Research Question 3. How do China-born immigrants in the GTA describe the process by which they decided to start their own businesses? Four themes emerged for this research question: (a) The decision to become self-employed was driven by personal interests; (b) The decision to turn into and start self-employed or entrepreneurship was driven by push or pull factor; (c) Immigrants with strong backgrounds was readily able to start their own businesses; and (d) The determination to become self-employed was driven by high local market demand.
Theme 1: The decision to become self-employed was driven by personal interests. Participant P4 owned a printing company. When he first arrived at the GTA in 2000, his English-language skills were insufficient, he experienced culture shock, and he had no Canadian job experience. Just like P1, P2, P7, P11, P14, and P17 who received no result from their career searching. Then P1 and P4 both worked in fast food restaurants as take-out deliverymen. P4 later worked at a Chinese transport company as a Canada-U.S. transport truck driver. He did not get any promotion for 4 years, and he detested the long distance driving. As P4 held a BSc degree in mechanical engineering, after hours, P4 found fascination with computer printing and began to experiment in his basement. He interested and specialized in Chinese business-card translation, photo business-card design, typesetting, and printing of business promotions and advertising. Similar personal interests and results were reported by entrepreneurial participants P1 (HAC); by P2 (real estate broker); by P7 (accounting); by P8 (dating services; by P13 (immigration); by P17 (mortgage); by P18 (supermarket), and P21 (hair design). In 2006, six years after P4 arrived in GTA, he became self-employed and opened his own computer printing business (push factor), which has succeeded through the present time. P4’s decision to become self-employed was driven by his personal interests in computer printing. Theme 2: The decision to turn into and start self-employed or entrepreneurship was driven by push or pull factor. From direct observations, five entrepreneurial participants (or 50%) out of ten, such as Participants of P1, P4, P7, P8, and P13 likely pushed into entrepreneurship due to lack of employment opportunities. They lived in Canada and had difficulty integrating into the Canadian job market and therefore turned to entrepreneurship as the only path open that could offer upward economic and social mobility. China-born entrepreneur immigrants recognized their choices for employments, earnings, and advancements were restricted in the established and old job market, they wanted to start their self-employment. P1, P4, P7, and P8 claimed employment problems and biases, along with inadequate language were the major elements in the causes that pushed them out of a further old career route. P1 claimed as an ethnic immigrant, he was mostly barred from major mainstream labor markets in GTA, and got no results, even he sent over hundreds of resumes. P1 …show more content…
In terms of achievements, Participant P4’s decision to become self-employed in business-card and promotion printing was driven by high local Chinese immigrant market demand in real estate and food industry. A high level of request and demand in the ethnic Chinese market due to an increasing Chinese immigrant population in the GTA. Similar results were reported by P11 who described the motivating factors for starting his moving businesses was because the strong demand in the growing of Mandarin and Cantonese immigrants in the GTA. For Participant P2’ real estate enterprise, as the numbers of Chinese immigrant growth, the markets and demands for Toronto real estate services were also increased. In addition, for years, prosperous Chinese investors from China have been investing billions dollars in local business buildings, hotels, industrial land and shopping malls, all these business activities enhanced local real estate market and service demand. Similar findings were also reported by entrepreneurial participants P1 (HAC), P7 (accounting), P8 (dating service), P13 (immigration), P17 (mortgage), and P21 (hair salon), as their businesses were mainly focused on local Chinese market in GTA. The values that P4 and P11, and other immigrant entrepreneurs brought to their new business activities relied primarily on resources, insights, familiarities, and job skills. In all, personal interests, strong work experience, and high level of demand in the local market were the key factors influencing participants to become
Theme 1: The decision to become self-employed was driven by personal interests. Participant P4 owned a printing company. When he first arrived at the GTA in 2000, his English-language skills were insufficient, he experienced culture shock, and he had no Canadian job experience. Just like P1, P2, P7, P11, P14, and P17 who received no result from their career searching. Then P1 and P4 both worked in fast food restaurants as take-out deliverymen. P4 later worked at a Chinese transport company as a Canada-U.S. transport truck driver. He did not get any promotion for 4 years, and he detested the long distance driving. As P4 held a BSc degree in mechanical engineering, after hours, P4 found fascination with computer printing and began to experiment in his basement. He interested and specialized in Chinese business-card translation, photo business-card design, typesetting, and printing of business promotions and advertising. Similar personal interests and results were reported by entrepreneurial participants P1 (HAC); by P2 (real estate broker); by P7 (accounting); by P8 (dating services; by P13 (immigration); by P17 (mortgage); by P18 (supermarket), and P21 (hair design). In 2006, six years after P4 arrived in GTA, he became self-employed and opened his own computer printing business (push factor), which has succeeded through the present time. P4’s decision to become self-employed was driven by his personal interests in computer printing. Theme 2: The decision to turn into and start self-employed or entrepreneurship was driven by push or pull factor. From direct observations, five entrepreneurial participants (or 50%) out of ten, such as Participants of P1, P4, P7, P8, and P13 likely pushed into entrepreneurship due to lack of employment opportunities. They lived in Canada and had difficulty integrating into the Canadian job market and therefore turned to entrepreneurship as the only path open that could offer upward economic and social mobility. China-born entrepreneur immigrants recognized their choices for employments, earnings, and advancements were restricted in the established and old job market, they wanted to start their self-employment. P1, P4, P7, and P8 claimed employment problems and biases, along with inadequate language were the major elements in the causes that pushed them out of a further old career route. P1 claimed as an ethnic immigrant, he was mostly barred from major mainstream labor markets in GTA, and got no results, even he sent over hundreds of resumes. P1 …show more content…
In terms of achievements, Participant P4’s decision to become self-employed in business-card and promotion printing was driven by high local Chinese immigrant market demand in real estate and food industry. A high level of request and demand in the ethnic Chinese market due to an increasing Chinese immigrant population in the GTA. Similar results were reported by P11 who described the motivating factors for starting his moving businesses was because the strong demand in the growing of Mandarin and Cantonese immigrants in the GTA. For Participant P2’ real estate enterprise, as the numbers of Chinese immigrant growth, the markets and demands for Toronto real estate services were also increased. In addition, for years, prosperous Chinese investors from China have been investing billions dollars in local business buildings, hotels, industrial land and shopping malls, all these business activities enhanced local real estate market and service demand. Similar findings were also reported by entrepreneurial participants P1 (HAC), P7 (accounting), P8 (dating service), P13 (immigration), P17 (mortgage), and P21 (hair salon), as their businesses were mainly focused on local Chinese market in GTA. The values that P4 and P11, and other immigrant entrepreneurs brought to their new business activities relied primarily on resources, insights, familiarities, and job skills. In all, personal interests, strong work experience, and high level of demand in the local market were the key factors influencing participants to become