The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of labour-protectionistic institutions on the awareness of city workers about how they are ‘protected’ in society and its effect on workers’ attitudes for skill formation. We pay attention to the differentiated arrangements of labour institutions between migrant workers from rural areas, who have advanced their awareness of labour rights during this decade, and locally-raised city dwellers who have been protected better by pre-existing registrations. We also pay attention to the differences between the two regions; Beijing, where clear divides in labour regulations still exist, and Southern Jiangsu Province where migrant workers have been more generously integrated with locals for a long time. Our basic framework follows the discussion of ‘diversity of capitalism’, in which the mix of social labour-protection system and firms’ employment protection system affect the workers’ choice of skills such as general, industry-specific and firm-specific skills.

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The business environment surrounding Chinese ethnic retailers, which are sustaining high economic growth, has changed significantly. Especially since 2000, foreign retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and RT-MART have been entering China one after another, so competition in the Chinese retail industry has become more intense. On the other hand, information technologies such as big data and mobile internet have been introduced into the retail industry, and 'new retail' represented by Alibaba and JD.com, which integrate online stores and physical stores, has appeared in recent years. So traditional retailers have been shocked. Many retailers are shifting their strategies from large suburban stores to small urban stores and introducing the latest technologies such as cashless and face recognition system. 　The main objective of this thesis is to empirically elucidate how ethnic retailers dynamically build, maintain, and evolve relationships with various stakeholders such as local governments, customers, competitors, suppliers and employees in order to grow while demonstrating their strengths through the case analysis of Yonghui Superstores, which has grown rapidly specializing in fresh foods in the Chinese retail market.

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