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Family Business Groups in Advanced Asian Economies and the Politics of Institutional Trust

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Abstract

Family business groups in advanced Asian economies have demonstrated considerable entrepreneurial and technological dynamism. However, they have remained conservative in their corporate governance practice. Specifically, they retain corporate governance practices considered to be anachronistic in the modern era. We review State projects to establish market supporting institutions in three advanced Asian economies, China, Korea, and Malaysia. We argue that low levels of institutional trust encourage family business groups to retain personal rule and opaque governance structures as a defence mechanism against political uncertainty and weak principal-agent relationships.

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Carney, M., Liang, Z. (2023). Family Business Groups in Advanced Asian Economies and the Politics of Institutional Trust. In: Rautiainen, M., Parada, M.J., Pihkala, T., Akhter, N., Discua Cruz, A., Mukherjee, K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Managing Family Business Groups. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13206-3_10

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