Citation
Hafeez, K. (2008), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 14 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijebr.2008.16014faa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Guest editorial
Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Volume 14, Issue 6
About the Guest Editors
Khalid HafeezProfessor of Entrepreneurship and Management Systems at the York School of Management, the University of York, where he is Director for Technology Transfer and Partnerships and heads the Management Systems Group. Previously he was the founding Director of the Centre for Ethnic Entrepreneurship at the Bradford University Management School. He is National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) Education Fellow and a member of the Harvard Business School and European Forum for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) network. His main research areas are entrepreneurship, regional clusters among small and medium-sized enterprises, intellectual capital and knowledge management, quality and performance management, supply chains and e-commerce. He has worked with SMEs as well as large public sector organisations such as DWP and NHS. He is a certified EFQM Assessor, certified Six Sigma Black Belt holder, certfied Project Manager and a certified Process Manager. He is the lead partner for the “White Rose” universities consorsium project titled “Competence theory and the formation of knowledge networks: disruptive innovation and entrepreneurial start-ups”.
David McEvoy Visiting Professor of Ethnic Entrepreneurship at Bradford University, and Emeritus Professor of Urban Geography at Liverpool John Moores University, where he was previously Director of the School of Social Science. He has researched ethnic minority business in the UK forover 30 years, and also investigates ethnic segregation, riots, and the changing geography of retailing.
Kay Hooi Alan KeoyReceived his PhD from Sheffield Hallam University, and is currently working as PostdoctoralResearcher at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Management, Bradford University School of Management, investigating the employment patterns of various ethnic groups in the region. The bulk of his analysis involves the use of the large-scale labour force survey (SAR) and census data. This involves conducting statistic alanalysis such as ANOVA, regression, multi-dimensional logit, MDS, etc. His research focuses on the adoption of internet technology and associated standards. Specific topics include strategy development and implementation of e-commerce, e-commerce adoption in SMEs, organisational and managerial issues of e-commerce, internet business models and adoption, and supply chain management and e-fulfilment. His research methodology involves both empirical analysis and modelling (structural equation modelling in particular). AlanKeoy has written over 15 technical research articles, and is a lso a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) and a Certified European Excellence Assessor for the EFQM Excellence Model.
Welcome to this Special Issue on “Changing faces of ethnic entrepreneurship”. The issue is structured around four papers giving different perspectives on ethnic entrepreneurship. The first paper relates to international context and explores the role trans-national family network plays in the success of Vietnamese nail-shops. The second paper examines the influence of the political-institutional framework in the development of enterprise amongst Turkish immigrants in key European gateway cities. The third paper investigates the extent of human resource management practices adopted by two ethnic communities in the Greater London area. The fourth paper compares first-generation and second-generation entrepreneurs among three ethnic groups in four cities in The Netherlands.
Susan Bagwell discusses the role that trans-national family networks play in business success by exploring the Vietnamese nail-care sector as a case study. The author explains how family networks, both within the UK and abroad, influence business ideas, and the start-up, operation and development of the business. Borrowing the theories of social capital and mixed embeddedness, the author examines why the groups continue to enter into such a competitive market. The UK Vietnamese nail-shop sector is a non-traditional ethnic minority business serving the mainstream market. The author suggests that the US experience of the Vietnamese in the life-style sector and closely defined family network ties have been instrumental in opportunity structure, support for start-up, employing staff, diversification and development. However, the findings suggest that a range of economic and cultural factors have also been important, thereby endorsing the “mixed embeddedness approach”. Economic restructuring has provided the push, while a growing market for nail care and co-ethnic ties with the know-how provided the “pull”. The relative lack of regulation (in the sector) together with its low start-up costs has facilitated entry to the market. Cultural values, which encourage family requirements to be considered before individual wishes and even sometimes the best interests of the business, place an obligation on the individual to help the rest of his or her family. The study has also found that more innovative businesses tended to have a relatively more diverse range of strong family ties than others, or were younger and better educated, and therefore more integrated into mainstream society.
Prodromos Ioannou Panayiotopoulos examines the influence of the political-institutional framework in the development of enterprise amongst Turkish immigrants in key European gateway cities. With a population of more than 3.5 million, Turkish-speaking immigrants make up the largest group, comprising over 25 per cent of the total immigrant population in the European Union. Data from nine European cities with a high Turkish migration population – namely, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich – are studied. The obstacles to growth for each location are explored under the impression of national and European legislation on immigration, citizenship, entrepreneurship and the regulation of the informal economy. Two cases are discussed in detail. The first concerns Berlin and the “Doner Revolution”, where the author argues that the loss of employment and the lack of transferable skills were the major push factors for Turkish enterprise formation. This is, however, noted to be a successful enterprise as it leads to the formation of a whole range of peripheral businesses up and down stream in the supply chain. The second case explores the rise and fall of Turkish sweatshops in the female fashion-wear industry in Amsterdam in the context of informal labour markets. The author argues that enforcement of the law of chain liability to make contractors liable for illegal practices and a guaranteed sum of 35 percent of each order as the cost of tax and social security drove most of the contractors out of businesses. The author concludes that while contractor management had been a prevalent feature of the business strategy with large companies, targeting a politically inspired mechanism toward a group of vulnerable immigrant entrepreneurs amounted to institutional repression, ultimately resulting in the demise of whole sector to its cheaper European rivals.
Mark McPherson explores the human resource management (HRM) practices and systems within South Asian small businesses in the Greater London area. Five HRM practices – namely selection and recruitment, appraisal, reward, development, and strategy – are compared amongst first- and second-generation ethnic businesses. The study found that the first-generation respondents are more likely to recruit and employ family members in key positions – irrespective of skill level and despite paying them off the book. In contrast, a number of second-generation entrepreneurs are either very reluctant to or will not employ family members. Generally speaking, an appraisal system was not the priority for either generation; however, many of them provided a variety of incentives for their employees. Here the author reports some noticeable differences between the two generations and sectors with respondents from catering and retail being the most generous in their practice. Many first-generation entrepreneurs are willing to pay small bonuses and a standard salary package to meet legal regulations such as sick and holiday pay and four weeks’ holiday, and in a few cases provision of meals and accommodation in the restaurant sector. In contrast many second-generation entrepreneurs resort to offering job enlargement, increasing employee responsibility and autonomy and open management as an alternative to financial rewards. Where some kinds of “in-house” informal development opportunities are offered, formal training (if any) is targeted toward family members. A number of second-generation entrepreneurs rely solely on contract labour, and therefore have few incentives to incur additional costs and manage absence resulting from off-site employee development programmes/courses. Overall the findings suggest that many entrepreneurs (irrespective of sector or generation) view employees as a cost rather than an asset. The author also reports that whereas nearly half of the respondents are aware of the importance of a HRM strategy, in practice it is either very fragmented or not realised at all across the whole firm.
Katja Rusinovic studies the market movement for first- and second-generation immigrant entrepreneurs in The Netherlands. She asserts that the first-generation entrepreneurs in general suffered from cultural and/or language barriers and were not sufficiently aware of the needs and buying preferences of the native population, and therefore operate in “ethnic” or “middleman” markets. However, second-generation entrepreneurs born and/or raised in The Netherlands are able to serve a broader clientele and are able to break out into other markets. Based on an extensive qualitative study, she reports that most of the second-generation entrepreneurs interviewed are active in “niche” or “mainstream” markets. They sell non-ethnic products to a mainstream – predominantly native Dutch – clientele. Interestingly, a good proportion of the second generation entrepreneurs started their business in the co-ethnic market selling specialist products, but gradually moved towards a mainstream clientele. Many examples are reported where second-generation entrepreneurs successfully manoeuvred their product offerings or group of clients, indicating that ethnicity is used as a business strategy (to some extent) that can be redeployed to leverage the market or opportunity.
Khalid Hafeez, David McEvoy, Kay H. KeoyGuest Editors