Chinese entrepreneurs and workers at the crossroad: the role of social networks in ethnic industrial clusters in Italy

What is it about?

This paper aims to analyse the evolution of Chinese industrial ethnic sub-clusters in Italy, by focusing on the role of social networks and the processes behind the phenomenon of Chinese worker exploitation and entrepreneur ‘self-exploitation’. The case study is a sub-cluster of micro and small enterprises owned by Chinese entrepreneurs within the leather industrial district of Florence, Italy. This research adopts the following mixed methods. Migrant social capital and social networks play a central role in the evolution of the case study sub-cluster. The findings suggest a series of potential policies to upgrade the ethnic enterprises’ capacities, to increase their formality and inclusion in the Italian social and economic systems and sub-cluster. mario.biggeri@unifi.it

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