Towards Exploring New Chinese Migrant Businesses in Auckland, New Zealand: A Multi-Method Research
DOI:
Keywords:
china, ethnic entrepreneurship, new Chinese migrant businesses, New Zealand, transnational migrant entrepreneurship, transnational migrationAbstract
With three decades of embracing a neoliberal immigration policy in New Zealand, the number of the China-born new migrants has grown significantly in the country. Consequently, businesses run by these new Chinese migrants have contributed significantly to the country’s economy and are an integral part of the country’s urban economic landscape. However, research on their entrepreneurship remains limited. This research aims to use multiple methods to examine the entrepreneurial activities of this group of migrants in Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on business types, industry sectors, and factors that drive their business choices from the macro, meso, and micro perspectives. Data from Skykiwi Orange Page, Chinese Herald, and interviews with 29 new Chinese migrant business owners reveals concentrations in Retail Trade, Professional Services, and Construction, influenced by personal interests, market demand, and experience.
References
R. Bedford, E. Ho, J. Lidgard (2001) Immigration policy and New Zealand's development into the 21st century: Review and speculation. 10(3–4), 585–616. https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968010100031
T. Cain, P. Spoonley (2013) Making it work: The mixed embeddedness of immigrant entrepreneurs in New Zealand. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2250331
P. Casson (2004) Chinese management practices in the New Zealand context: The social behaviour of individuals in business outside one's own cultural environment. 9(2), 121-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/1094166042000233667
C. Chan (2008) Border crossing: Work-life balance issues with Chinese entrepreneurs in New Zealand.
J. B. L. Chan, Y. Cheung (1985) Ethnic resources and business enterprise: A study of Chinese businesses in Toronto. 44(2), 142–154. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.44.2.p488821t2362q17u
J. Chen, R. J. McQueen (2008) Factors affecting e-commerce stages of growth in small Chinese firms in New Zealand: An analysis of adoption motivators and inhibitors. 16(1), 26–60. https://doi.org/10.4018/jgim.2008010102
C. Duan, B. Kotey, K. Sandhu (2023) A systematic literature review of determinants of immigrant entrepreneurship motivations. 35(4), 599–631. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2021.1997490
M. I. W. Friesen (2001) The New Chinese Community in New Zealand: Local Outcomes of Transnationalism. 10(2), 213-240. https://doi.org/10.1177/011719680101000201
N. Glick-Schiller, L. Basch, C. Szanton Blanc (1995) From immigrant to transmigrant: Theorizing transnational migration. 68(1), 48–63. https://doi.org/10.2307/3317464
S. J. Gold, I. Light (2000) Ethnic economies and social policy. 165–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-786X(00)80039-7
N. Hamilton-Hart, A. Fiedler, B. Fath (2017) Asian investment in New Zealand.
S. Henn (2012) Transnational entrepreneurs, global pipelines and shifting production patterns: The example of the Palanpuris in the diamond sector. 43(3), 497–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.10.009
T. Jones, M. Ram, P. Edwards, A. Kiselinchev, L. Muchenje (2014) Mixed embeddedness and new migrant enterprise in the UK. 26(5–6), 500–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2014.95069
R. Kloosterman, J. Rath (2010) Shifting landscapes of immigrant entrepreneurship. 101–123. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264095830-en
P. Landolt (2001) Salvadoran economic transnationalism: Embedded strategies for household maintenance, immigrant incorporation and entrepreneurial expansion. 1(3), 217–242. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0374.00014
P. Landolt (2005) Transnational migration and the shifting boundaries of profit and poverty in Central America. 111–134.
I. Light, E. Bonacich (1988) Immigrant entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles, 1965–1982. https://doi.org/10.2307/2058495
I. Light, S. J. Gold (2000) Ethnic economies.
X. Lin, M. Zhou (2022) Chinese entrepreneurship in a globalized world: Place, space and mobilities. 34(4), 357–362. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2021.199910
L. S. Liu (2018) Chinese transnational migration in the age of global modernity: The case of Oceania. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315438535
S. Liu, E. Louw (2009) Cultural translation and identity performance: A case of Chinese business people in Australia. 1–9.
L. S. Liu, G. J. Ran (2022) New Chinese immigrants in New Zealand: Floating families?. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003168218
L. S. Liu, R. Didham, X. Wu, Z. Wang (2022) The making of an ethnoburb: Studying sub-ethnicities of the China-born new immigrants in Albany, New Zealand. 56(2), 426–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-021-09672-2
E. Masurel, P. Nijkamp, G. Vindigni (2004) Breeding places for ethnic entrepreneurs: A comparative marketing approach. 16(1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/0898562042000205045
C. Meares, T. Cain, P. Spoonley (2011) Bamboo networks: Chinese business owners and co-ethnic networks in Auckland, New Zealand. 7(2), 258–269. https://doi.org/10.1163/179325411X595431
P. G. Min (1990) Problems of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs. 24(3), 436–455. https://doi.org/10.1177/019791839002400301
M. Nawojczyk, M. Nowicka (2018) Transnational migration and entrepreneurial activities of migrants: Introduction. 44(3), 169–182. https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972
(2019) Defining small business. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/business/support-for-business/small-business/
N. North, A. Trlin (2004) Immigrants in businesses: A study of self-employed immigrants and their businesses in New Zealand.
M. Nowicka (2013) Positioning strategies of Polish entrepreneurs in Germany: Transnationalizing Bourdieu's notion of capital. 28(1), 29–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580912468919
S. Perry, L. Wang, T. Hernandez (2020) The changing spatial organisation of ethnic retailing: Chinese and South Asian grocery retailers in Toronto. 6(4), 287–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/23754931.2020.176383
A. Portes, M. Zhou (1992) Gaining the upper hand: Economic mobility among immigrant and domestic minorities. 15(4), 491–522. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.1992.999376
A. Portes, M. Zhou (1996) Self-employment and the earnings of immigrants. 61(2), 219–230. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096332
A. Portes, L. E. Guarnizo, W. J. Haller (2002) Transnational entrepreneurs: An alternative form of immigrant economic adaptation. 67(2), 278–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240206700206
A. Portes, L. E. Guarnizo, P. Landolt (1999) The study of transnationalism: Pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field. 22(2), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329468
M. M. Rahman, A. A. H. Alshawi, M. Hasan (2021) Entrepreneurship in ethnic enterprises: The making of new immigrant businesses in New York. 13(20), 11183. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011183
L. Sandoz, C. Mittmasser, Y. Riaño, E. Piguet (2022) A review of transnational migrant entrepreneurship: Perspectives on unequal spatialities. 66(3), 137–150. https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2021-0004
S. Sassen (2001) Global cities and developmentalist states: How to derail what could be an interesting debate: A response to Hill and Kim. 38(13), 2537–2540. https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980120094650
N. Sinkovics, A. R. Reuber (2021) Beyond disciplinary silos: A systematic analysis of the migrant entrepreneurship literature. 56(4), Article 101223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2021.101223
G. Solano (2019) The mixed embeddedness of transnational migrant entrepreneurs: Moroccans in Amsterdam and Milan. https://doi-org.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/10.4324/9781003195344
P. Spoonley, C. Meares (2011) Laissez-faire multiculturalism and relational embeddedness: Ethnic precincts in Auckland. 3(1), 42–64.
(2018) Chinese ethnic group. https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-ethnic-group-summaries/chinese/
(2022) Business operations survey: 2022. https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/business-operations-survey-2022/
R. Waldinger (1986) Through the eye of the needle: Immigrants and enterprise in New York's garment trades.
R. Waldinger (1995) The “other side” of embeddedness: A case-study of the interplay of economy and ethnicity. 555–580. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.1995.9993879
R. Waldinger, H. Aldrich, R. Ward (1990) Opportunities, group characteristics and strategies. 13–48. https://doi.org/10.2307/2072935
S. Wang (2014) China's New Retail Economy: A Geographic Perspective. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315817163
Y. Wang, J. Warn (2018) Chinese immigrant entrepreneurship: Embeddedness and the interaction of resources with the wider social and economic context. 36(2), 131–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242617726364
N. Watts, A. Trlin (1999) Cultural resources of immigrants and international business in New Zealand. 25(1/2), 119–132.
N. Watts, A. Trlin (2000) Access and equity issues in employment and service provision for NESB immigrants in New Zealand public sector organizations. 1(3), 331–350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-000-1017-1
K. Xu, J. Drennan, S. Mathews (2019) Immigrant entrepreneurs and their cross-cultural capabilities: A study of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia. 520–557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-019-00261-4
J. Xue, W. Friesen, D. O'Sullivan (2012) Diversity in Chinese Auckland: Hypothesising multiple ethnoburbs. 18(5), 579–595. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.688
S. Yamamura, P. Lassalle (2022) Extending mixed embeddedness to a multidimensional concept of transnational entrepreneurship. 10, Article 45. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00288-y
T. You, M. Zhou (2019) Simultaneous embeddedness in immigrant entrepreneurship: Global forces behind Chinese-owned nail salons in New York City. 63(2), 166–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218793684
Q. Zhang (2020) 澳大利亚早期华人商业的兴起及其经营活动评析(1850-1901)[Early Chinese business establishment and development in Australia]. 4, 89-167.
M. Zhou (2004) Revisiting ethnic entrepreneurship: Convergencies, controversies and conceptual advancements. 38(3), 1040–1074. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00228.x
M. Zhou, H. Liu (2017) Immigrant entrepreneurship and diasporic development: The case of new Chinese migrants in the USA. 403–423. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5595-9_18
M. Zhou (2021) Family, gender, ethnicity, and pragmatism in contemporary diasporic Chinese entrepreneurship: An introduction to the special issue. 17(2), 225-238. https://doi.org/10.1163/17932548-12341443
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Authors and Global Journals Private Limited
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
