The role of market and entrepreneurship orientation and internal control in the new product development activities of Chinese firms

In this study, we build a systemic conceptual model to describe the relationship among firm orientation, internal control systems and new product development, and to test empirically how market and entrepreneurship orientations affect the degree of improvement in new product development through personal control and/or output control in the Chinese transitional economy. Our research findings provide some valuable insights into new product development. Entrepreneurship orientation not only has a direct positive effect on the degree of improvement in new product development, but also indirectly has a positive effect on it through personal control. At the same time, market orientation, through output control, has a negative indirect influence.     

Venture capital in China: Past,present, and future

This article reviews the literature on venture capital in China and examines where China’s venture capital industry has been and where it is likely to go in the future. Since the 1980s, venture capital in China has grown steadily alongside the robust national economy. The future is likely to offer even greater opportunities, as entrepreneurs are encouraged and property rights improve. However, there will also be a period of transition as the market continues to mature and as new legal structures and commercial arrangements emerge. Venture capital in China has many interesting differences from that in Western countries. The venture capital industry is shaped by the institutional context and China is no exception to this. This article also examines some specific differences between the system in China and that of the United States. Future prospects for venture capital are also appraised as China continues its transition to a market economy.

Non-farm entrepreneurship in rural sub-Saharan Africa: New empirical evidence

We report on the prevalence and patterns of non-farm enterprises in six sub-Saharan African countries, and study their performance in terms of labor productivity, survival and exit, using the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). Rural households operate enterprises due to both push and pull factors and tend to do so predominantly in easy-to-enter activities, such as sales and trade, rather than in activities that require higher starting costs, such as transport services, or educational investment, such as professional services. Labor productivity differs widely: rural and female-headed enterprises, those located further away from population centers, and businesses that operate intermittently have lower levels of labor productivity compared to urban and male-owned enterprises, or enterprises that operate throughout the year. Finally, rural enterprises exit the market primarily due to a lack of profitability or finance, and due to idiosyncratic shocks.     

从高速增长走向和谐发展的中国经济

本文将中国经济快速增长的影响因素归结为7方面:工业化和城市化的快速推进为中国经济长期高速增长提供了充足动力;大众消费时代来临,消费需求成为支撑中国经济持续高速增长最稳定的因素;对外开放的深化,对中国经济具有重要推动作用;高储蓄为中国经济持续高速增长提供了充足的资金保证;丰富的劳动力供给和日益提高的劳动力素质成为中国经济持续高速增长的基本要素;技术进步是中国经济持续高速增长的重要因素;“中国模式”的经济体制改革成就了中国经济的奇迹。同时,本文认为中国经济发展面临结构失衡的压力、来自分配差距扩大的压力、面临资源和环境方面的压力和人口快速老龄化的压力。综观中国经济的全局,支撑经济快速增长的因素还没有改变,只要我们认真贯彻落实科学发展观,坚持以人为本,坚持全面协调和可持续发展,认真对待、妥善处理好发展中的各种矛盾和问题,在未来10—15年时期里,中国经济继续保持7%以上的增长速度是完全可以做到的。但是,从现在所处的发展阶段和面临的问题看,今后中国最为重要、最为迫切的是要在科学发展观的统领下保持和谐发展,更加重视协调发展,更加重视经济增长的质量和效益,更加重视结构优化,更加重视深层次的改革。     

Contractual arrangements and enforcement in transition agriculture: Theory and evidence from China

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between contractual arrangements and their enforcement in Chinese agriculture. Based on an analysis of a survey of 100 agribusiness firms engaged in contract farming in Zhejiang province of China, we find that private contract enforcement mechanisms play an important role in influencing smallholders’ decisions to breach or fulfill contracts. Contract arrangements such as floor pricing, or requiring smallholders to make specific investments facilitate self-enforcement and significantly improve the smallholder’s contract fulfillment rate. This is particularly important in Chinese agriculture since the business environment is characterized by an absence of effective public enforcement institutions.     

Institutions and entrepreneurship development: High-technology indigenous firms in China and Taiwan

This study takes an inductive approach in analyzing the roles played by the state, the market, and the social sector in indigenous entrepreneurship development. Data collected from six high-technology companies in China and Taiwan serve to broaden our prior knowledge on how the three institutions work collectively in nourishing indigenous firms at three stages of entrepreneurship development. At the start-up stage, the state influences a firm’s entrepreneurial motivation by creating contexts, providing necessary financial resources, and setting up policy hurdles. At the growth stage, the social sector facilitates technology transfer to indigenous firms and protects them from lawsuits filed by multinational corporations. At the mature stage, the market allows multinational corporations to either enhance or destroy the technological capabilities of local firms. These findings provide strong theoretical and policy implications.     

Export intensity and marketing in transition economies: Evidence from China

Firms in transition economies face a common adaptation problem of having to compete within increasingly marketized environments. This creates a need for managers to learn skills associated with marketing, such as those pertaining to the development of new and better products. Although distance is usually a barrier to learning, we propose that in exchange situations involving transition economy firms, the benefits of long-distance trade may outweigh the costs of knowledge acquisition. We find support for this proposition in this study by establishing a link between the export intensity of Chinese exporters and their acquisition of marketing know-how. We also find evidence that the marketing knowledge of transition economy firms has a positive effect on overall performance.     

经济和谐发展下的中国制造业区域转移研究：一个全球化视角

由中国工业化进程来看,制造业区域转移是实现中国地区间经济和谐发展的重要途径。文章在借助改进梯度系数分析中国区域间制造业发展基础上,指出了中国制造业区域间产业转移的路径和存在的问题,并从全球的视角提出了中国目前需要重新寻找新的国际产业转移动力源,并应对宏观经济政策作出相应调整的观点。同时,国内区域间产业转移需要产业和产业链不同环节转移相结合,在转移过程中政府要加强合作,让市场发挥更重要作用。     

对中国双头型经济发展模式的理论质疑

本文主要回顾了从雁行模式到中国双头型经济发展模式的理论发展，对中国双头型经济发展模式是否成立的理论基础——龙头产业进行了重新定义，并对龙头产业的判别标准——贸易特化系数(TSC)是否有效进行了探讨。在对中国经济是否已经达到经济转换点的问题进行论述之后，本文提出了关于中国经济发展模式的总体构想。     

The development of entrepreneurship in Chinese communities: An organizational symbiosis perspective

Why has the rate of entrepreneurship recently gone down in Singapore? Why is entrepreneurship in Southern China (e.g., Guangdong or Fujian provinces) relatively higher than in the rest of China? Why is corruption rampant in some Chinese business communities but virtually nonexistent in others? Although we often speak of ??Chinese entrepreneurship?? as a monolithic entity, the fact is that there are many variants of Chinese entrepreneurship and these variants continue to rapidly evolve and take on new forms. Yet mainstream management or organizational theories have been at a loss to explain these high rates of variation and evolution. To shed light on these issues, we introduce the idea of symbiosis from biology and adapt it to the development of entrepreneurship in Chinese ethnic communities. Symbiosis is the science of how different organisms coexist with each other in a self-sustaining system. Using this approach, we develop six propositions to explain what types of entrepreneurship are likely to evolve in different Chinese ethnic communities and how this process of evolution is likely to proceed. The implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

中国矿业城市经济发展状况分析

本文选择了我国 51个矿业城市 ,以现有统计资料为依据 ,从经济发展水平、产业结构、所有制结构与外向度、经济发展效率、技术进步、财政状况等几个方面系统分析了矿业城市的动态特性、演变规律及其形成的原因。结果显示 ,矿业城市与一般城市之间、不同类型矿业城市之间 ,其经济发展的效益与效率存在很大的差异性。     

Antecedents and consequences of the strategic orientations in new product development: The case of Chinese manufacturers

The objective of the present study is to advance the understanding of the role of the strategic orientation of the firm for successful new product development (NPD), in the context of Chinese manufacturing firms. Through field research accompanied by a review of the related literature, this study identifies customer orientation and technology orientation as crucial strategic components that are important to successful new product development. This research proposes a conceptual model of strategic orientations, in which firm-internal (organizational support) and -external (environmental turbulence) factors are expected to influence strategic orientations, which, in turn, impact NPD performance. The model is tested using data collected from a large-scale survey of 232 manufacturing firms in China. The results largely support the hypotheses derived from the conceptual model. First, organizational support and environmental turbulence have a positive influence on the implementation of strategic orientations. Second, the two strategic orientations show a different pattern of performance implications.     

Enablers and inhibitors of the development of network capability in entrepreneurial firms: A study of the Irish micro-brewing network

Focusing on the Irish micro-brewing industry, this paper identifies and describes the factors that both enable and inhibit the entrepreneurial firm's development of its network capability. The empirical research entailed in-depth interviews with the entire network of micro-brewery entrepreneurs in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland comprising nineteen firms. Using multiple levels of network analysis, findings illustrate the complexity of network capability development. The factors inhibiting the development of network capability were found to outweigh the ones enabling it. Past network experience, information sharing and participation in coordinated consumer events represent some of the factors found to enable network capability. Conversely, a desire for control over decision making, a lack of knowledge sharing or joint problem solving and the perception of value chain activity links and resources as unnecessary inhibits network capability. The main contribution of the paper is a framework of factors enabling and inhibiting network capability based on a multi-level network analysis.     

Driving-market or market-driven? A case study analysis of the new product development practices of Chinese business-to-business firms

Our current understanding of NPD processes among Chinese firms is limited. Early evidence suggests that the drivers of new product success in the PRC might be different to those in the West. Much of the more recent (Western) literature implicitly identifies the importance of both driving-market and market-driven approaches to NPD success, although what this translates into in practice is less clear. Drawing on multiple case studies, we identify four types of NPD practice in Chinese B2B firms and explore the reasons for variation in performance between the four. Critically, the most successful firms were found to be those characterised by a driving-market approach, rather than those relying solely on relationships and reacting to changing market phenomena.     

Firm resources and entry-related advantages: An empirical study in China

The majority of research on order of market entry has focused on market pioneer advantages or the specialized assets that industry incumbents would need to possess. However, relatively little attention has been paid to whether and how certain firm resources or capabilities may provide latecomers with entry-related advantages. This issue is of particular interest when multinational organizations decide to enter emerging markets, such as China, where the transitional economy provides both opportunities and challenges. This study attempts to bridge this gap by discussing the entry-related advantages in terms of pioneer advantages, early follower advantages, and late entrant advantages, and by investigating how each of the entry-related advantages has unique impacts on market performance. In particular, this study examines the relations between innovation management, firm resources, entry-related advantages, and market performance simultaneously with cross-sectional data from 191 firms in China. Our findings reveal that technical resources and skills (R&S), marketing R&S, and market intelligence are associated with different advantages for market pioneers, early followers, and late entrants. Technical R&S is also found to have significant impacts on order of market entry as pioneers. Furthermore, the findings show that remarkable differences exist among the three entrant types (i.e., market pioneers, early followers, and late entrants) in their strategic approaches to attain market performance. We offer implications to foreign firms operating in China or intending to enter China's markets.     

中国能源战略评价

全球化和加入WTO，有助于中国从更大范围内解决中国的能源问题，从中国能源战略评价的角度来讲，中国能源安全问题的关键是实施石油安全战略。能源工业作为竞争性行业，必将融入到开放型经济体系中，市场化是中国能源工业发展的必然选择，中国未来能源政策的走向是国际化，利用国际，国内两个市场和两种资源，调整能源结构，协调全球和本国发展与能源及环境之间的关系，恰当地处理多种社会集团和人群利益主体与能源资源，生态环境之间错综复杂的关系，使之在良性循环的轨道上运行和发展。     

Developing theory from strategic management research in China

What are the main approaches to theory development based on strategic management research in China? What are some of the recent efforts in developing theory in this area? What is our recommended approach? To address these questions, this article outlines the three approaches to theory development in China research, articulates the Chinese context within the global economy, and highlights two streams of recent work as examples of following the recommended, integrative approach to theory development.     

2008年中国建筑业发展统计分析(上)

在翔实的统计数据基础上,从对建筑业产值、施工面积、企业数量和从业人员、劳动生产率、对外承包、经营效益等方面对2008年建筑业总体情况进行了分析;在此基础上,总结出2008年中国建筑业地区发展差异加大、建筑市场分布相对集中等六个方面的特点。     

我国县域经济可持续发展问题与对策探析

县域经济已经成为我国国民经济的重要组成部分。目前我国县域经济存在发展不平衡、产业层次和劳动力素质低下、自然资源浪费、生态环境恶化、产业要素缺乏、国家投入不合理等问题。我们应该制定县域经济的发展规划,加强对县域经济的分类指导;积极推进农业产业化,切实提高农民收入;提高劳动力素质;节约使用自然资源,保护生态环境;积极推进城镇化,促进城乡协调发展。