Embedded Local Entrepreneurship: Social Capital, Power Brokers, and Small-Business Formation in New York City’s Chinatown

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 17: Urban Markets

Abstract

While entrepreneurship research has focused heavily on rare, high-growth “black swan” ventures, most firms are small- and medium-sized enterprises and are central to neighborhood economic vitality and social life. Building on work on “third places” and social capital, we conceptualize that business formation in local communities is not simply an individual decision but a relational and place-based process, structured by neighborhood-level networks of information, obligation, and gatekeeping. In this paper, we investigate small, storefront businesses in one of New York City’s most iconic immigrant commercial districts: Chinatown. Using a qualitative design that combines field observation and semistructured interviews with small business owners and managers, we examine the role of social capital and neighborhood embeddedness in how these brick-and-mortar businesses are initiated, operate, and navigate local power structures over time.

Authors

• Shiya Wang, Columbia Business School

• Mario Luis Small, Columbia University

• Dan Wang, Columbia University

• Jorge Guzman, Columbia Business School