Table of Contents

1. China’s Entrepreneurial Transformation

2. China’s Entrepreneurs and Private Enterprises

3. The Evolution and Emergence of Entrepreneurship in China

4. Models of Entrepreneurship in China

5. China’s Market Dynamics. Domestic Competition and International Expansion

6. Financing Entrepreneurship in China

7. Chinese Business Culture and Entrepreneurship

8. Dealing with the Government

9. Doing Business with Chinese Entrepreneurs

10. The Future of Entrepreneurship in China

About the Author

Andrew Atherton is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Lancaster University in the UK. Previously, he was Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Lincoln, and before that worked at Durham University as Head of Department and Director of the Policy Research Unit within the Small Business Centre. He speaks Chinese, having studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University, and has been working on enterprise development and policy projects in China since 1997.


Alex Newman is Professor of Management and Associate Dean (International) for the Faculty of Business and Law, at Deakin University, Australia. Prior to joining Deakin, he worked at Monash University, Australia for three years. From the period 2004 to 2012, he worked at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo China for 8 years.

Reviews

'This is a must-read book! Those seeking to understand China and its role in the world economy are treated to a brilliant, deeply thoughtful, yet terrifically engaging story of how entrepreneurship in China has emerged, its unique characteristics and how it is pushing China towards the future. Highly recommended for anyone seeking to understand China and entrepreneurship!' – Assistant Professor Charles Eesley, Stanford University, Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford Technology Ventures Program'China’s recent emergence as an economic power is a testament to the potential of entrepreneurship and new venture creation to help transform an economy. Since China’s reforms of the late 1970s, both GDP and personal incomes have risen dramatically, and hundreds of millions have escaped poverty. Yet there is still much to do as many in China remain very poor and economic reforms still at times seem tenuous. Thus, the timing of this fine new book by Professors Andrew Atherton and Alexander Newman could not be better. Much is known about Chinese entrepreneurs and Chinese entrepreneurship, and this information needs to be disseminated widely to students and managers, both inside and outside of China. Entrepreneurship in China provides a very thorough coverage of this important topic. In particular, it is very helpful in assisting readers in understanding the key philosophical and ideological underpinnings of Chinese culture, and how these and other cultural dimensions help to explain business practices in China and even among overseas Chinese. Entrepreneurship in China is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand business in China, and especially how China has built its vibrant private sector over the past several decades.' – Professor David Ahlstrom, Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong'The emergence of the private sector, and of entrepreneurs, in China has been one of the key features of economic growth and reform. In this timely book, Andrew Atherton and Alex Newman examine the dynamics of this emergence, and propose that the vitality of the private sector is essential for China’s future economic growth. This makes economic conditions inside China, and government policy, important, in that the right environment will enable entrepreneurship. In the early years of reform, entrepreneurs succeeded despite conditions that hampered their emergence. In the future, they can ensure China continues to grow, and will be more able to do this if they are promoted and recognised as a key driver of the economy. The authors make this case well, and succinctly, and frame their analysis within the context of China. They also look at how the private sector works, and how entrepreneurs in China do business within that country's distinctive cultural and social framework. This is a great book to understand the emergence of entrepreneurship in China, and essential reading for researchers, businesspeople and policymakers. If you read this, you will understand in more depth how today’s China has emerged, and what it will look like in the future.' – Professor Justin Yifu Lin, Director of the Centre for New Structural Economics and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development, Peking University; Former Chief Economist at the World Bank'[…] the book is very clearly written indeed and is likely to appeal to both undergraduates, as well as postgraduate students interested in Chinese business, economics and management, in its paperback version. It is also very much up to date and is reasonably short in length. It can be recommended to those who have a specialist interest in China, as well as to those who have a peripheral one, as well as to faculty librarians. That all said, it well deserves to be translated into Chinese as soon as possible.' — Asia Pacific Business Review, Volume 24, Issue 5'China’s entrepreneurial culture is well known, but rarely has it been so precisely dissected and analyzed as in this book. An examination of development, context, form, people, governance and future of Chinese entrepreneurship, it is a highly useful examination of one of the key components underlying China’s rise.' — Business Tianjin, March 2018