Wuhan University
Wuhan, China
April 21, 2017
09:00-18:00
Organized by
School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University
Lancaster University Management School
Special Issue Guest Editors:
Qihai Huang, Lancaster University Management School, UK
Xueyuan (Adrian) Liu, Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, China
Jun Li, Essex Business School, University of Essex, UK
About the Workshop:
China has become the world’s second largest economy in merely three decades and entrepreneurship has been identified as a key driver of China’s fast growth (Huang, 2010). The China Surveys of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in the last fifteen years consistently indicate the country’s high rate of entrepreneurship. Furthermore, China has been in transition from the predominance of necessity-based entrepreneurship to that of opportunity- based entrepreneurship since the mid-2000s. In the meantime, more Chinese entrepreneurs have started setting their sights on business internationalisation. Against the backdrop of a thriving entrepreneurial economy, China has also been experiencing economic slowdown, increase in inequality and worsening environmental problems since the turn of the century. While entrepreneurship has certainly offered solutions to the economic, social and environmental challenges the country is facing, entrepreneurship may also arguably be part and parcel of those problems in the first place.
Clearly, the rapid development of entrepreneurship in China presents a lot of ‘puzzling’ questions that the growing literature of Chinese entrepreneurship still has no answer (Huang, 2010; Zhou, 2011). In addition to the above mentioned paradox of national versus local environment, other puzzles and new development provide excellent opportunities for scholarship. For example, how entrepreneurs in China are able to thrive in an environment in which institutional void and ‘rule ambiguities’ persist? How has entrepreneurship developed and what mechanisms have supported its progress, especially since the Chinese government called for a new wave of “mass entrepreneurship and grassroots entrepreneurship”? In a highly unequal society, is inequality the cause or effect of entrepreneurship in China? And, what role has the locale (for example, local government) played in the development of entrepreneurship and what processes might impact on the progress of the move towards an entrepreneurial society? These are just some of the questions which might help us to understand the complexity of entrepreneurship in the China context.
In summary, more systematic and in-depth research is needed for a better understanding of entrepreneurship in China, in particular by taking more account of China context (Meyer, 2007; Su et al., 2015). Taking “context” seriously (Johns, 2006) may significantly advance the theoretical development of entrepreneurship (Zahra, 2007). Therefore, the special issue aims to seek original research that will help build a more informed theoretical account of entrepreneurship in the context of China.
Possible topics and questions are included in but not limited to the following:
l The impact of formal and informal institutions on entrepreneurship
l Entrepreneurial interactions between entrepreneurs
l Social capital/guanxi and entrepreneurship
l Small firm problems and solutions/growth and contractions
l Regional differences and consequences of entrepreneurship
l Entrepreneurial competition and collaboration
l Internet entrepreneurship
l Internationalisation of small and medium sized firms
l Formal and informal finance for small firms
l Entrepreneurial growth and entrepreneurial exit
About the Special Issue:
Authors whose extended abstracts are accepted will be invited to submit full papers and react to their colleagues’ papers during the workshop. Please be noted that presentation at the workshop does not guarantee acceptance of the paper for publication in the special issue, and attending the workshop is not a precondition for acceptance into the Special Issue.
After the workshop, papers suitable for publication in the special issue will be double-blind reviewed, following the E&RD’s review process guidelines. For additional guidelines, please see ‘Instructions for Authors’: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/tepnauth.asp. or in a recent issue of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development.
Registration and Accommodations:
There is no registration fee for this workshop. Free meals will be provided during the workshop. Participants need to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.
Contact Information:
For any questions, please contact
Conference Venue:
School of Economics and Management, Room A204, Wuhan University
No.299 Bayi Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, China
Keynote Speaker:
Professor Alistair Anderson, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Editor-in-Chief of E&RD, Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University, UK
Professor Garry Bruton, Professor of Management, Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, USA
