Abstract
Globalization has been facing a backlash. By contrast, entrepreneurship has come to be seen as a panacea for economic development and generating jobs that are perceived to be under threat from globalization. In this Perspectives paper, our central argument is that globalization and entrepreneurship must be viewed holistically, recognizing that globalization is an enabler of important entrepreneurship outcomes. We argue that networks created as a byproduct of globalization facilitate various forms of entrepreneurship. Interpersonal networks (e.g., diasporas) facilitate transnational entrepreneurship which can, in turn, reduce institutional distance between locations. Interorganizational networks (e.g., MNE-orchestrated ecosystems) facilitate technology entrepreneurship which reinforces the institutional work that gives rise to new technological domains and fields. Intergovernmental and civil society networks facilitate social entrepreneurship which helps redress institutional voids. Thus globalization can be a force for good by enabling forms of entrepreneurship that enable important institutional change. We highlight the importance of paradox thinking, which is rooted in ancient Chinese philosophy, in transcending an either/or perspective of globalization and entrepreneurship.
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Notes
This is not just in the period following World War I. To illustrate, Meyer (2017: 79) notes that in the fourteenth century, Chinese merchants were trading internationally, even to East Africa, but this was undermined by a new emperor and his “anti-globalization lobby at court.”
This is in contrast to some of the siloed discourse witnessed in the West: “Entrepreneurship… is often celebrated as a hero of the global economy. Globalization, on the other hand, is often criticized as a villain contributing to rising inequality.” The contrast between the two was highlighted recently in two opposing posts on The Huffington Post. One bears the headline “Entrepreneurs: Engines of our Economic Growth” and the other, “Globalization is Killing the Globe: Return to Local Economies” (Prashantham, 2016).
To be clear, calls for a more integrative understanding of globalization and entrepreneurship are not new. Jones (2013) has presented compelling historical evidence for the role of entrepreneurs and their enterprises in fostering globalization. For instance, a prominent historical figure in Sri Lanka’s tea industry (a critically important sector in that emerging market) is Thomas Lipton, whose enterprising sourcing of tea from that country (Ceylon, in those days) and subsequent retailing efforts in the UK, led to the mass commercialization of what had until then been a niche beverage of British society’s upper crust. This entrepreneur rose from humble origins as a grocer in Glasgow in the nineteenth century, using tricks of the trade he had picked up as a youth living in the United States, to become what we would today regard as a retail tycoon, before his eponymous tea brand became his crowning achievement. Lipton’s entrepreneurship was a major factor (albeit not the only one) in creating global demand for Ceylon tea. Here, however, we are concerned with the opposite directionality: that is, the effect of globalization on entrepreneurship.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Stephen Young for helpful comments on an earlier draft, Geoff Jones for encouragement to pursue this piece and, especially, Mike Peng for very constructive editorial guidance.
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Prashantham, S., Eranova, M. & Couper, C. Globalization, entrepreneurship and paradox thinking. Asia Pac J Manag 35, 1–9 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-017-9537-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-017-9537-9