to remain active participants in both”. This has implications for policy makers who wish to develop policies at tapping the potentials of immigrants for the economy of the host country. Chapter 1 is particularly instructive and informational for bringing to the fore the economic role played by a new category of ethnic minority entrepreneurs in the increasingly globalized world. The role of transmigrant has not been adequately acknowledged by researchers nor policy makers recognised their potentials and how to effectively utilise them. Chapter three by Thierry Volery advances a theoretical framework for understanding the dimensions of ethnic entrepreneurship. The chapter underscores the multifaceted and complex nature of the factors influencing the establishment of ethnic enterprise. The chapter began with a conceptual consideration of ethnic entrepreneurship by reviewing the definitions of ethnic entrepreneurship and the evolution of the concept. The chapter concludes by advancing the two theoretical models. The aim of the author is to provide a mental aid which can help position and understand ethnic factors within broader context of entrepreneurship. The author combined the “culturalist” and “structuralist” approach to ethnic entrepreneurship because, as he rightly argues, no one approach is capable of explaining the whole dynamics of the establishment of ethnic enterprises. The main strength and benefit of the framework is that it can guide researchers in the field to investigate the variations in entrepreneurial behaviours across ethnic groups as well as the variations in enterprise creation across ethnic groups. The remaining chapters provide theories and paradigms on ethnic economies, immigrants' entrepreneurial strategies, immigrant women and cultural diversity of ethnic entrepreneurs.

Part II presents the experience of ethnic minorities with self‐employment in North America. For example in a 15‐page chapter, Linda Dyer and Christopher Ross examined the effect of common ethnicity in owners‐advisors relationship in Montreal and Toronto. Using a sample of Black, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Middle‐Eastern and South Asian business owners, they found that owners who used same‐ethnic group as advisors as opposed to other‐ethnic group tended to have a longer‐lasting relationship with the advisor, stronger ethnic identity, and higher propensity to employ people from same‐ethnic group but no correlation with business success. Tom Allen's chapter focuses on Ukrainian farmers in Canada. The chapter starts with a historical analysis of settlements in the western part of Canada and concludes with an in‐depth account of Ukrainian experiences of settling and establishing agricultural enterprises. The chapter highlights the discrimination Ukrainian entrepreneurs face in the early years of their settlement. The chapter is informative pertaining to how immigrants navigate and adapt to the changes in the economic structure of their host country. Using a similar approach, Peter Li in chapter ten gives account of business engagement of Chinese immigrants in Canada. Like the early Ukrainian settlers in the agricultural sector, Peter Li's account notes how discrimination Chinese immigrants faced while settling in Canada restricted their ability to find employment. This set the foundation of ethnic Chinese entrepreneurship in particular and the focus on self‐employment in general. This is another chapter that highlights the diversity of experiences of ethnic entrepreneurship raising the question in the reviewer's mind whether the field needs a theoretical framework for each ethnic group to fully understand ethnic entrepreneurship. The need to address this question is further highlighted by the subsequent accounts of the experiences of ethnic groups such as, African‐Americans, Hispanics, Koreans, Iranians and Filipinos.

Part III comprises 14 chapters focusing on ethnic minority self‐employment in Europe. The section covers the experience of ethnic minorities in the UK, Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Germany and Hungary. Chapter 21 by Bayca‐Levent and Nijkamp is a comparative case study of multi‐ethnic and cross‐gender entrepreneurs in Amsterdam. The aim of the authors is to investigate ethnic entrepreneurship in urban economic life. The cases focused on Turkish, Moroccan, and Pakistani/Indian entrepreneurs. While the chapter highlights the similarities across the three ethnic groups, it also draws attention to the gender and generational differences in both motivation and entrepreneurial practices. For example, while ethnic entrepreneurs might initially predominantly depend on their own ethnic group for labour and capital, younger and male entrepreneurs are less likely to do so. In a nutshell, this chapter points to the danger of viewing ethnic entrepreneurs as a monolithic group by some policy makers who, although they have good intentions, are ill‐informed about the dynamics and complexities of ethnic entrepreneurship. In fact, in chapter 22, Barrett and McEvoy echo this issue of diversity of ethnic entrepreneurs and their experiences by discussing the temporal and geographical variations in ethnic minority businesses in the UK. In this chapter the authors caution the glamorisation of success of ethnic entrepreneurs. Their study found that the failure rate of ethnic enterprises is very high. However, some ethnic groups such as the Indians and the Chinese have higher success rate than others, such as Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Again this chapter is underscoring the need to appreciate the complexity and diversity of ethnic entrepreneurs and their experiences in multitude of situations. In spite of the number of chapters in this section, it is rather disappointing that fewer countries and ethnic groups are considered in this section. Europe is increasingly becoming a melting pot of multi‐ethnic groups from all over the world. For example, the experience of ethnic groups such as North Africans in France, West Africans in the UK, Italy and Spain should be reflected in a volume such as this. The impact of Europe's colonial legacy and the concept of transmigrants highlighted much earlier in the volume are issues that should have been highlighted and fully covered in this section. Part IV and Part V comprise of thirteen chapters focusing on ethnic minority self‐employment in Asia and the southern hemisphere. The key feature of these chapters is the focus on non‐immigrant ethnic entrepreneurship within a country. For example, David Willies and J. Rejasekaran present the experience of Dalit entrepreneurs on the edges of caste system in India. Similarly, Bruce Mitchell and Mary Jesselyn report on a study of entrepreneurship amongst various ethnic groups in South Africa.

Finally, Parts VI and VII comprise two chapters (48 and 49) focusing on comparative study of internationalisation of firms in Singapore and the UK, and suggestions for future inquiry respectively. In chapter 48 Crick and Dana present a comparative investigation of the perceptions of internationalizing firms in Singapore and the UK. This chapter adds another dimension to the study of ethnic entrepreneurship given that the bulk of the volume focused almost entirely on the domestic activities of ethnic entrepreneurs. In the chapter the barriers to internationalization, as perceived by the entrepreneurs, are discussed. The study also underscores the importance of co‐ethnic networks in internationalisation. Both Chinese and Indian firms use such networks when internationalizing. In many ways this chapter is a welcome addition to the collection although more should have been made by the authors concerning the need for the development of the topic of internationalization of ethnic entrepreneurship. Chapter 49 by Dana and Morris presents a model of immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurship. It is an attempt to synthesize the previous chapters and come up with a general model that helps to integrate the literature and the findings presented earlier. To this end, the authors have achieved their objectives reasonably. They have advanced a framework that aims at explaining the outcomes of ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship. The model comprised of independent and mediating variables such as host country factors, immigrant background, ethnic network and the type of venture pursued by the ethnic entrepreneur. The framework is undoubtedly useful for explaining the complexity and dynamics of ethnic entrepreneurship. Although the framework is too complex to be tested empirically, the authors do not mean it to be tested but rather to be used as a guide for future study. Nevertheless the framework can guide future resources in developing and testing their own framework.

This collection is undoubtedly rich, creative and varied in many respects. Therefore, it will be of great benefit to researchers and scholars alike. Although this volume will not make an easy reading for practitioners given that it is not a how‐to‐do book, policy makers will find the volume extremely useful to help developed informed policy on self‐employment an ethnic minority management. Like any other book, especially edited volume of this kind, this collection has some limitations. First, the aim of the book is not made clear by the editors. In fact, the editors' concluding chapter failed to address this limitation. Second, a volume of this nature should have an introductory chapter, not only to state the intended audience, mission and objectives of the volume, but also to guide the reader on the content of the volume. Finally, given that the volume is a sequel to previous collections, the editors should have provided a contextual background. Despite these limitations, however, I will strongly recommend this book to researchers, students, teachers and policy makers.