The business practices of small Chinese restaurants in the UK: an exploratory investigation

Abstract

᭹Owner-managers of Chinese restaurants in the UK have a need to continually monitor their business practices to obtain an advantageous position in a competitive business environment.᭹ Specific attention to elements of the 'marketing mix' -product, place, price and promotion -is likely to positively benefit many owner-managed businesses. ᭹ Hiring and training of appropriate staff members is important in order to offer enhanced customer service. Summary This paper considers the importance of cultural factors within ethnic minority-owned firms' business practices and provides a contribution to the growing body of knowledge at the marketing-entrepreneurship interface. Specifically, it reports on an empirical investigation into the business practices of a sample of Chinese-owned restaurants operating in the UK.The findings from ten in-depth personal interviews provide an insight into the practices of these businesses. The results indicate that particular cultural issues balanced against resource constraints had a major impact on owner-managers' operations.

A Preliminary Study of Barriers to Bank Financing of Ethnic Chinese Entrepreneurs in the UK

“…Similar evidence of discrimination was also found in the UK (Fraser, 2009) [21]. In the UK, most ethnic Chinese businesses relied on personal savings to fund the business start-up (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004) [9]. Typically, savings had arisen from work in other catering businesses (such as takeaways and restaurants) prior to starting their own business venture.…”

“…Ethnic Chinese business have also utilized community ties (e.g., borrowing from other Chinese and particularly fellow people from the same hometown). The use of community ties could help avoid interest rates charged by commercial institutions such as banks (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004) [9]. As revealed by Chaudhry and Crick (2004) [9], the Chinese community network was widely utilized among Chinese entrepreneurs to overcome the perceived barrier of discrimination and high interest from the banking institutions at the start-up phase.…”

“…Ma et al (2013, p. 47) [8] document that "the past research on ethnic entrepreneurship has largely focused on the change in social and economic status of ethnic entrepreneurs as well as the socioeconomic factors that may affect ethnic entrepreneurial activities, reflecting the struggling process for ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurs as an underrepresented group to seek for survival in the new lands". However, the review of the literature reveals that from a UK perspective few data exist on the Chinese business community (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004) [9]. This study aims to make a contribution by investigating ethnic Chinese business access to bank financing in the UK.…”

Ethnic Diasporas and Business Competitiveness: Minority-Owned Enterprises in London

“…McEwan et al (2005) stress the importance for Indian and Chinese business owners in Birmingham's ethnic food and Bhangra music industries of import/export linkages with countries of origin. For other authors, the emphasis is on local, diaspora-based linkages; Chaudhry and Crick (2004), for instance, found that Chinese restaurateurs draw on the local diaspora to supply labour and finance. Co-ethnic employees were willing to work long hours for low pay and presented no language barriers.…”

Evaluation of Knowledge Transfer Practices From a Leibniz Perspective

“…Other authors identify key aspects which need to be considered. (Chaudhry & Crick, 2004) for example looked at the restaurant sector to identify which strategic element of culture could help the development of the business. Although they did identify the need for continual monitoring of the new business , they did not identify any parts of the start-up which merited specific attention.…”