Getting Rich and Staying Connected: The Organizational Medium of Chinese Capitalists

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-2009

Abstract

This article answers the following question: 'What is the organizational medium that has allowed a few Chinese businesspeople in East and Southeast Asia to accumulate considerable wealth and economic power?' In the course of giving an answer, we show the organizational differences between traditional business networks in the late Qing and early Republican periods and the Chinese business networks in modern capitalist Asia. We argue that, throughout the twentieth century, Chinese business people outside of China proper began to adapt Western corporate structures for their own purposes and that this organizational innovation allowed Chinese to develop and sustain personal networks through which wealth and power could be concentrated.

Keywords

Chinese businessmen, organizational medium, organizational innovation, wealth accumulation, East Asia, South East Asia

Discipline

Asian Studies | Political Economy

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

Journal of Contemporary China

Volume

18

Issue

58

First Page

47

Last Page

67

ISSN

1067-0564

Identifier

10.1080/10670560802431552

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/10670560802431552

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