ABSTRACT
The Pakistani immigrant entrepreneurs in Manchester were men from Jullunder and some adjacent districts in East Punjab. A crucial feature of the culture of entrepreneurship relates to the evolution of the family as a unit of production. Pakistanis conceive of their immediate family, usually members of a single household, as constituting a joint enterprise having corporate aims and strategies. Low entrance barriers obviously make certain economic enterprises attractive to newcomers with little capital to invest. These enterprises tend, therefore, to multiply during periods of expansion, competing with prior, established businesses in the same economic field. The willingness to take economic risks is far more likely in a cultural environment where such risks are regarded as legitimate, and as likely to lead in due course to personal independence. The economic rationality of immigrant businesses must be located within a broader theoretical framework of the family firm.
