Originally published in 1984, this book was the first broad review of
the development of business among ethnic minorities in Britain. Chapters
describing business performance among established groups such as Jews
and Italians were accompanied by accounts of business development among
minorities from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. Reviews of
parallel trends in the United States and Western Europe underlined the
important role of ethnic businesses in capitalist societies as a whole.
At the time, ways of encouraging business development among minorities
were raising important questions. Was this the way to give new life to
the economy in the inner city? Could involvement in business provide
opportunities for economic advance and increase stability in ethnic
communities? Or was it simply an attempt to make the best of the
increasingly marginal social and economic situation in which they found
themselves in the 1980s? This book allowed for a clearer assessment of
ethnic business development as a strategy for economic survival.