Immigrant Small Business and International Economic Linkage: A Case of the Korean Wig Business in Los Angeles, 1968–1977

Abstract

This article investigates factors that have contributed to the growth of the import-export business among Asian immigrants. The central argument is that the development of Asian immigrants’ import-export business has been closely related to the increasing economic linkages between Asian countries and their countrymen in the United States. Such economic linkages are a product of the global economic restructuring whereby some developing countries of Asia have become major exporters of low cost/low price consumer goods to the United States. The Korean immigrants’ wig business in Los Angeles is studied as a case of contemporary import-export trade among Asian immigrants, with major findings summarized as follows: first, the increased reliance of the United States on imported goods by the 1970s led to a rapid growth of the export-oriented industry in South Korea; second, wigs became the major export item of South Korea due to its cheap labor force and government-aid loans to the wig industry, third, a strong vertical integration developed between Korean wig manufacturers in South Korea and Korean importers, wholesalers, and retailers in the United States – that integration provided Korean immigrants with initial business opportunities in the U.S. economy, particularly in the low-income minority areas.

Sampling Minority Business Owners and Their Families: The Understudied Entrepreneurial Experience

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Revisiting Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Convergencies, Controversies, and Conceptual Advancements

“…In the United States, the emerging literature on the relationship between transnationalism and entrepreneurship has come primarily from eth-nographic case studies, with the exception of a few small-scale surveys (Grasmuck and Pessar, 1991;Portes and Guarnizo, 1991;Mahler, 1995;Chin et al, 1996;Durand et al, 1996;Gold, 1997Gold, ,2001Guarnizo, 1997;Li, 1997;Guarnizo and Smith, 1998;Itzigsohn etal., 1999;Kyle, 1999;Landolt etal., 1999;Landolt, 2001;Levitt, 2001;Light et al, 2002;Portes et al, 2002;Tseng 1995Tseng , 1997Yoon, 1995). These case studies have covered a wide variety of transnational entrepreneurship.…”

A Study of Locational Distribution of Small and Large Ethnic Businesses in a Multiethnic City: Chinese in Toronto, Canada

“…Ethnic businesses are no longer small in size, especially among new immigrant groups. Contrary to their traditional image as small family businesses, a new image is emerging of large ethnic-owned and -operated corporations that hire sizeable numbers of employees (Chin, Yoon, and Smith 1996;Li 1998;Light and Gold 2000).The growing diversity in size of ethnic businesses partly reflects changes in Canadian and U.S. immigration policies of the last few decades, which have attracted immigrants with financial capital and business experience to major North American cities. The growing diversity in size of ethnic businesses is also related to the steady growth of foreign investment in recent decades due to the economic globalization of international trade.…”