Doctoral Dissertation Research: Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Business Networks

移民企业家如何建立和维护他们的商业网络，特别是在他们的种族和移民社区之外？这些网络形成过程——以及由此产生的网络结构——在多大程度上根据企业家的法律地位而有所不同？该项目研究参与者如何将经济关系嵌入社会结构。将社会网络分析的方法和理论应用于移民创业。具体地说，将结合民族志和定量网络数据来研究网络形成的过程和在加利福尼亚州旧金山生活和工作的来自墨西哥Yucatán州的移民企业家的商业网络。根据尤卡坦当地政府的评估，1995年至2008年间，约有10,000名来自该社区的移民移居到旧金山湾区，还有大量来自其他社区的尤卡坦人居住在旧金山或旧金山周边地区。尤卡坦人拥有的企业存在于这些社区，对尤卡坦食品和商品的需求也催生了新兴的企业企业家。这项研究将在一年的时间里调查Youctecan餐厅老板的六个商业网络。主要的假设是，新移民企业家倾向于积极地融入接收他们的社会的经济和社会结构。更广泛的影响。本研究为移民社区融入接收社会的经济生活以及政府政策在微观经济活动中的作用提供了新的实证视角。项目结果将帮助我们了解身份明确的移民企业如何在不同种族背景和国籍的群体之间建立社会和经济联系。

SES-1021894David FitzgeraldLeah Muse-OrlinoffUniversity of California-San DiegoHow do immigrant entrepreneurs build and maintain their business networks, particularly outside of their ethnic and migrant communities? To what extent do these network formation processes--and the resulting network structures-- differ according to the legal status of the entrepreneur? This project studies how actors embed economic relationships in social structures. The methodologies and theories of social network analysis are applied to immigrant entrepreneurship. Specifically, a combination of ethnographic and quantitative network data will be used to study the process of network formation and the business networks of immigrant entrepreneurs from the Mexican state of Yucatán who live and work in San Francisco, California. According to Yucatecan local government assessments approximately 10,000 migrants from that community migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area between 1995 and 2008 and significant numbers of Yucatecans from other communities reside in or around San Francisco. Yucatecan-owned businesses exist in these neighborhoods and the demand for Yucatecan foods and goods while new has created nascent businesses entrepreneurs. This study will examine six-business networks of Youctecan restaurant owners over a one year period. The major hypothesis is that new immigrant entrepreneurs tend to actively embed themselves into the economic and social fabric of their receiving society. Broader Impact. This study offers a new empirical perspective on the incorporation of immigrant communities into the economic life of receiving societies and the role of government policies in microeconomic activity. Project findings will help us to understand how identifies immigrant business enterprises create social and economic ties across groups from ethnic backgrounds and national origins.