Size and Growth of Asian-Owned Incorporated Companies in Britain

Abstract

MD. GOLAM MOSTAFA KHAN is currently with the College of Business and Management, University of Bahrain, where his teaching interest concentrates primarily on entrepreneurship, small business and policy and strategy areas. The research reported here is based on the author's doctoral research at the University of Bradford, England, and examines the size of growth of Asian-owned incorporated businesses in Britain over the period 1973-1982. The effect of differences in the ethnic origin of Asian owners, the size of their firms, and the industrial sectors in which they are involved, on their business growth has been assessed. It also provides a comparative analysis of size and growth between Asian-owned and other companies in the United Kingdom. On the whole the average size of Asian incorporated firms is smaller than the UK-owned companies but the average size of Asian-owned manufacturing firms is significantly smaller than comparable UK firms. This partially reflects the fact they are newer. The Asian-owned non-manufacturing sector, however, exhibits a comparable average size to UK-owned non-manufacturing businesses.

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