ABSTRACT
Australia has been growing for 28 years without a recession – a record for any developed country; its cumulative growth over that period is almost triple that of Germany. Australia is also an ideal location in which to examine immigrant ethnic entrepreneurs due to the country’s long history of immigration. Immigrants to Australia began arriving in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, the majority from the British Isles. Following World War II, the Australian government decided to increase the population to improve the nation’s defence capacity and to rapidly expand the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy. Immigration and entrepreneurship in Australia have a long history. Post-World War II Australia received around 6.5 million migrant. Italian immigrants in Australia have a long history of self-employment and substantial contributions to the economy. While research on immigrant entrepreneurship in Australia is significant, research on indigenous small business entrepreneurship in Australia is scant.
