Chinese migrant microenterprises and social capital: a multiple case study analysis in industrial clusters in Italy

Migrant entrepreneurship has been acknowledged in the literature to be a dynamic and diffused phenomenon that characterizes local systems within European countries in the form of ethnic economies. The aim of the paper is to investigate the phenomenon of ethnic quasi-enclave industrial sub-clusters within industrial districts and to analyse social capital within the economic and social dynamics. The interpretative framework adapts the mixed-embeddedness approach to a case study of Wenzhounese migrant socioeconomic quasi-enclave leather industrial sub-clusters located adjacent to the industrial district area of Florence (Italy).