This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach to the issue of “local liabilities”, drawing on close analysis of the case of Chinese migrants and the Italian industrial district of Prato in order to elucidate the problems, or liabilities, that derive from the separation between natives and immigrants in local systems of people and firms. Insights are offered from a variety of disciplines, including business and industrial economics, anthropology, and sociology, thereby providing a framework through which to view the problems and also identifying potential pathways for their evolution and resolution. The focus on local liabilities affords an original perspective on the nature of globalization and highlights salient aspects of native and immigrant entrepreneurship. Globalization not only creates "bridges" between distant places but also changes the face of businesses and socioeconomic systems at the local level, where local liabilities may emerge when two or more separate communities (of persons and firms) exist. The greater the separation between the communities, the greater the local liabilities. In offering diverse perspectives on this relatively neglected aspect of globalization, the book will be of interest to a wide readership.
Introduction.- Liabilities of native and immigrant entrepreneurship in
the process of globalization.- Chinese immigration to Italy and economic
relations with the homeland: A multiscalar perspective.- A social accounting
matrix for Prato: Interrelating the Chinese migrant community and the
provincial economy.- Ethnography of the fast fashion community: Chinese
entrepreneurs in Prato.- Italian-schooled Chinese migrant youth in Prato: The
liability of outsidership and social identity formation.- Smartphones and
outsidership in Pratos small business community.- Liabilities of foreignness
and of outsidership in the evolution of immigrant Chinese
entrepreneurship.- Liabilities in the Pratos industrial district: An
analysis of Italian and Chinese firm failures.- The mechanism of sustained
immigrant entrepreneurship: Wenzhounese immigrants in Italy.- Understanding
Chinese immigrants in Pratos industrial district: Benefits to local
entrepreneurs.- Concluding remarks: The benefits of overcoming local
liabilities.
Simone Guercini is a Professor of Management at the University of Florence and visiting professor at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business. His research interests include business marketing, heuristics in business, entrepreneurship in communities, and internationalization, with a special focus on the Italian fashion industry. Simone received his PhD in economics from SantAnna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa. Gabi Dei Ottati is a Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Florence and a member of the European Research Centre on Regional and Local Development. Her main research interests include industrial organization and economic development, with a special focus on Italy and industrial districts. Having collaborated for many years with Giacomo Becattini, the revitalizer of the Marshallian industrial district concept, she is part of the Florence school of local development. Loretta Baldassar is a Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Western Australia, and Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University. Her research interests focus on transnational migrants, families, and caregiving, including the question of generations. Loretta received her PhD from the University of Western Australia. Graeme Johanson is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Monash University. His research interests include social informatics, virtual communities, and e-democracy, with a focus on migration and transnationalism. Graeme received his PhD in economics from Monash University.
