Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs [Hardcover]

Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs draws extensively on the narratives of sixteen small-to-medium business owners, born on the mainland, who have immigrated to Hong Kong and returned to their ancestral hometowns in China to establish their enterprises. For these executives, business and social life alike are marked by constant interplay of identities, such as individual identity/group membership and ancestral/immigrant identity. Yet as often as this juggling of multiple selves can be beneficial in the economic sphere, it can also lead to feelings of rootlessness and alienation. Writing with rare sensitivity, the two authors synthesize insights from economic sociology, psychology, ethnic relations, emotions, and social networks, creating an exploration of social capital and social identity comparable to similar groups of businessmen and women in other parts of the world.

This book draws on the narratives of small-to-medium business owners, born on the Chinese mainland, who have immigrated to Hong Kong and then returned to their homes to establish their enterprises. The book highlights critical issues in migrant economics.

Shuttling Nomads in Mobile Times.-Research Methodology.-Identity, Interpersonal Networking, and Enterprise Management.-Seven Vignettes.-The Spatial Triangulation of Immigrant Entrepreneurship.-Association: Mediating Self-Identities.-The Double-Edged Sword: Mobility and Entrepreneurship.-Conclusion

From nomadic traders in the ancient world to peddlers on the American frontier, the immigrant entrepreneur is a timeless figure. In our current age of globalization and multinational corporations, however, this experience is complicated by patterns of adaptation and transformation,relocation and re-invention.

Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs draws extensively on the narratives of sixteensmall-to-medium business owners, born on the mainland, who have immigrated to l³S