Successful entrepreneurship in Hong Kong

The business performance of Chinese firms throughout the world is generally regarded as outstanding. It is also generally accepted in the literature that entrepreneurial business firms play a significant role in economic development of countries at every level of industrialization. Even though entrepreneurship is a major influencing factor for economic growth and development, the interpretation of this factor is still debatable. This paper examines the following factors which might influence the emergence of entrepreneuship: (1) economic; (2) non-economic; and (3) psychological. It then relates these factors to Chinese culture in an attempt to explain the apparent outstanding entrepreneurial skills of the Chinese people. As for economic factors, in Hong Kong the free open market and voluntary exchange provide freedom for distribution of income which in turn allows business practitioners to retain profits and accumulate wealth. Non-economic factors in Hong Kong include is blocked upward mobility in political channels in the colonial environment. This causes the Chinese to use economic mobility as an alternative. Psychological factors include the viewpoint that Chinese are more concerned about a sense of personal or individual achievement, power and influence than other cultures. This causes the Hong Kong Chinese to shift their achievement drives to business success and this encourages entrepreneurship.