New article highlights the power of ethnic entrepreneurship

In the new article, “Noneconomic Effects of Ethnic Entrepreneurship: A Focused Look at the Chinese and Korean Enclave Economies in Los Angeles,” Min Zhou and Myungduk Cho aim to develop a conceptual framework from a community perspective to examine the noneconomic effects of ethnic entrepreneurship. They pay close attention to the linkage between entrepreneurship and community building using ethnographic data from comparative case studies of the Chinese and Korean enclave economies in Los Angeles. They argue that it is the social embeddedness of entrepreneurship, rather than individual entrepreneurs per se, that creates a unique social environment conducive to upward social mobility. This study suggests that ethnic entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in immigrant adaptation beyond observable economic gains. The analysis contributes to the literature on ethnic entrepreneurship by shifting the focal point from ultimate mobility outcomes—earnings or employment opportunities—to intermediate social processes—community building through the consolidation of ethnic social structures, the creation of ethnic social spaces, the return of the co-ethnic middle class, and social capital formation. In this respect, the enclave economy concept is superior for investigating specific social contexts and processes of group-level social mobility.

The piece appears in Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 52, No. 2, March/April 2010