Download or read book Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Inner-city Minority Neighborhoods written by Wook-Jin Kim and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study takes a community development perspective to investigate immigrant entrepreneurship in inner-city minority neighborhoods. More specifically, it examines the relationship between resource utilization and departure from inner-city minority neighborhoods from the perspective of market segmentation theory and its variant in the immigration literature. The purpose of the research is to explore how differences in resource utilization under different market conditions produce contrasting location patterns among immigrant businesses. Three strands of literature have relevance to the present inquiry: (1) literature on inner-city business development; (2) literature on ethnic enclave economies; and (3) literature on the resource utilization of immigrant businesses. According to the literature review, two variables that can explain a firm's location pattern have emerged: types of resources (i.e., ethnic and class resources) and types of market surrounding a firm (i.e., primary market, secondary market, and ethnic enclave economy). The study's three hypotheses seek to adjudicate between the competing explanations of immigrant firm location in, and departure from, inner-city minority neighborhoods put forth in these literatures: (H1) The greater the reliance on class resources, the more likely the business owner leaves inner-city minority neighborhoods; (H2) The greater the reliance on class resources, the more likely the business owner stays in inner-city minority neighborhoods; and (H3) Given an ethnic enclave on the outside and the greater the reliance on ethnic resources, the more likely the business owner leaves inner-city minority neighborhoods. Data for the hypothesis testing come from a survey of 132 Korean immigrant business owners in the Chicago area. Results of data analysis reveal that the greater the reliance on class resources, the more likely a business owner is to stay in inner-city minority neighborhoods and the less likely s/he is to leave those areas. This supports H2 but not H1. Results also reveal that although an ethnic enclave does not exist on the outside, as long as substitutes for an ethnic enclave in the larger ethnic economy can serve as an inducement, the more likely a business owner who more greatly relies upon ethnic resources is to leave inner-city minority neighborhoods. H3 is therefore partially supported. Evidence in support of H2 and against H1 suggests that immigrant-owned inner-city firms are growing into large, highly profitable, and advanced-stage firms that primarily utilize class resources and have the competitiveness to survive in the primary market. In contrast, evidence in support of H3 suggests that small, inexperienced, and less-advanced firms that lack such resources are being forced into markets outside of inner-city areas, where a heavy reliance on ethnic resources is better rewarded, such as enclave economies or protected niche markets wherein coethnic owners have carved out and established ethnic business niches. In terms of public policy, the finding has several important implications for economic development and advocacy planners who are concerned with revitalizing the inner-city economy through the development of locally based small businesses. Most importantly, programs and policies that help small business owners acquire class resources through ongoing entrepreneurial training, lending and technical support should be given priority and carried out on a larger scale.