Who are the Chinese private entrepreneurs? A study of entrepreneurial attributes and business governance
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN: 1462-6004
Article publication date: 1 April 2006
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.
Keywords
Citation
Chen, G., Li, J. and Matlay, H. (2006), "Who are the Chinese private entrepreneurs? A study of entrepreneurial attributes and business governance", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 148-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/14626000610665863
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited