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1 – 10 of over 15000Wenxin Guo and Joseph A. Clougherty
We question whether the Chinese state has played an effective role in promoting outward foreign direct investment via its “Go Global” policies. Using the literature in…
Abstract
We question whether the Chinese state has played an effective role in promoting outward foreign direct investment via its “Go Global” policies. Using the literature in International Management as our framing, we observe three inter-related stylized realities. First, it is state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – not private enterprises – that tend to principally benefit from the favorable “Go Global” policies. Second, SOEs tend to pay much higher acquisition premiums in outward FDI as compared to non-SOEs. Third, SOEs tend to be less effective as compared to non-SOEs in gaining synergies and enhancing competitiveness as a result of these cross-border experiences. These results yield clear policy implications for the Chinese government: first, more effective public policy would involve enhanced targeting of private enterprises as the recipients of policies promoting outward FDI; second, the Chinese government should continue along the path toward privatization of SOEs. The continued bolstering of economic and social development in China is contingent upon efforts to reduce the state’s active role in outward FDI.
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Guangjin Chen, Jun Li and Harry Matlay
The purpose of this paper is to explore the key micro factors that are shaping Chinese entrepreneurship: socio‐political origins, motivations, educational attainment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the key micro factors that are shaping Chinese entrepreneurship: socio‐political origins, motivations, educational attainment, organisational forms and power structures.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a questionnaire survey approach, involving a sample of private entrepreneurs who responded in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, and 2004.
Findings
The findings reveal a remarkable change in the origin of private entrepreneurs, from a lower to a higher social background. It emerges that individuals were primarily motivated to become private entrepreneurs by positive factors. Increasingly, since the late 1990s, individuals who chose private entrepreneurship exhibited much‐improved educational attainments. Significantly, many enterprises have not yet separated ownership from the management function.
Research limitations/implications
The data under investigation are not yet fully explored. Further analyses of the impact that the changing attributes of private entrepreneurs could have on entrepreneurial firms is planned for the near future.
Practical implications
From the perspective of social changes, there is a need for differential policies to support novice entrepreneurs who originated from a poor social background. Current business governance indicate a tough task to create an organisational structure and management style that would maintain the entrepreneurial spirit and accommodate the needs for control, delegation, and co‐ordination within the organisation.
Originality/value
The paper uses the newly available nationwide survey data to explore the attributes of private entrepreneurs.
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Guangjin Chen, Peng Lu, Zeyan Lin and Na Song
This paper aims to introduce the history and major achievement of the Chinese private enterprise survey (CPES), which is one of the most enduring large-scale nationwide sample…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce the history and major achievement of the Chinese private enterprise survey (CPES), which is one of the most enduring large-scale nationwide sample surveys in China, providing important micro firm-level data for understanding and studying the development of Chinese enterprises and entrepreneurs over the past 26 years.
Design/methodology/approach
The main body of this paper is based on a bibliometric analysis of all literature using CPES until 2017.
Findings
This paper discusses problems that users may encounter during data mining. By doing so, it can assist other researchers to get a better understanding of what has been done (e.g. journals, topics, scholars and institutions) and do their research in a more targeted way.
Research limitations/implications
As members of the survey project team, the authors also take a prospect of the future data design and use, as well as offer some suggestions about how to use the CPES data to improve high-quality development and business environment evaluation in China.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to provide an overall picture of academic papers in China and abroad that have used the CPES data.
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Luyao Jiang, Yanan Sun and Hongbo Zhao
This study aims to explore the relationship between non-market strategies and organizational resilience, using a Chinese private enterprise as an example.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the relationship between non-market strategies and organizational resilience, using a Chinese private enterprise as an example.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data through semi-structured interviews and analyzed them through grounded theory, using a three-step approach of open coding, axial coding and selective coding to analyze and construct a model of the mechanism of the impact of non-market strategies on organizational resilience.
Findings
The following conclusions were drawn from this study. (1) Stakeholders, internal and external environment and entrepreneurship are important motivations that influence private firms to implement non-market strategies to enhance organizational resilience, with entrepreneurship being the key driver. (2) Non-market strategies contain three dimensions, and different non-market behaviors have different mechanisms of action on the organizational resilience of firms. (3) Non-market strategies and organizational resilience form an interactive spiral relationship. This mutually reinforcing effect promotes firm growth and sustainable corporate development. The research results enrich the theoretical connotation of non-market strategies, construct a model of the mechanism of influence of non-market strategies on organizational resilience, and describe three explanatory paths for the relationship between the two–incentive mechanism, functional mechanism and transformation mechanism.
Research limitations/implications
This study's single case is unique and based on the Chinese context. In addition, this study adopts a rooted qualitative research approach and although the coding and model construction strictly follow the steps of grounded theory research, a degree of subjectivity is inevitable. On this basis, future research can adopt quantitative analysis methods to test and improve the model.
Practical implications
This paper explores the important role of non-market strategies in the Chinese context under the impact of traditional market mechanisms, based on the perspective of Chinese private enterprises, and provides new insights and revelations for private enterprises to achieve sustainable development.
Originality/value
This study innovatively explores the formation mechanism of organizational resilience from the perspective of non-market strategies, adding a new perspective to the literature. Additionally, it examines the mechanisms between long-term non-market strategy and organizational resilience, particularly their relationship in times of crisis, utilizing a rooted approach that goes beyond static analysis.
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Ying Li, Yung-Ho Chiu, Tai-Yu Lin and Hongyi Cen
As more women are now being appointed to senior and top management positions and invited to sit on boards of directors, they are now directly participating in strategic company…
Abstract
Purpose
As more women are now being appointed to senior and top management positions and invited to sit on boards of directors, they are now directly participating in strategic company decision-making. As female directors have been found to provide new ideas, increase company competitiveness, efficiency and performance and bring a greater number of external resources to a company than male directors, this paper aims to put female directors as a variable into the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and statistical models to explore the effect of female directors on operating performances. The DEA first quantified and measured the company efficiencies, after which the statistical model analyzed the correlations between the variables to specifically identify the impact of female decision makers on the operating efficiencies in state-owned and private enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel two-stage, meta-hybrid dynamic DEA was developed to explore Chinese cultural media company efficiencies under optimal input and output resource allocations, after which Tobit Regression was applied to determine the effect of female executives on these efficiencies.
Findings
From 2012 to 2016, the overall efficiencies in Chinese state-owned cultural media enterprises were better than in the private cultural media enterprises. The overall technology gaps (TGs) in the state-owned cultural media enterprises were better than in the private cultural media enterprises.
Originality/value
Previous research has tended to focus on the causal relationships between female senior executives and business performances; however, there have been few studies on the relationships between female executives and company performance from an efficiency perspective (optimal resource allocation). This paper, therefore, is the first to develop a novel two-stage, meta-hybrid dynamic DEA to examine Chinese cultural media enterprise efficiencies, and the first to apply Tobit Regression to assess the effect of female executives on those efficiencies.
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Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to answer few questions, such as which factors influence the local government’s choice of private firm investments; what factors influence private firms’ choice of specific local government to make a local investment; and why do some private firms gain a competitive edge by choosing a stakeholder management model of “running the government” in the context of the Chinese transition economy.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study approach, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of the Daqing–Geely Case, 2010, and explains why Geely chose Daqing considering the firm perspective and why the Daqing city Government chose Geely considering the local governments’ perspective.
Findings
This study highlights the concept of “co-beneficial” cooperation between government–business by virtue of the institutional innovation of the quasi-property system. In addition, it reveals that the private firms and local governments in the “Daqing–Geely mode” work together for mutual benefits by putting fair negotiation and contract mechanisms in place. Resultantly, private firms secure the commercial interests, and the local governments bring in improved efficiency.
Originality/value
This study consolidates the theory of stakeholders, thereby strengthening the current understanding of “special offer” and “universal offer.”
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Cheryl Long and Jin Yang
With an increasing number of Chinese private firms establishing primary level CPC Party committees, it is important to study the role of Party organizations in these firms. Using…
Abstract
Purpose
With an increasing number of Chinese private firms establishing primary level CPC Party committees, it is important to study the role of Party organizations in these firms. Using a nationwide survey of private firms in 2006, we empirically study the firm-level CCP committee's effect on workers' benefits and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
To overcome the potential endogeneity, we employ the regression discontinuity approach by utilizing the following rule from the Constitution of the CCP: Primary party committees should be established in any basic work unit with more than 3 full party members.
Findings
Our empirical results show that party committees in private firms have positive and statistically significant effects on many types of workers' benefits, including pension, unemployment insurance and workplace safety.
Originality/value
This paper highlights CCP committees as an important alternative mechanism in coordinating labor relationships in China when formal labor protecting institutions are weak.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between firm size, the nature of ownership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China and to figure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between firm size, the nature of ownership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China and to figure out the reason that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) usually perform better in CSR activities than private enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two studies of CSR in China. In the first study, the authors developed and assessed a CSR measure; second study was to investigate the difference of CSR behavioral performance between SOEs and private enterprises.
Findings
The authors found that the differences in CSR performances between SOEs and private enterprises were not caused by the nature of ownership as most Chinese scholars used to believe. Actually, the differences came from the differences of firm size, which had been ignored in prior studies on factors influencing CSR performance. The size of SOEs is usually much larger than private enterprises, and larger enterprises often perform better in the field of CSR. In a word, the size rather than the nature of ownership is the main reason that CSR performances of SOEs are better than private enterprises.
Originality/value
Though many papers in China suggested that SOEs performed much better than private enterprises in CSR activities, the authors proved that this belief was a misunderstanding. It was found that SOEs were usually larger than private enterprises, which might have confused their efforts to find the real reason that SOEs and private enterprises perform differently in CSR. The authors also developed a measuring tool of CSR based on the Stakeholder Theory, which would be a new measurement tool for future studies, especially for emerging market economies and unlisted companies.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key elements in the strategy of leading Chinese private firms in order to identify the key factors that are associated with the success…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key elements in the strategy of leading Chinese private firms in order to identify the key factors that are associated with the success of these firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data source from the self report of 30 of the top 50 private enterprises of 2004 in China as the basis for analysis. In analysing these self reports, a table was compiled that records the name of each case study firm, nature of its businesses, its ranking in the top 50 in 2004, background of the owner entrepreneur/CEO, history of the firm, and key elements of strategies.
Findings
The paper identifies that the key success factors of these firms appear to be associated with firm growth through business diversification, development of international market, strong emphasis on product innovation and quality enhancement, strategic marketing, product and corporate branding, and importantly, entrepreneurship of owner managers/CEOs and reform of corporate governance. Also revealed that top‐performing Chinese private firms tend to adopt a high‐commitment model of human resource management which emphasizes training and development, promotion by competence, extensive employee welfare provision, and enterprise culture development and management.
Research limitations/implications
The secondary data came from company self reports with potential bias of self reporting. They were snap shots and anecdotal instead of longitudinal studies. They also contained top management's views only, which are not necessarily representative of the wider organisation. These methodological drawbacks mean that the data needs to be treated with caution and that more in‐depth empirical research is needed to shed more light on the subject that is of growing importance in understanding Chinese business and management.
Originality/value
This paper fills the gap in existing literature by revealing changes that have taken place in the privately owned businesses in China, key challenges they face and what strategic response they have adopted. The understanding of the business and management strategies of these firms is beneficial not only to scholars and students who are interested in China but also to organisational managers who wish to develop businesses with China.
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Qiujie Dou and Weibin Xu
This study aims to explore the reasons why some Chinese private entrepreneurs are reluctant to make charitable donations, with a focus on the perspective of “original sin”…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the reasons why some Chinese private entrepreneurs are reluctant to make charitable donations, with a focus on the perspective of “original sin” suspicion. The objective of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by these entrepreneurs, especially those suspected of “original sin,” when making charitable donations, and to provide recommendations for addressing these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from the Chinese Private Enterprises Survey Database for the years 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, this study used ordinary least squares regression to examine the relationship between “original sin” suspicion and charitable donations from private enterprises.
Findings
This study examined the impact of “original sin” suspicion on charitable donations and found that it significantly reduces the donations of privatized enterprises. The negative impact of “original sin” suspicion on charitable donations is especially pronounced in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as those that have experienced changes in local leadership.
Originality/value
While previous research focused on the motivations of private enterprises that donated, they failed to identify which types of enterprises were reluctant to donate and why. By focusing on the “original sin” suspicion surrounding entrepreneurs in privatized enterprises and the political costs they face, this study sheds light on the challenges they encounter in charitable donations and explains why privatized enterprises, especially SMEs, are unwilling to make charitable donations.
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