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This study investigates how a competitor orientation (knowledge of and acting on competitors' strengths and weaknesses) facilitates coopetition activities (collaboration with competitors), within networks of competing micro-sized, independent, family restaurants, owned by entrepreneurs from ethnic minority backgrounds.

An instrumental case study features data collected from interviews with 30 owners (as key informants) of micro-sized, independent, family-owned restaurants, in two urban clusters within the Midlands (UK). Specifically, the context involves restaurants offering South Asian cuisine and where the owner originated from the Indian sub-continent (Bangladesh, India or Pakistan). Secondary data were collected wherever possible. These two clusters (not named for ethics reasons) are highly populated by members of these respective ethnic communities; also, they contain a relatively large number of restaurants offering South Asian cuisine.

A competitor orientation facilitated strong coopetition-oriented partnerships comprised of extended family and intra-community members that helped enhance individual firms' performance, maintained family employment and sustained their cluster. It also helped owners develop subtle counter strategies where weak ties existed, such as via inter-community networks. For example, strategies attracted customers that were not loyal to a particular restaurant, or indeed, sub-ethnic cuisine (within Bangladesh, India or Pakistan, like the Punjab region). Subtle as opposed to outright counter strategies minimised retaliation, since restaurant owners wanted to avoid price wars, or spreading misinformation where the reputation of a cluster may suffer alongside the likely survival of individual businesses within that regional cluster.

Mixed evidence exists in earlier studies regarding the competitive rivalry in certain sectors where ethnic minority ownership is prominent; not least, restaurants located in regional clusters. However, this investigation considers the notion – what if some of these earlier studies are wrong? More specifically, does certain prior research under-represent the extent that rival entrepreneurs of an ethnic minority origin collaborate rather than compete for mutually beneficial purposes? New evidence emerges regarding ways in which a competitor orientation can influence the performance-enhancing nature of coopetition activities among business owners originating from both intra and inter-ethnic communities.

This paper is concerned with the role of networking in the development of ethnic minority enterprises, using empirical data drawn from a wider study of 82 ethnic minority businesses in North London. The paper uses a broadly based definition of networks that focuses on the exploitation of both formal and informal relationships for business development purposes, which includes social networks as well as voluntary and necessary business‐based linkages. More specifically, the paper considers the role of networking in raising capital, recruiting labour, identifying and finding customers, as well as accessing business support. The results show that personal and community‐based networks are used both to mobilise resources and to generate sales by business owners in all groups, although the nature and extent of the activity varies at different stages of business development. As other studies have shown, there is a very low level of take‐up of business advice and support from mainstream support agencies by these ethnic minority enterprises, not because of a lack of awareness but because of a range of negative attitudes towards them.

This study aims to examine the moderating effect of firm age and size on the relationship between network characteristics (network centrality, network density and tie strength) and firm performance. This study also aims to investigate the difference in the effect of network characteristics on the firm performance of Javanese and Minang ethnic enterprises.

An explanatory research design was adopted, which involved a survey in the form of a structured questionnaire of target owners and managers of 34 Javanese ethnic enterprises in North Sumatra, Indonesia and 100 Minang ethnic enterprises in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Jakarta and Bogor, Indonesia. The data is analysed using structural equation modelling.

The findings of this study confirm resource dependency and social capital theory. Network centrality, network density and tie strength have a significant effect on firm performance. The results also show support for the moderating role of firm age on the relationship between network characteristics and firm performance. The moderating role of firm size is not supported. The comparative test of the influence of the three network characteristics on ethnic enterprise performance confirms that Javanese ethnic enterprises have identity-based networks, while Minang ethnic enterprises use calculative-based networks.

The originality of this study lies in the investigation of the role of family and external partners in the running of ethnic enterprises at start-up and during the growth phase. The definition of “family” is based on a kinship perspective due to the specificity of Asian cultures, particularly in Indonesia. Of the hundreds of tribes in Indonesia, the Javanese and Minang were chosen because both are well-known as entrepreneurial tribes, have unique cultural values and have active migrants to other provinces.

Using Brazilian communities in the Greater Boston area as the focus of the study, this chapter will address the following main questions: Are there differences between Protestant and Catholic churches in terms of their impact on the creation and development of social capital? And, if such differences exist, how do membership and involvement in the churches’ social networks affect ethnic entrepreneurship? Our preliminary conclusions suggest that there are various differences between the two churches in aspects that have the potential to impact social capital, and that the social networks built around and supported by the Brazilian Protestant churches in Massachusetts have been more effective for social capital formation. In consequence, these churches provide a “safer” environment, with higher levels of perceived solidarity and trust, and as such more favorable for ethnic entrepreneurship initiatives and social mobility. In order to lay the theoretical ground for addressing these questions, we will make a brief review of existing research on the association between social capital and ethnic entrepreneurship. We will also discuss the issue of church-membership as a source of social capital creation and growth, and its effects on ethnic business development.¹

The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand how Chambers of Commerce enhance networking among ethnic small businesses and enable the co-creation of value. This study contributes to extant research through the emergence of the concept of cultural networking competence. This study highlights how Chambers of Commerce in the USA ensures the continuation, growth and replication of ethnic small businesses through cultural networking competence.

This study investigates the research question by conducting qualitative research and adopting an interpretive approach of investigation in the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. Subjects were recruited using purposive sampling techniques via community links.

Findings show the existence of four different types of value in line with Holbrook’s typology of value – utilitarian, social, emotional and altruistic value. Because these values are culturally related, this study regards these values as cultural networking competence, which differs from general networking competence due to its focus on culture. With cultural networking competence, ethnic firms benefit from access to new domains, the creation of new opportunities, an improved effectiveness in achieving objectives beyond their own ethnic networks and the resources of other actors that can be leveraged for wider impact.

This study contributes to extant research through the emergence of the concept of cultural networking competence. This study highlights how Chambers of Commerce in the USA ensures the continuation, growth and replication of ethnic small businesses through cultural networking competence.

This paper aims to examine the migrant dilemma about operating extensively in migrant enclaves vs integration in host communities.

The paper is a critical literature review contrasting views and perspectives of the role of migrant enclaves in migrant integration and contribution in new societies. Research in the area of ethnic enclaves has been polarised: on the one hand, the optimists argue the critical benefits of migrant and ethnic community networks, thus downplaying potential drawbacks of such networks and the disadvantage externally imposed on migrants; on the other hand, the pessimists overemphasise the disadvantages of ethnic enclaves, portraying them as ghettos of alienation.

Based on the social solidarity integration model and immigrant-host and social interaction theory, the paper posits that migrant community networks could intentionally or unintentionally engender cultural alienation, worsening an already precarious educational, cultural and economic exclusion. Thus, migrants could remain in lower societal roles and experience limited upward social mobility if they operate exclusively within migrant and ethnic networks. However, ethnic enclaves, at the same time, offer the initial psychological nurturing on which future successful socialisation work with migrant communities can be built.

From a research angle, the theorisation of migrant enclave requires a new approach, which identifies dynamism and contextualisation as central to the debate.

From a policy perspective, the research suggests the rethinking of the role of community support systems (and the wider enclave debate). The organisational implications the research suggests a shift of the organisational paradigm in the way migrant organisations manage themselves and support members in the enclave.

This paper’s contribution is to take a duality approach to studying the ethnic enclave and posits that this will engender effective social policy that helps reduce economic inequality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of community organisation as part of the systemic model. Based on the systemic model of community crime, it is perceived that community networks are negatively correlated with victimisation. The authors consider an alternative interpretation, suggesting that these conceptual relationships can run opposite to the directions shown in the systemic model. The crime rate itself may change residents’ perception of neighbouring behaviour and informal control.

This hypothesis is tested using a multigroup analysis of the community organisation across a sample of victims and non-victims in a Malaysian neighbourhood.

The authors find that property crime affects ethnic relations among the residents, where the non-victims perceived higher levels of ethnic relationships compared with the victims. The results show that configural and metric invariance are fully supported, while scalar and structural invariance were partially supported, suggesting that the items measured may be robust across cultures and that the factor loadings appeared to be equivalent across victims and non-victims. Non-victims perceived significantly higher informal control and closer ethnic relations than victims.

The paper provides a new direction of the systemic model, whereby victimisation could affect residents’ size of friendship networks and perception informal control.

The purpose of this paper is to present the unreported phenomenon of migrants with sight loss who experience unsupportive behaviour and attitudes from their own ethnic community due to their disability. In presenting specific case studies from a wider PhD study which investigated the previously undocumented experiences of migrants with sight loss in Ireland, the intention is to raise awareness among service providers of the additional vulnerability of this minority group.

Migrants representing diverse ethnicities (Angolan, Algerian Nigerian, Zambian, Polish, Czech Republic, Malaysia Bangladeshi) described their experiences accessing disability services Ireland and discussed comparative attitudes towards disability in their home and host country. Service providers from the national organization working with people with sight loss were interviewed to gain an understanding of their attitudes and views on access and provision for migrants. By adopting a qualitative method following a constructivist grounded theory approach, migrants' own perceptions, beliefs, views and experiences of the sensitive subject of adjusting to sight loss while away from home were prioritised. Analysis of data was facilitated through qualitative software Atlas.ti and three core interrelated categories emerged most prominently: cultural perceptions of disability; support networks; and cultural barriers. The focus for this paper draws most significantly from the second category, support networks, most specifically the impact of absence or withdrawal of support for the migrant at the most vulnerable time of sight loss away from home.

From grounded theory data analysis, three core interrelated categories emerged most prominently. They are: cultural perceptions of disability; support networks; and cultural barriers. This paper focuses most directly from findings related to support networks specifically highlighting two migrant case studies to report the impact of absence or withdrawal of support for migrant at the most vulnerable time of sight loss away from home. Service providers interviewed report inadequate information about migrants with sight loss. Evidence of stigma related to cultural perception of disability in the home community as trigger for discrimination from migrant's own network is reported by service providers. Findings are examined within an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, combining intercultural studies theories with disability models to facilitate a holistic understanding of the migrants' experience.

The challenge of coping with disability for a migrant whose ethnic community network is absent, or withdraws its support owing to an individual's disability, have implications for alerting service providers to increased vulnerability of migrant service users. Consequently, this study has implications for programs and policies and can inform the development of culturally sensitive and appropriate services.

This study raises awareness of the compounded challenge for migrants with sight loss who are unsupported by their own ethnic group while living in a host country.

This study reveals the previously unreported case of migrants who experience unsupportive behaviour from their own ethnic community following acquired disability. Evidence from migrants and their service providers demonstrates the impact of cultural perceptions of disability to influence the level of ethnic community support offered.

Studies on the information behaviour of immigrants including refugees across the globe show a significant dependency of immigrants on their informal networks for meeting various settlement and everyday life information needs. Although there are quite a few studies in LIS that globally report the dependency of immigrants on their personal networks, very little is known about their experiences with their informal personal networks in the contexts of their settlement in informational terms. This paper explores the information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada consulting informal networks including broader Bangladeshi community people in pre- and post-arrival contexts.

The study uses a mixed-method approach including semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with Bangladeshi immigrants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Interview data were analysed thematically, and descriptive statistics are used to describe the survey data relevant to this study.

Although the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the information experience derived from an analysis of the interview data with some relevant references to the survey data when deemed appropriate. This paper provides insights into the information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants within their personal networks, including friends, family and ethnic community people. The findings of this study show that participants sometimes received discouraging, unhelpful or wrong information from their personal networks. The multiple dimensions of the information experiences of the study participants show the many consequences for their settlement lives. For some participants, settlement was particularly impacted by the concept of “information sharing fear” that emerged from the interviews. Information sharing fear relates to concerns that sharing information about the challenges faced by newcomers could be considered by potential immigrants as a kind of active “discouragement”. Participants described being sensitive to charges of envy or jealousy when they shared information related to challenges newcomers face, as friends and family see them as trying to prevent competition for social status.

The findings related to the information experiences of immigrants consulting informal networks has potential implications for research in various discipline such as LIS, migrational studies and psychology that explore the benefits of social networks in newcomers' settlement. The study also sets a ground to take a more holistic approach to the information experiences of newcomers, not just naming the sources newcomers utilize in settlement and everyday life contexts. The study also provides some future directions to comprehensively understand the culturally situated information behaviour of various immigrant groups.

Literature on immigrant and ethnic minority entrepreneurship almost exclusively focusses on the west, while neglecting other world regions. This neglect is problematic not only because international migration is on the rise outside the west, but also because it reveals an implicit ethnocentrism and creates particular presumptions about the nature of ethnic minority entrepreneurship that may not be as universally valid as is often presumed. The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnic minority entrepreneurship in non-western contexts to critically assess two of these presumptions, namely that it occurs in the economic margins and within clear ethnic community boundaries.

The authors draw on academic literature (including the authors’ own) to develop two case descriptions of ethnic minority entrepreneurship outside the west: the Mennonites in Belize and the Chinese in Cambodia. For each case, the authors describe the historic entrepreneurial trajectory, i.e. the historical emergence of entrepreneurship in light of relevant community and society contexts.

The two cases reveal that, in contrast to characterisations of ethnic minority entrepreneurship in the west, the Mennonites in Belize and the Chinese in Cambodia have come to comprise the economic upper class, and their business activities are not confined to ethnic community boundaries.

The paper is the first to elaborate the importance of studying ethnic minority entrepreneurship outside the west, both as an aim in itself and as a catalyst to work towards a more neutral framework.