
What's new?
Submissions for LMD 14 (2013) are now being accepted. Researchers wishing to submit should follow the submission guidelines on this site.
In an exciting development the editors of the special edition of Labour and Management in Development on Indonesian labour relations (Vol 9. 2008) have been in negotiations with NUS press regarding re-publishing the special edition in book form. The papers have now been reviewed and revisions are currently underway.
We are also planning a special edition on Immigrant Business. The Guest Editors' call for papers is below:
CALL FOR PAPERS
In 1995, a landmark study of immigrant1 or ethnic small businesses in Australia, A Shop Full of Dreams: Ethnic Small Business in Australia (1995) found that, compared to the Australian born, minority immigrant groups were over represented in small business activity. Similarly, international studies find that small business is an important factor in the economic advancement of immigrants (Sanders and Nee 1996) and that immigrants tend to be higher represented amongst the self-employed than those born in the host society (OECD 2010; Wayland 2011). More recently, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that of the 1.1 million other business operators2 in Australia, 28% were born overseas and both the construction and retail sectors have a larger proportion of migrant owned businesses than Australian born (13 and 14 percent respectively) (ABS 2008; ABS 2010). However, scholars have attempted to explain the preponderance of migrants in small business through the development of a number of theoretical frameworks, which draw on both push and pull factors for a causal explanation, including Bonacich’s (1973) middleman minority theory, Sanders and Nee’s (1996) family as social capital theory, as well as theories which examine labour market restrictions, due to race based policies such as the White Australia policy (Monsour 2010), or structural changes in the national and global economy towards skilled labour and the subsequent development of immigrant networks and niche markets (Hyndman-Rizk 2011). As Collins et al (1995:7) point out, however, government may hope that the problems of restructuring and unemployment will be solved by immigrant self- employment, but is small business a dream or a nightmare? While immigrant business can lead to entrepreneurial freedom and upward mobility from rags to riches, it also can be a nightmare of long working hours, women working unpaid in the family business and high rates of business failure. 3
Given the continuing density of migrants in small business, in this special edition of Labour and Management in Development (LMD) http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/lmd, the guest editors, Dr. Nelia Hyndman-Rizk and Dr. Anne Monsour, will bring together a series of scholarly papers which explore the question: is immigrant business a choice or a necessity? We invite scholarly papers which consider the following themes:
Why do immigrants go into business: labour market restrictions; blocked or limited opportunities or a voluntary choice?
Which immigrants are more likely to go into business? Has this changed over time? What factors influence entrepreneurship among immigrants? Language, class, gender, education, employment and immigration policy, pre migration experiences, access to start up capital etc.
What factors lead towards self-employment rather than paid employment? Is self- employment a positive choice?
Second generation succession in immigrant family businesses.
Date of publication: December 2013
Please send your proposed title and abstract by May 1st 2013 to: Dr. Nelia Hyndman-Rizk
Lecturer in Research Methods
School of Business, UNSW Canberra n.hyndman-rizk@adfa.edu.au
Completed papers due: August 1st 2013:
Final inclusion in the journal will be subject to peer review
REFERENCES
1 The term immigrant rather than ethnic will be used in this special edition and the focus will be on culturally and
2 Other business operators are defined as people who operate their own business, with or without employees, but who are not operating as independent contractors.
3 Approximately 80% of businesses fail (Collins et al: 7).
ABS (2008). 6359.0 - Forms of Employment, Australia, ABS.
ABS (2010). 3416.0 - Perspectives on Migrants. Canberra, ABS.
Bonacich, E. (1973). "A Theory of Middleman Minorities." American Sociological Review 38: 583-594.
Hyndman-Rizk, N. (2011). My Mother's Table: At Home in the Maronite Diaspora, a study of migration from Hadchit North Lebanon to Australia and America. Newcastle, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Jock Collins, Katherine Gibson, et al. (1995). A Shop Full of Dreams: Ethnic Small Business in Australia Sydney, Pluto Press.
Monsour, A. (2010). Not Quite White: Lebanese and the White Australia Policy 1880-1947. Brisbane, Post Pressed.
OECD (2010). Entrepreneurship and Migrants. OECD, OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship. Sanders, J. M. and V. Nee (1996). "Immigrant Self-Employment: The Family as Social Capital and the Value of
Human Capital." American Sociological Review 61(April): 231-249.
Wayland, S. (2011). Immigrant Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship in the GTA: Literature, Data and Program Review. Toronto, Metcalf Foundation www.metcalfoundation.com.