WORKSHOP 53: Immigrant entrepreneurship and the marketing of ethnic diversity in comparative perspective

Thursday, November 29, 2001
14:00 - 15:30


ORGANIZERS

Daniel Hiebert,
University of British Columbia, and RIIM Metropolis Centre, Vancouver, Canada.
E-mail dhiebert@geog.ubc.ca

Jan Rath,
University of Amsterdam, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
E-mail rath@pscw.uva.nl

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

An impressive literature on ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship has emerged over the past three decades. At first this work, both theoretically and empirically, was dominated by scholars from the United States and reflected the general characteristics of immigration and government regulation of that country. Subsequently, researchers have explored other national contexts, including traditional immigrant-receptions societies such as Australia and Canada and, more recently, a number of European countries as well. As the scope of this research has expanded, important differences have been identified. For example, the regulatory practices governing small business formation and operation vary enormously between countries, as does the nature of state support for the small business sector and, of course, the mix of migrant groups living within them. At this point, international comparisons of immigrant entrepreneurship nearly all rely upon research done on a nation-by-nation basis. That is, international networks are built around projects conducted by discrete teams of researchers working in separate countries-who meet together from time to time at conferences to compare results.  This is also true of the large body of literature on business formation by immigrants: with a few prominent exceptions, virtually all of it is country-specific.

What is needed, therefore, is a more active international comparison. Having said that, comparing countries alone does not suffice, since immigrant economic incorporation is the product of a multitude of factors at various levels. It can be argued that the city is a far better unit of analysis. The city represents a level of research that enables both contextual specificity and structural comparisons that allow for the fact that immigrant integration might be influenced simultaneously by local, national and transnational factors. Insights based on this approach may serve as a departure for policy interventions.

In this two session workshop, we intend to discuss the results of an active international comparison in this field of study and assess their practicability in local policy making. The paper presenters have embarked on a 4-city comparison of immigrants from minority backgrounds in the restaurant sector. The world cities included are Vancouver, Sydney, Amsterdam and Antwerp. In order to facilitate comparison, the researchers have targeted one group-the Chinese-that are present in the food sector in all the cities, and focus in these basic orientations: i) the strategic interaction between the immigrants' ethnic and class characteristics-their resources in particular-and the opportunity structure of restaurant ventures in the four cities. ii) the impacts of 'ethnic food' in the four cities, especially with regard to the potential for cities to use these places as examples of diversity, and as potential resources for tourism.

The goals of the workshop are: i) to stimulate discussion about the opportunities of immigrant entrepreneurs in the restaurant trade, the determinants of their business ventures, and the impact of these activities on their incorporation in the wider society and the potential for marketing ethnic diversity in the city; ii) to identify key policy issues that affect these processes; iii) to develop an international network of people interested in these issues. We envisage a two-session workshop.

 

STRUCTURE

In the first session, researchers briefly summarize the findings of their ongoing work, to be followed by statements by a local policy maker on the involvement of the local government in the development of the restaurant trade, and a statement by Li Ping Lin from an association of Chinese restaurant holders. We anticipate including the following presentations:

§         Prof Jock Collins, Associate Professor of Economics, School of Finance and Economics, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia;

§         Prof Daniel Hiebert, Associate Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia, and RIIM Metropolis Centre, Vancouver, Canada;

§         Hans Maas, Rotterdam 2001 Cultural Capital of Europe, and co-organizer of Rotterdam 2001 World Tastes.

§         Dr Ching Lin Pang, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium;

§         Dr Jan Rath, Associate Professor, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands;

§         Li Ping Lin, a representative from the Chinese Restaurants Section of the Royal Dutch Association of Restaurants (Koninklijke Horeca Nederland), The Netherlands;

Discussant:

§         Drs Aggie Augenbroe, City of Amsterdam, Department of Economic Affairs, The Netherlands

The second session will consist of an excursion to Rotterdam Chinatown, i.e. the area around the head of the West Kruiskade various Chinese entrepreneurs have gravitated to. Special attention will be given to the restaurant sector. The guide will be Mr. K.W. Choy, owner of Hotel and Original Chinese Restaurant King's Garden in this area and secretary of the Association of Chinese Businessmen in Rotterdam.

The two sessions should be held in succession on one and the same afternoon, so that participants get a broad vista of both theoretical and practical aspects of the problematic.

Furthermore, in order to enable participants interested in entrepreneurialism to take part in every relevant session, it is recommended that this two-session workshop is not scheduled simultaneously with other sessions on the subject.