Asian Family Businesses

The global economy is predominantly driven by family businesses that provide the largest source of long-term employment in most countries. In the Asian region, family members amongst the 60% of large corporations own a significant share of the equity and can influence key decisions. This phenomenon sets the family enterprises with various challenges and opportunities as any other non-family run enterprises but in a more complex dimension. This book presents a collection of cases that addresses three key challenges faced in many of the family enterprises in Asia; Succession, Governance and Innovation. The narration of the cases also offers reader tips about good practices among the Asian families such as effective family governance mechanism, development of innovation and entrepreneurial mindsets across generations, importance of family culture. This case book is essential reading for anyone interested in addressing the needs of business families in the region.

The scope and depth of family business research have been quickly expanding in the last two decades. The editors and contributors to this book present eight recent studies examining the impact of external or internal family conditions on the innovation, growth, and succession of family firms in Asia.

This companion provides broad and in-depth insights into family business in Asia and how Asian family firms navigate in the digital economy. The first part of the book looks at key concepts of family business while the second part presents Asian family firms’ cases from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and other Asian economies. This comprehensive reference will help readers understand how family firms in Asia compete and survive in the world market especially in the digital age and why and how Asian economies can emerge as one of the most dynamic regions in the world.

This book analyzes the findings reported in the first Asia Pacific summit of the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) project. Researchers in Australia, China, and India discussed eleven in-depth case studies to shed light on the challenges that business families and family businesses faced in continuing and extending their entrepreneurial capabilities across multiple generations. Based on a common research framework from STEP, each chapter introduces key findings and challenges existing theory, offering answers to two broad questions in the Asia Pacific context: How do business families and family businesses generate and sustain entrepreneurial performance across generations and how does entrepreneurial performance relate to the continuity, growth and transgenerational entrepreneurship of business families and family businesses? In doing so, the authors look at key issues faced by family business including dealing with communication issues across generations, resolving conflict between siblings, preparing and luring younger generations back to family business, and professionalization of business. The chapters go beyond the succession and governance challenges and explore the processes and outcomes of entrepreneurship in the AustralAsian family context. Academics, teachers and students in business and management, entrepreneurship and family business, and Asian studies will find this path-breaking book of great value, as will libraries, policymakers and consultants.

Unlike other economies, family businesses in China are greatly affected by the derived Confucian culture, excessive marketization, as well as the seemingly endless institutional supervision by a transitional Chinese government. China has a strong historical legacy, devoted to patriarchal values and strong family-centered traditions. This volume discusses the current status, upcoming challenges, and future prospects for family businesses in China. It explores unique organizational characteristics that are associated with Chinese family firms, such as being entrepreneurial, having concentrated power in the hands of the family business owners, and extensive family and semi-family involvement in the business. It also discusses shared features of strategic actions among Chinese family firms that include technology innovations, diversification, and internationalization, as well as the political connections that Chinese family firms often have. This book offers researchers a comprehensive overview of small family firms that are likely to be home-based microenterprises as well as large publicly traded business groups that are frequently owned by business families.

Succession in Asian Family Firms examines the history and survival of family businesses in the South Asian Diaspora from an international perspective. The book presents unique research across three continents, focusing on significant communities in the UK, USA and Kenya. The book analyzes the influences on both the start up and survival of family firms, exploring how family members negotiate their working practices. The discussion provides a new perspective on issues central to the debate on family business succession whilst developing ideas on less familiar areas such as the role and influence of women through different cultural contexts.

Family businesses have been an important part of the economy in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and in the Chinese diaspora, and, since the reforms, in mainland China itself. Some people have argued that the success of Chinese family businesses occurs because of the special characteristics and approach of such businesses. This book examines the nature of Chinese family business and the key issues involved by exploring in detail the case of a leading Hong Kong jewellery company which was established in the early 1960s and which has grown to become one of the biggest jewellery manufacturers, exporters, and retailers in post-war Hong Kong. The book considers the motivations of Chinese people to set up their own businesses, outlining the strategies adopted, including the strategies for raising capital, and the qualities of successful Chinese entrepreneurs. It discusses the management of the company, including relations between family members, profit sharing and succession planning, and assesses how conflict and crises are coped with and overcome. It charts the evolution of the company, looking at how it has been transformed into a listed corporation. The book concludes by arguing for the importance of studying Chinese family businesses culturally.

Crossroads of Family Businesses in China: Succession and Transformation studies the intergenerational succession in family-owned businesses, specifically in the Chinese mainland. With the succession of family businesses over time, transformation is required as it needs to correspond to the world's development to successfully sustain the company. There is a multitude of factors that play their roles accordingly to perform a prosperous accession.Hence, this book highlights common issues such as the challenges for both succession and transformation of the company, the interest of the second generation, introducing the second generation to the business before fully passing on, family culture and morale, the distinction between wealth inheritance and business succession, the unorthodox tradition of mother-to-daughter succession and opening management to professionals. These topics are substantiated by case studies of Chinese family businesses, such as Neoglory Group, Midea, Red Collar, Fotile and even more. The book offers theories, practices and models for strategic transformations during succession.Readers will be able to enjoy insights into a critical evaluation of the intersection between succession and transformation. They will also discover how the different methods of succession utilized by real-life Chinese family-owned businesses affect the businesses' performance. This book will be their first step in constructing a thought on this topic, while indulging in an incredible learning experience.