Succession And The Transfer Of Social Capital In Chinese Family Businesses

This is the first systematic study of the succession process of Chinese family businesses which reveals what is truly happening during the time of hand-over. In explaining the features of the Chinese way of succession, special attention is paid to the transfer of social capital and guanxi, among other cultural and socioeconomic contexts, which could impact the behaviours and decisions of the family business stakeholders. Carefully selected 63 cases of family firms and the authentic words and experiences of the founders and their second generation are of high relevance in helping the readers to understand Chinese family businesses and their successions as well as to learn from their successes or failures.

This is the first systematic study of the succession process of Chinese family businesses which reveals what is truly happening during the time of hand-over. In explaining the features of the Chinese way of succession, special attention is paid to the transfer of social capital and guanxi, among other cultural and socioeconomic contexts, which could impact the behaviours and decisions of the family business stakeholders. Carefully selected 63 cases of family firms and the authentic words and experiences of the founders and their second generation are of high relevance in helping the readers to understand Chinese family businesses and their successions as well as to learn from their successes or failures.

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.

Until recently, research in family business has been confined to a sub-group of entrepreneurship scholars, labor economists, and sociologists. Family business employment is often the only economic option available to migrants, the first entrepreneurial experience for young people, and a source of an economy's new business creation activities. These issues are typically framed in terms of the generational transfer of wealth, management succession, or the interplay between the economic system of a family and its sociopolitical system. The phenomenon is clearly widespread but for some reason continues to be poorly understood. We believe that progress on the empirical front has been hampered by a lack of accepted theoretical frameworks. For example, attempts to employ agency theory, geographic agglomeration and spill overs, social networks, sense making, bargaining and other frameworks have been scattered. In our view, the extant research has not created the theoretic ballast that can withstand repeated empirical verification. More fundamentally, researchers are beginning to ask, "Is family business theoretically distinctive or a convenient phenomenon for exploiting familiar theories with new data?" We believe the time is ripe for a focused look at the theoretical history and prospects of family business research. Review articles grounded in economics, sociology, psychology and political economy and that offer multidisciplinary implications are especially sought. Theory based empirical papers are also welcomed. We believe that there are exciting opportunities for theory development and so encourage authors to focus on this in their submissions. In sum, the focus of this volume is on showcasing and advancing the latest research in family business.

Succession is inevitable and vital for the longevity of family businesses. But what do we know about succession in family businesses and where do we go from here? How does the interaction of family and business impact on succession? And which roles play identity and family member identification during the succession process? This book expands our knowledge on succession and prepares the grounds for a holistic view of succession in family businesses. Its first contribution is a systematic, replicable, and scientific review and consolidation of the theoretical and empirical literature on succession of the last 18 years into a transparent, logical, and in-depth framework. Furthermore, by analyzing the business and the family dimension in the context of succession, this book aims at detecting different succession patterns in family businesses and analyzes which factors influence the nature of successful succession processes. Besides its scientific contribution, this book helps family businesses and business families to better understand mechanisms happening during succession and enables them to identify and to understand their individual succession pattern. The findings of this book are based on a qualitative study conducted in the German Wine Industry. The sample consists of 21 family-owned and -managed German wineries, being, on average, in their 11th generation of existence. 37 semi-structured interviews held with both generations of one family if possible, translated into 695 pages of raw data. This data was coded and analyzed following a grounded theory approach.

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.

This book disputes the traditional argument that the equal inheritance system hinders the growth of Chinese family business, approaching this not only in terms of economic capital, but also in terms of human capital such as education and leadership, and social networks. Zheng argues that most of the family business patriarchs only focus on the passing on economic capital, but give little attention to human capital and social capital when the come to the stage to transfer control to the next level. It further elaborates that the equal inheritance system itself isn’t the destructive force that weakens family business competitiveness, but can assist economic development by generating dynamism and capital. Based on extensive primary research, the work discusses how equal division encourages sibling comparison, analysing how such comparisons initially generate stress and anxiety but will ultimately galvanize competition, benefiting the business. The author also assesses how family division can offer initial economic human and social capitals that can motivate siblings to start their own businesses and be free from the subjugation sometimes associated with a family firm. Through the evaluation of these issues the book argues that the equal inheritance system can be regarded as the origin of the self-employment mentality, which not only fosters the growth of Chinese family business by plays crucial role in promoting economic development. Providing a valuable contribution to the field, this work will be of great interest to all scholars of Chinese and Asian business.