Journal of Enterprising Culture

Just as a catfish placed in a tank will by its vigorous activity oxygenate the water and energise the other fish, so the private sector¹ in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is stimulating progress in other aspects of the economy. It is suggested that the changes, which include the creation of a new entrepreneurial class; setting a model for “capital operations” in the transition to a market economy; accelerating the formation of a competitive climate and acting as a pioneer, are contributing greatly to the development of the PRC. The paper concludes that the private sector provides a new dynamic force and is unlikely to be abolished again.

This paper is based on a study of a sample of small manufacturing firms operating in the Kobe region of Japan. On the basis of the perceptions of owner/managers, the study attempts to identify a set of variables that may contribute to the growth of small firms. The results of the study indicate that good customer relations, high quality of products and skilful workers have been identified by respondents as the most important contributors to the growth of these firms. The other highly contributing factors in their order of ranking are efficiency of manager(s), owner’s knowledge and experience, good labour relations, competitive prices of products, systematic planning for the future, and owner’s active participation in management. However, some of the results of this study are attributable, at least partly, to the different nature of Japanese industrial structure and their unique management philosophy. This shows that the degree of effectiveness of the factors contributing to the growth of small manufacturing firms may vary from country to country.

The objective of the study was to obtain more knowledge regarding the start-up characteristics of a new entrepreneurial firm as determinants of the future success of the firm both in the short term and in the long term. Accordingly, the following groups of variables were examined: the motives for the founding of the firms, the formulation of the business idea of the firms, and the initial behavioral characteristics of the firms. Market-orientedness and a new product idea distinguished the successful firms from the unsuccessful firms in the short-term but not in the long-term. The firms successful in the long term stated that their competitors operated by imitating their products. These successful firms concentrated on what they were good at. Basing the business idea of a new firm on good availability of labour did not lead to success.

Russia, East Germany, and India are just a few of the many countries around the world which have opened up their economies to global trade in the last decade. This trend has forced organizations, especially state-owned enterprises, to face a changing environment, one driven by innovation, efficiency, competition, and marketing. Privatization of these enterprises has been taking place at record speed. National and multinational organizations have replaced state-owned operations in hopes of boosting a nation’s interantional competitiveness and economic growth. However, privatization alone will not solve the many problems created by open market trade. The vitality of these economies may well depend on the nation’s ability to foster its own entrepreneurial sector of small businesses. Continual training of these business is needed to ensure economic goals are reached. Each nation must determine the training needs of these businesses through needs analysis studies. A framework, based on a study conducted for the South Texas Regional Small Business Development Center (SBDC) located in San Antonio, Texas, is provided. Results indicate that the most frequently cited problem areas by small businesses fall into two general categories: Finance and Governmental Relations. The level of concern for the areas identified has been found to vary by the age of the business. However, the need for basic business skills, such as marketing, finance, and accounting, is ever present in differing degrees of specialization. Seminars and a mixture of communicational tools were found to be the most effective delivery system for the information required by businesses in the region. In addition, factor analysis was used to group together specific problematic areas for small businesses in the region. Seven dimensions were identified and include the following: Work force development, financing and legal issues, marketing, technology issues, daily operations, and selling.

As Hong Kong manufacturers accelerate to shift their operations to China and cease or contract. Their operations in Hong Kong, many of them are taking advantage of the limitation of a source jurisdiction to team up with Chinese companies and escape the Hong Kong tax net. This relocation exercise of their manufacturing base not only allows the Hong Kong manufacturers to enjoy the preferential tax concessions for foreign investors and lower cost of production in mainland China, but also depletes the public coffers to the Hong Kong Government. We therefore postulate two hypotheses: (1) there is a negative association between the business operations in China and those in Hong Kong, and (2) there is a negative association between the business operations in China and the related Hong Kong profits tax liability. A questionnaire survey was carried out to collect data on the level of activities in both China and Hong Kong, in particular data from Hong Kong manufacturers on their Hong Kong profits tax liability. Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The result supports that the higher the level of business operations in China, the lower the level of business operations in Hong Kong. It also reveals that the higher the level of business operations in China, the lower the related Hong Kong profits tax liability. The issue of tax base erosion is a case for Hong Kong to review its principle of taxing only profits locally generated.

Like many other countries, Sweden is putting a lot of effort into the development of effective support for small firms. This has resulted in the emergence of a number of programmes intended to increase the number and quality of start-ups and to improve their chances of survival and further growth. In the development of support programmes, it is important to be aware of potential barriers on the demand side (the perceived benefit of taking part in programmes) as well as on the supply side (the support organisation’s ability to develop satisfactory programmes). This paper presents the preliminary results of a survey of 158 technology-based firms in and around Linköping, Sweden. The focus of this research was to study the dynamics of the firm’s participation in the support programmes. The firm’s attitude towards support programmes, how the gap between demand and supply occurs, as well as, how this gap could be bridged to achieve effective support activities was studied. The results showed that the supply-demand gap became apparent when the firm’s situation was compared to its participation in various programmes. The implications of the study are that the support organisations should be focused on the firms’ real needs, that they should facilitate communication between their organisation and the small firm sector and should secure a supply of good programme managers.