The Making Of Migrant Entrepreneurs In Contemporary China

This dissertation, "The Making of Migrant Entrepreneurs in Contemporary China: an Ethnographic Study of Garment Producers in Suburban Guangzhou" by Chong, Gao, 高崇, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled The Making of Migrant Entrepreneurs in Contemporary China: An Ethnographic Study of Garment Producers in Suburban Guangzhou submitted by Gao Chong for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in October 2006 This study represents an effort to understand the emergent migrant entrepreneurship in contemporary China within a changing socio-economic context. After decades of restriction on free migration and private business in socialist China, the changing political and economic circumstances have allowed for the emergence of migrant entrepreneurs-in-the-making in recent years. But the migrants, who have a disadvantaged economic and social status, usually lack resources when they choose to start their own businesses. In order to understand how they succeed in entrepreneurship, ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in a village of suburban Guangzhou to investigate the entrepreneurial practices popularly employed by migrant entrepreneurs who ran garment factories. The focus of this study is on how these migrant entrepreneurs employ social network and culture in their entrepreneurial practice to start their own businesses. The fieldwork data shows that they not only employ strategic methods to mobilize resources embedded in their social networks but also employ culture as a strategy to solve problems encountered in entrepreneurship. Moreover, they make use of social and cultural resources with the logic of economic rationality. The rise of migrant entrepreneurs is thus not merely the functioning of a given social context or of cultural factors, but is the outcome of integration of these socio-cultural factors to mobilize resources to fulfill the demands of entrepreneurship and obtain competitive advantages in business. In this sense, their success in entrepreneurship does not lie solely in social or cultural factors, but depends on their ability to maintain a balance between the use of their social networks and culture and the market mentality. (259 words) DOI: 10.5353/th_b3733542 Subjects: Businesspeople - Social networks - China - Guangzhou Shi Internal migrants - Social networks - China - Guangzhou Shi Clothing trade - China - Guangzhou Shi Business networks - China - Guangzhou Shi

The authors investigate the phenomenon of highly skilled Chinese returnees and their impact on the development of the Chinese economy and society, and on the transformation of China into a key player on the global stage. They analyse the reasons why Chinese entrepreneurs choose to return to their native country and how their overseas experience shapes their attitude and behaviours. This study is solidly grounded on fresh data from online and offline surveys and on evidence collected in over 200 interviews of successful returnees entrepreneurs. These global Chinese returnees have contributed to the rise of Chinese economy into a global powerhouse and this continuing brain movement and circulation will have much more future implications and impact for China's exchange with outside world.

By drawing on extensive interviews with business founders and CEOs this book explores the complexities and dynamics of business and social relations responsible for present-day China's economic vibrancy. It makes an original contribution both through its empirical richness and theoretical innovations on trust, social networks, crisis and gender.

Given the diversification of global migration patterns, the increased importance attributed to knowledge and innovation for economic development, and the rise of social policy regimes that emphasise self-responsibility, migrant entrepreneurship has become a widely discussed form of migrant incorporation in both policy and social sciences. Particularly in North America and Europe, policy advisors have drafted special programmes and regulations aimed at self-employed migrants, while social scientists have also come up with a vast body of research, although it has not been exempt from certain controversies and biases. Migrant entrepreneurship has frequently been associated either with rags-to-riches success stories or with unremunerative hard work and marginalised social positions. Also, a great deal of research has strongly and consistently focused on entrepreneurial cultures and ethnic bonds related to ethnic entrepreneurship, and consequently other forms of migrant self-employment have been given only given scant attention. Yet, more recently, other aspects, including institutional embeddedness and gender, have become important focal points of research studies and have opened up new, promising avenues to explore the phenomenon. This book offers a comprehensive up-to-date overview of the research area covering migrant entrepreneurship and self-employment, in addition to investigating the skills of migrant entrepreneurs departing from the question: which migrants become self-employed, the highly skilled ones (due to their excellence) or the ones with a low skill endowment (because they cannot find a satisfying employment in the labour market)? Moreover, the included case study on highly skilled Peruvian migrant micro-entrepreneurs in Switzerland demonstrates the complex interplay of elements at work before and during the business foundation, such as an unsatisfying socio-economic integration, the search for social recognition and agency, the reconfiguration of gender roles, and the availability of resources to exploit transnational business opportunities.

Explores China's new entrepreneurs, uncovering secrets of their business, and the relationships underlying China's economic transformation.

Her analysis focuses on the human experiences and strategies that precipitate shifts in national and local policies for economic development; she also examines the responses of migrants, nonmigrants, and officials to changing circumstances, obstacles, and opportunities. This pioneering study is rich in original source materials and anecdotes and also offers useful, comparative examples from other developing countries."--Jacket.

For more than two decades Australia has not only prospered without a recession but has achieved a higher growth rate than any Western country. This achievement has been credited to Australia’s historic shift to Asia; the transformation of the relationship between these two countries is one of the most important changes in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the role of new Chinese migrants in transforming Sino-Australian relations through their entrepreneurial activities has not been deeply explored. Chinese Migrant Entrepreneurship in Australia from the 1990s adds new theoretical considerations and empirical evidence to a growing interest in entrepreneurship, and presents an account of a group of new Chinese migrant entrepreneurs who have succeeded in their business ventures significantly contributing to both Australia and China. The first chapter introduces the history between Australia and China, followed by chapters focusing on post-migration realities, economic opportunities, Chinese outbound tourism and the use of community media. The final chapter concludes with a summary. Focuses on the people whose entrepreneurial activities have spread across industries and facilitated trade and cultural contacts Analyses the experiences of the new migrants from China Offers evidence that challenges outdated but still widely held assumptions about ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs Presents longitudinal research on the new Chinese migrant community in Australia since the late 1980’s Demonstrates a dynamic process that challenges the overemphasis on the impact of globalisation on Chinese entrepreneurs

This book examines labour migration in China, focusing in particular on the social dimensions, exploring important issues including poverty alleviation, inequality, social insurance, health and education, and the role of NGOs. It considers the impact of changing government policy, which has made social issues more central to national development policies.

Contemporary diaspora entrepreneurs (CDEs) are returned diaspora individuals engaging in entrepreneurial activities within knowledge-intensive sectors. CDEs are different from the conventional international entrepreneurs who conduct risky yet potentially rewarding business in foreign countries, the classic ethnic/immigrant entrepreneurs who run business ventures in countries of residence, and the time-honored transnational entrepreneurs in traditional business sectors. Interweaving contemporary evidence with historical analyses, the book advances a theory of contemporary diaspora entrepreneurship with substantive evidence from China, a country witnessing the most dramatic development of CDEs. It encapsulates the first attempt to fully capture the notion of contemporary diaspora entrepreneurship and its social versus economic and national versus international impacts.