Rethinking Social Capital and Entrepreneurship in Greater China

Jenn-Hwan Wang is a Professor in the Graduate Institute of Development Studies at National Chengchi University, Taiwan.

Family networks and wider personal social relationships - guanxi - have long been held to be a significant factor making for the success of many Chinese family businesses, and guanxi is often seen as a special characteristic which shapes the nature of all business in China. This book re-examines this proposition critically, bringing together the very latest research and comparing the situation in different parts of "Greater China" - mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. It considers entrepreneurship, venture capital, intergenerational succession, disputes, family businesses in different sectors of the economy, and particular family businesses.

1. Introduction: Guanxi matters? Rethinking Social Capital and Entrepreneurship in Greater China Part I: Guanxi and Entrepreneurship in China 2. The Social Capital for Self-Employment in Transitional China 3. Guanxi-based Corporate Social Capital and Chinese Entrepreneurship 4. Guanxi Circle Phenomenon in the Chinese Venture Capital Industry Part II: Social Capital and its Transformation: Taiwan and Hong Kong 5. Social Capital and Entrepreneurship of Next Generation: The Case of the Koo Family in Taiwan 6. Network Capital and Li & Fung Group in Hong Kong: Four Generations of Inculcation and Inheritance 7. The Changing Corporate Social Capital and Its Implications of Semiconductor Industry in Taiwan 8. Social Capital and the Development of Taiwan's Pharmaceutical Industry: Comparing Conventional and Biomedicine Firms Part III: Social Capital and Cross Border Linkages 9. Building Industrial Systems in China: The Networking of Taiwanese Machine Tool Firms in China 10. Guanxi and the Ancient Jade Trade: Cross-Border Antique Market in Greater China 11. Transnational Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: the Case of Rebuilding a Mazu Temple from Taiwan to Kunshan, China 12. Epoch Foundation: The Story of the Creation of a Social Innovation Network