ABSTRACT

The role of ethnic Chinese business in Southeast Asia in catalyzing economic development has been hotly debated - and often misunderstood - throughout cycles of boom and bust.
This book critically examines some of the key features attributed to Chinese business: business-government relations, the family firm, trust and networks, and supposed 'Asian' values. The in-depth case studies that feature in the book reveal considerable diversity among these firms and the economic and political networks in which they manoeuvre.
With contributions from leading scholars and under the impressive editorship of Jomo and Folk, Ethnic Business is a well-written, important contribution to not only students of Asian business and economics, but also professionals with an interest in those areas.

chapter |21 pages

The cultural limits of ‘Confucian capitalism'

Power and the invention of the family among Chinese traders in Sarawak1

chapter |19 pages

All are flexible, but some are more flexible than others

Small-scale Chinese businesses in Malaysia

chapter |29 pages

De-mythologizing Charoen Pokphand

An interpretive picture of the CP Group's growth and diversification