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Ethnic Minority Enterprise in its Urban Context: South Asian Restuarants in Birmingham

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  • Monder Ram
  • Trevor Jones
  • Tahir Abbas
  • Balihar Sanghera

Abstract

The embeddedness of ethnic minority business activity is widely accepted, as researchers increasingly eschew ethno‐culturalist explanations of the phenomenon. However, despite the importance of urban processes, studies of ethnic minority enterprise are often ‘spaceless’. This article uses Rekers and van Kempen’s urban spatial framework to assess the experiences of South Asian owners in Birmingham’s restaurant industry. One taken‐for‐granted but evidently important element to which this article draws attention is location, which emerges as one of the key points of differentiation within the ethnic business community. Location is seen to influence individual access to market potential, an unevenly distributed resource largely shaped by local social geography. At the same time, entry into more lucrative market niches is heavily dependent on the possession of other resources such as capital, information and in some instances management skills. Si l’intégration d’entreprises créées par des minorités ethniques est largement admise, les chercheurs évitent de plus en plus les explications ethno‐culturalistes du phénomène. Par ailleurs, malgré l’importance des processus urbains, les études sur ces entreprises n’ont souvent pas de ‘bornes’. Cet article utilise le cadre spatial urbain de Rekers et van Kempen pour évaluer les expériences de propriétaires de restaurants sud‐asiatiques à Birmingham. Il attire l’attention sur une composante normale, quoique manifestement importante: le lieu. Celui‐ci apparaît comme l’un des points de différenciation essentiels au sein de la communautééconomique ethnique. Il influence l’accès individuel au marché potentiel, ressource inégalement répartie et largement configurée par la géographie sociale locale. Parallèlement, une pénétration de niches de marché plus lucratives dépend considérablement de la détention d’autres ressources, telles qu’un capital, des informations et, dans certains cas, des compétences de dirigeant.

Suggested Citation

  • Monder Ram & Trevor Jones & Tahir Abbas & Balihar Sanghera, 2002. "Ethnic Minority Enterprise in its Urban Context: South Asian Restuarants in Birmingham," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 24-40, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:26:y:2002:i:1:p:24-40
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.00361
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    Cited by:

    1. David McEvoy & Khalid Hafeez, 2009. "Ethnic enclaves or middleman minority? Regional patterns of ethnic minority entrepreneurship in Britain," International Journal of Business and Globalisation, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 94-110.
    2. Abbi M Kedir & Meryem Duygun Fethi & Colin C Williams, 2011. "Evaluating tax evasion in the European Union: a case study of the prevalence and character of ‘envelope wage’ payments," Discussion Papers in Economics 11/33, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised Jun 2011.
    3. Colin. C. Williams, 2008. "Illegitimate wage practices in Eastern Europe: - The case of 'envelope wages'," Journal of East European Management Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 13(3), pages 253-270.
    4. Williams Colin, 2009. "Evaluating the Extent and Nature of ‘Envelope Wages’ in the European Union: A Geographical Analysis," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 115-129, June.
    5. Tüzin Baycan-Levent & Peter Nijkamp, 2010. "Migrant Entrepreneurship in a Diverse Europe: In Search of Sustainable Development," Chapters, in: Maddy Janssens & Myriam Bechtoldt & Arie de Ruijter & Dino Pinello & Giovanni Prarolo & Vanja M.K. S (ed.), The Sustainability of Cultural Diversity, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Charlotte Räuchle & Henning Nuissl, 2019. "Migrant Economies Beyond Metropolitan Cities: A Context‐Sensitive Case Study," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 110(5), pages 538-552, December.
    7. Pascal Beckers & Robert C. Kloosterman, 2014. "Open to Business? An Exploration of the Impact of the Built Environment and Zoning Plans on Local Businesses in Pre-war and Post-war Residential Neighbourhoods in Dutch Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(1), pages 153-169, January.
    8. Masurel, E., 2008. "Local shopkeepers’ associations and ethnic minority entrepreneurs," Serie Research Memoranda 0016, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    9. Colin C. Williams, 2006. "Harnessing the Hidden Enterprise Culture: the Street UK Community Development Finance Initiative," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 21(1), pages 13-24, February.
    10. Trevor Jones & Monder Ram & Nick Theodorakopoulos, 2010. "Transnationalism as a Force for Ethnic Minority Enterprise? The Case of Somalis in Leicester," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 565-585, September.
    11. Trevor Jones & Monder Ram & Paul Edwards & Alexander Kiselinchev & Lovemore Muchenje, 2012. "New Migrant Enterprise: Novelty or Historical Continuity?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(14), pages 3159-3176, November.
    12. Eric Fong & Jing Shen, 2011. "Explaining Ethnic Enclave, Ethnic Entrepreneurial and Employment Niches: A Case Study of Chinese in Canadian Immigrant Gateway Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(8), pages 1605-1633, June.
    13. Bryan Malki & Timur Uman & Daniel Pittino, 2022. "The entrepreneurial financing of the immigrant entrepreneurs: a literature review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1337-1365, March.
    14. Trevor Jones & Monder Ram, 2007. "Re-embedding the ethnic business agenda," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(3), pages 439-457, September.
    15. Colin C. Williams & John Round, 2007. "Beyond Negative Depictions of Informal Employment: Some Lessons from Moscow," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2321-2338, November.
    16. Catherine Harris & Dominique Moran & John R. Bryson, 2015. "Polish Labour Migration to the UK: Data Discrepancies, Migrant Distributions, and Indicators of Entrepreneurial Activity," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 196-217, June.
    17. Manchala Seema & Syed Sayf Ali, 2021. "A Study on Succession Planning, Prospective Successor Selection, Transfer of Idiosyncratic Firm Knowledge in Family Owned Businesses of Hyderabad," Shanlax International Journal of Management, Shanlax Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 8-16, July.
    18. Pascal Beckers & Robert Kloosterman, 2011. "Neighbourhood spatial order, social embeddedness and business prospects of native and ethnic entrepreneurs in the Netherlands," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1394, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Suzanne Hall & Julia King & Robin Finlay, 2017. "Migrant infrastructure: Transaction economies in Birmingham and Leicester, UK," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(6), pages 1311-1327, May.
    20. Hall, Suzanne M. & King, Julia & Finlay, Robin, 2017. "Migrant infrastructure: transaction economies in Birmingham and Leicester, UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65328, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. Pascal Beckers & Bart Sleutjes, 2014. "Neighbourhood Spatial Order, the Local Economy and Firm Mobility in Urban Areas of the Netherlands," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 2103-2122, November.

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