owner's ethnic group. Such self-help networks， which

　　encourage and support ethnic minority entrepreneurs，

　　consist of “primary” institutions， those closest to the

　　individual in shaping his or her behavior and beliefs.

　　（15） They are characterized by the face-to-face association

　　and cooperation of persons united by ties of mutual

　　concern. They form an intermediate social level between

　　the individual and larger “secondary ” institutions based

　　on impersonal relationships. Primary institutions

　　（20） comprising the support network include kinship peer，

　　and neighborhood or community subgroups.

　　A major function of self-help networks is financial

　　support. Most scholars agree that minority business

　　owners have depended primarily on family funds and

　　（25） ethnic community resources for investment capital.

　　Personal savings have been accumulated， often through

　　frugal living habits that require sacrifices by the entire

　　family and are thus a product of long-term family finan-

　　cial behavior. Additional loans and gifts from relatives，

　　（30） forthcoming because of group obligation rather than

　　narrow investment calculation， have supplemented

　　personal savings. Individual entrepreneurs do not neces-

　　sarily rely on their kin because they cannot obtain finan-

　　cial backing from commercial resources. They may actu-

　　（35） ally avoid banks because they assume that commercial

　　institutions either cannot comprehend the special needs

　　of minority enterprise or charge unreasonably high

　　interest rates.

　　Within the larger ethnic community， rotating credit

　　（40） associations have been used to raise capital. These asso-

　　ciations are informal clubs of friends and other trusted

　　members of the ethnic group who make regular contri-

　　butions to a fund that is given to each contributor in

　　rotation. One author estimates that 40 percent of New

　　（45）York Chinatown firms established during 1900-1950

　　utilized such associations as their initial source of

　　capital. However， recent immigrants and third or fourth

　　generations of older groups now employ rotating credit

　　associations only occasionally to raise investment funds.