Abstract
This chapter provides a unique perspective on the Chinese entrepreneurial landscape via insights that result from a combination of evidence drawn from the academic literature and the lead author's experience from living for over two years in China. That experience underpins an autoethnographic account of entrepreneurship in China. That account is accompanied by reflections on China's entrepreneurship-backed rise, the idea of mass entrepreneurship, and characteristics of China's environment that affect entrepreneurship. This paper thus offers readers a first impression of the reality of entrepreneurship in China. It also provides real-world entrepreneurial insights into China from a foreign perspective. Those general impressions could equip readers to identify promising research paths and understand differences to the Western system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Jack Ma is the founder of the Alibaba Group; Robin Li is the founder of Baidu.
- 2.
Chinese Tier 1 cities have housing costs that might exceed those of, for instance, New York, Paris, or London.
- 3.
“Everyone is an entrepreneur, creativity of the masses” (大众创业, 万众创新)
- 4.
WeChat, Chinese all-rounder smartphone application.
- 5.
- 6.
996—from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week.
- 7.
E.g., mobile payment. Mobile payment technology is widespread throughout China, while not everybody has a debit card.
References
Adams, T. E., Holman Jones, S., & Ellis, S. (2015). Autoethnography: Understanding qualitative research. Oxford University Press.
Ahlstrom, D., & Ding, Z. (2014). Entrepreneurship in China: An overview. International Small Business Journal, 32(6), 610–618.
Armanios, D. E., Eesley, C. E., Li, J., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (2017). How entrepreneurs leverage institutional intermediaries in emerging economies to acquire public resources. Strategic Management Journal, 38(7), 1373–1390.
Cao, Z., & Shi, X. (2020). A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial ecosystems in advanced and emerging economies. Small Business Economics, 57, 75–110.
Chen, M. J. (2001). Inside Chinese business: A guide for managers worldwide. Harvard Business School Press.
Chen, J., Cai, L., Bruton, G. D., & Sheng, N. (2020). Entrepreneurial ecosystems: What we know and where we move as we build an understanding of China. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 32(5–6), 370–388.
Dai, S., Wang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2019). The emergence of Chinese entrepreneurs: Social connections and innovation. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 11(3), 351–368.
Gothe, M., Zheng, B., & Ramos, O. (2019). A foreign startups guide to China. In the race for innovation. German Chamber Ticker. Shanghai. Business Journal of the German Chamber of Commerce in China, 2019(4), 15–16.
He, C., Lu, J., & Qian, H. (2019). Entrepreneurship in China. Small Business Economics, 52, 563–572.
Huang, Y. (2012). How did China take off? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), 147–170.
Jian, J., Fan, X., Zhao, S., & Zhou, D. (2021). Business creation, innovation, and economic growth: Evidence from China's economic transition, 1978–2017. Economic Modelling, 96, 371–378.
Li, X. (2019). The 996. ICU movement in China: Changing employment relations and labour Agency in the Tech Industry. Made in China Journal. Available at https://madeinchinajournalcom/2019/06/18/the-996-icu-movement-in-china-changing-employment-relations-and-labour-agency-in-the-tech-industry/.
Luo, B., & Chong, T. T. L. (2019). Regional differences in self-employment in China. Small Business Economics, 53, 813–837.
Park, A., & Shen, M. (2003). Joint liability lending and the rise and fall of China's township and village enterprises. Journal of Development Economics, 71(2), 497–531.
Pechlaner, H., Erschbamer, G., Thees, H., & Gruber, M. (2020). China and the new silk road–Challenges and impacts on the regional and local level. Springer Nature.
Puffer, S. M., McCarthy, D. J., & Boisot, M. (2010). Entrepreneurship in Russia and China: The impact of formal institutional voids. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(3), 441–467.
Ralston, D. A., Egri, C. P., Stewart, S., Terpstra, R. H., & Kaicheng, Y. (1999). Doing business in the 21st century with the new generation of Chinese managers: A study of generational shifts in work values in China. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(2), 415–427.
Spigel, B. (2017). The relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(1), 49–72.
Startup Genome. (2019). Global startup ecosystem report 2019. Available at https://startupgenome.com/reports
Tan, J. (1996). Regulatory environment and strategic orientations in a transitional economy: A study of Chinese private enterprise. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 21(1), 31–47.
Welter, F. (2011). Contextualizing entrepreneurship-conceptual challenges and ways forward. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(1), 165–184.
World Bank. (2012). Doing business 2013: Smarter regulations for small and medium-size enterprises. World Bank Publications.
World Bank. (2020). Doing Business 2020: China's Strong Reform Agenda Places it in the Top 10 Improver List for the Second Consecutive Year. Available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2019/10/24/doing-business-2020-chinas-strong-reform-agenda-places-it-in-the-top-10-improver-list-for-the-second-consecutive-year
Xinhua (News agency). (2019). Shanghai home to over 700 regional headquarters of multinational corporations. Available at https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201909/15/WS5d7e022ca310cf3e3556b7cd.html
Zhang, M., Gao, Q., Wheeler, J., & Kwon, J. (2016). Institutional effect on born global firms in China: The role of sun Tzu's the art of war strategies. Journal of Asia Business Studies, 10(1), 1–19.
Zhong, H., & Krosinsky, C. (2020). China speed: Modern China's work ethic and sociology. In Modern China. Palgrave Macmillan.
Zhou, W. (2014). Regional institutional development, political connections, and entrepreneurial performance in China's transition economy. Small Business Economics, 43(1), 161–181.
Acknowledgements
This research results from the Research Area “Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Finance (INEF)” at the University of Hohenheim’s Faculty of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Scheu, M., Kuckertz, A. (2022). Entrepreneurship in China: Autoethnographic Insights into a Pulsating Entrepreneurial Society. In: Pechlaner, H., Thees, H., Manske-Wang, W. (eds) The Clash of Entrepreneurial Cultures?. FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97050-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97050-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-97049-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-97050-5
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)