Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative review and analysis of peer‐reviewed journal articles on overseas Chinese family businesses.

Journal articles were selected from relevant sources and broadly analyzed by research area, type of research (theoretical or empirical), geographical coverage, and method (quantitative or qualitative). The main themes of changes and continuity were identified and summarized.

The literature suggests that overseas Chinese family firms around the diaspora are beginning to differ from one nation to another. At the same time, the literature suggests the continuity of the challenge of the forces of globalization on overseas Chinese family firms and the need for these firms to learn to adapt and compete.

The findings suggest that future research would need to pay more attention to differences between overseas Chinese family businesses from one country to another.

This paper provides a novel comparative analytical review and summary of the literature on overseas Chinese family businesses in peer‐reviewed journals. It is useful for scholars who are new to the area.

With features of both “family” and “business,” family businesses must seek a balance between the emotional aspect of “family” and the economic aspect of “business” in its organizational and decision-making processes to ensure the sustainability of the family’s entrepreneurship. This study aims to focus on how internal institutional complexity combined evolves alongside the growth of the family business.

The research looks, from the perspective of institutional logic, into the Charoen Pokphand Group, which is an epitome of overseas Chinese family businesses and proceeds to build a model of family business growth in the context of institutional complexity.

The research finds that as a family business grows, institutional complexity inside the organization would change from aligned period to sustaining period and then to dominant period. Then further elucidates the process of proactive response in different stages of the development of a family business. Attaching equal importance to the cultivation of entrepreneurship and to the continuation of family values and culture is the crucial mechanism by which Chinese family businesses seek a balance between family logic and business logic.

This paper unveils the change of institutional complexity in the evolution of family businesses and the process of action of its agency as an organization, and simultaneously partly reveals the features of entrepreneurship that overseas Chinese family businesses have as they grew, which is of positive significance for exploring and building a path of growth unique to Chinese family businesses.

This paper examines the impact of culture on inter‐firm network development in international marketing. Three research questions about the influence of culture on network development were developed from the literature to focus case data collection and analysis. The data were collected from in‐depth interviews with network managers/owners of firms networking with other overseas firms entering into Australian and Asian markets. Differences and similarities between how overseas Chinese and Australian cultures impact on network development and strategies for developing and maintaining quality and long‐term relationship in cross‐cultural networks were identified. Implications for practice emphasise the importance of cultural adaptation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of psychological ownership (both job and organisational based) on extra-role behaviours among family and non-family employees in small overseas Chinese family businesses.

Empirical evidence was drawn from a survey of 80 family owners/managers and non-family employees from 40 small overseas Chinese family businesses from the transport industry in Malaysia. All proposed hypothesis were tested using hierarchical moderated regression analyses.

Job-based psychological ownership was found to significantly predict both types of extra-role behaviours. Organisational-based psychological ownership, however, was only a significant predictor of voice extra-role behaviour. Interestingly enough, no significant moderating effects on the relationships between the two dimensions of psychological ownership and two types of extra-role behaviour were found.

Having a dedicated workforce of both family and non-family employees who are willing to display extra-role behaviours may be considered as an essential component of business success and long-term continuity for many family firms around the world. This particular paper represents one of the few empirical efforts to examine the extra-role behaviours of employees in family firms from emerging economies.

This paper addresses the reasons why Chinese businesses have long been identified as subordinate to world‐class brand owners; why “global” own brand developments are considered to be beyond their competence.

In this paper, we use an institutional perspective to examine the difficulties faced by Chinese firms in own brand development, using empirical data derived from a research project into the business strategies of Hong Kong firms, and contrasting these with the case of what is one of China's most successful foreign ventures, Haier.

The familial form appears to be transforming, due to the employment of a growing stratum of professional middle managers and Chinese family business firms appear to be developing into fully functionally integrated hierarchies capable of product and market development of own branded products. Three institutional supports make this possible. First, the development of parts of the People's Republic of China (PRC) into a quasi‐market economy created a regionally close and large market. Second, technology transfers from leading overseas consumer product brand owners’ supported the development of more sophisticated products and firm capabilities. Third, a steady supply of skilled graduates from Hong Kong and the mainland enabled firms to move further up the value chain and exert more control over their manufacturing and related activities. To go truly global, however, more is required: social capital that connects the firm to the local and national party elites, something that mainland firms may find easier than those from Hong Kong.

Gaining the data meant negotiating access through young professional managers now emerging from Hong Kong universities and was achieved through personal contacts; thus the sample is a small four‐case study. The counterfactual case of Haier is derived not from original research but from website material.

Successful original equipment manufacturing business that goes global will, in addition to the institutional supports identified in the Hong Kong cases, also require elite patronage, social capital and political support.

The paper is of value to managers and consultants interested in international business in China.

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors facilitating and impeding succession from father to daughter in family businesses in China.

Using explorative case study approach this study examines the experiences of four female successors at different stages of taking over family businesses.

Contrary to previous studies on female succession, daughters in this study were groomed to run the family business, and encouraged to become involved in it at an early stage. Confucian values on parent-child relationships and family also encouraged daughters’ participation in the family business and in maintaining productive working relationships with their fathers. However, inheriting and maintaining a father’s Guanxi networks pose a daunting challenge for daughters, and daughters may need more time to establish their authority.

While confined by the limited number of cases, this study contributes to the under-explored research area of father-daughter succession by highlighting some unique cultural, social and historical factors influencing female successors in the Chinese context.

Based on fieldwork in Zhejiang 2000/01, the paper analyses the processes and mechanisms that shape China’s new private sector. The paper argues that the development of the private sector is characterised by the on‐going interaction between local jurisdictions, networks and entrepreneurs. The search for and protection of private property rights can be singled out as the most crucial factor for explaining the establishment and organisational form of firms. The empirical study can also help to explain why the family is no longer at the core of private firms, offering too small a resource base, and too little access to asset protecting networks.

This study assessed the relevance of Vroom’s expectancy motivational framework in a cross-cultural context. Differences in attitudes for task investment, preferences for work related achievements, and the reward potential of outcomes was assessedwith Australians and Malaysians who were employed in similar work contexts of the beauty care industry. Reasons why the Australian employees reported significantly higher job motivation than the Malaysian respondents were identified by examining the three main components of expectancy, instrumentality and valence, of Vroom’s framework. The study findings are discussed in terms of the implications they have for the necessary organizational development with Australians and Malaysians who were employed in similar work contexts of the beauty care industry. Reasons why the Australian employees reported significantly higher job motivation than the Malaysian respondents were identified by examining the three main components of expectancy, instrumentality and valence, of Vroom's framework. The study findings are discussed in terms of the implications they have for the necessary organizational development of businesses in the competitive Asia-Pacific region.

The paper aims to critically analyse the relevant literature on the international expansion of China's small- and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of highlighting the main topics analysed by scholars and identifying areas for future research.

The paper reviews the works on the international growth of China's SMEs published in selected peer-reviewed English-language journals vis-à-vis what has been published on Western SMEs. It does this by, first, studying the literature at both firm and industry levels and, second, by analysing the specific characteristics of small business from China along with the particularities of the Chinese business environment.

The paper shows that two main areas are in need of further research: the impact of the Chinese business environment on the international expansion of SMEs, and the need to understand different elements of the process to develop a strong firm-level body of literature.

The paper highlights the need to deepen the understanding of the process leading to SMEs' expansion beyond China's borders to conclude with the identification of areas for future research.

The Chinese family business (CFB) is one of the most enduring and prolific organizational forms in human history. The CFB is an alternative to a modernistic organization and has been understudied in the post‐modern organizational theory literature. Compares a pre‐modern CFB transplanted to the USA with the modernistic Toyota model of greenfield start‐ups.