Business start-ups and development strategies of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia

Chinese immigrants represent one of the largest immigrant groups in Australia. In the last few decades, changes to Australian immigration policies have resulted in a somewhat heterogeneous mix of Chinese immigrants. Many have engaged in entrepreneurial activities after their arrival. However, a review of the literature indicates that there is only limited knowledge about how or why these businesses started. In particular, few studies have focused on the survival and ongoing success of these Chinese immigrant businesses.This research aims to identify key factors that influence the start up and ongoing success of Chinese immigrant businesses in Sydney and Canberra. A qualitative research method with in-depth interviews is employed. Interviews were conducted with 55 Chinese immigrant business owners in Sydney and Canberra. This research addresses the question, ‘How do Chinese immigrants start up businesses and locate themselves in a particular business area?’ The research identifies sets of ethnic resources (family, kin and in-group solidarity) and class resources (educational qualifications, language proficiency, previous work experience and start-up capital), and investigates the contribution of these resources to the decision to start up a business in a particular business area. The relative importance of these resources for the different cohorts of Chinese immigrants is investigated. With regard to ongoing success, this research addresses the question, ‘What factors contribute to the ongoing survival and success of Chinese immigrant businesses?’The qualitative analysis indicates that a combination of internal and external factors, including the ethnic resources of immigrants themselves, class resources, the economic context and changing Australian immigration policies all contributed to the entrepreneurial decisions of Chinese immigrants and their choice to enter either low- or high-skilled business areas. The research builds on the mixed embeddedness model in order to develop a useful framework for explaining Chinese immigrant business start-ups. This research indicates that for the ongoing success of low-skilled Chinese immigrant businesses, a break-out strategy was needed in order to target larger and more profitable mainstream markets. The break-out strategy depended on a range of business activities, including innovation, marketing, networking and personnel strategies. For high-skilled businesses, the accumulation of human capital and the expansion of social networks were critical for their ongoing success