Chinese Entrepreneurs in Europe and the United States: Studies in Informal Economies

Abstract

This chapter presents a review of Chinese immigrant-owned enterprise in order to examine the potential of enterprise as an agency for social integration. A related purpose is to consider the implications of participation by many of the entrepreneurs in informal economies. Many workers are faced with political systems which make it virtually impossible for them to migrate legally. Many entrepreneurs operate in local economies, systems of subcontracting and commodity chains underpinned by informality which structures economic behaviour and their relations with the institutional framework. The chapter suggests that informality is subtly linked to the dynamics of particular sectors, local economies and patterns of subcontracting. The conclusions point to ethnic adaptation and integration in local markets and informal economies as the visible end product of a process of informalisation, driven substantially by economic restructuring rather than by attributes associated with any particular ethnic group.