Family Business in China, Volume 2: Challenges and Opportunities

Description

Unlike other economies, family businesses in China are greatly affected by the derived Confucian culture, excessive marketization, as well as the seemingly endless institutional supervision by a transitional Chinese government. China has a strong historical legacy, devoted to patriarchal values and strong family-centered traditions. This volume discusses the current status, upcoming challenges, and future prospects for family businesses in China.  It explores unique organizational characteristics that are associated with Chinese family firms, such as being entrepreneurial, having concentrated power in the hands of the family business owners, and extensive family and semi-family involvement in the business. It also discusses shared features of strategic actions among Chinese family firms that include technology innovations, diversification, and internationalization, as well as the political connections that Chinese family firms often have. This book offers researchers a comprehensive overview of small family firms that are likely to be home-based microenterprises as well as large publicly traded business groups that are frequently owned by business families. Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 Family and Family Business in China 1.2 Challenges and Opportunities in Chinese Family Business 1.3 What This Book Is About References 2 Family Business in China: Present Status 2.1 Defining Family Business in China Family Business Definition: Alternative Standards Defining Family Business in China 2.2 Prevalence of Family Business in China 2.3 Employment in Chinese Family Business 2.4 Economic Scale in Family Businesses 2.5 Individual Characteristics of Chinese Family Entrepreneurs 2.6 Differences Between Family and Non-Family Businesses References 3 Entrepreneurship and Family Business in China’s Modernization 3.1 Why Family Business When Starting a Business? 3.2 Business Types in China 3.3 The Rise of Self-Employed Entrepreneurs 3.4 Economy of Arbitrage 3.5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Modern Age 3.6 Crossroad: Economy of Scale and Economy of Focus Chinese Entrepreneurs and Economy of Scale “Invisible Champions” of Germany and Economy of Focus David and the Giant in China 3.7 Tianlong Cylinder: A Story of Family Succession and Trans-Generational Entrepreneurship Gas Cylinder Industry in the 1990s Parent’s Legacy Rookie in the Business Parent–Child Tension in Business Trans-Generational Entrepreneurship References 4 Succession Challenges 4.1 Current Succession Challenges in Chinese Family Business: An Overview 4.2 Mismatching Between Two Generations? Founding Generation’s View Late-Generation’s View 4.3 De-Familization? Challenges of De-Familization in China Reasons Behind the Challenges Intertwining Between Three Types of Successions De-familization Cures some But Not All Lack of Capable and Loyal Professional Managers Transitional Institutional Context 4.4 Ge’s Family and the Tianle Group: A Story of Struggled Family Business Succession Founding Generation Family Business Succession: First Attempt Failed Diversification Darkside of Nanyao Ge Family Governance Betrayal by Linchai Third-Generation Ge Reference 5 Succession Planning in Chinese Family Business 5.1 Succession Planning: An Overview 5.2 Wonbly and Liu Family Pre-Succession in Wonbly Succession in Wonbly 5.3 Succession Planning in China 5.4 “Vague” Succession Planning 5.5 Non-Family “Veterans” in Succession Planning Family-Veteran Relationship in Chinese Family Business Tension and Conflict Between Successor and Veteran Triangle of Success in Successor-Veteran Relationship 5.6 Succession Planning for the Single-Child Family Decreasing Family Size in China Single-Child as Family Business Leader References 6 Governance in Chinese Family Business 6.1 A Family Governance Case: Lee Kum Kee Family Splitting Family Governance in Lee Kum Kee “Firewall” Between Family and Enterprise Reflections on LKK 6.2 Family Governance in Husband-and-Wife Enterprises 6.3 Family Governance in a Brother Consortium References 7 Chinese Family Business in Southeast Asia 7.1 The Columbia Group in Indonesia 7.2 Chinese Family Businesses in Southeast Asia 7.3 Characteristics of Overseas Chinese Family Businesses 7.4 Chinese Family Businesses in Hong Kong and Taiwan References 8 Conclusion 8.1 Economic Function and the Rise of Socio-Psychological Function 8.2 Historical Heritage and Cultural Identity 8.3 Non-Family Management in Family Business 8.4 Rent-Seeking or Entrepreneurial? References Postface Index