| Asian immigrant business owner success surpasses all other U.S. ethnicities, yet understanding why is complicated by considering Asia as a single 47-country collective despite varying ethnicities, customs, religions, and languages. This case study focused on the 11-country region of Southeast Asia, with a single RQ about how the aspects of culture have impacted the business success of eight Southeast Asian immigrant small business owners in the broader Atlanta, Georgia, region. The conceptual basis centered around differences in general Asian ethnicities and the Asian view of success being more than simple economic gain. Five themes emerged, listed in order of value participants felt the themes contributed to their business success: (1) customer service, (2) hard work, (3) language, (4) family, and (5) authentic culture. These themes fit within the broader definition of culture, that of involving ethnic culture, social customs, and values. Participants emphasized the Southeast Asian cultural connection of satisfying the customer as crucial to business success, noting this emphasis was not observed in other cultures, especially traditional Western culture. Making customers feel welcome and comfortable when in their businesses was crucial, with the hard work needed to make this happen directly attributable to their ethnic culture and values. Key new findings added to the literature were the importance of language and authentic culture, and a broadening of the sense of family, while disputing the previously reported value of formal education, viewing informal learning as more important. |
