Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Network Effects, Cooperation and Entrepreneurial Innovation in China

Opper, Sonja LU and Nee, Victor (2015) In Asian Business & Management 14(4). p.283-302
Abstract
The rapid rise of an innovative private manufacturing economy in China challenges standard economic explanations of growth, which typically assume the existence of well-defined formal institutions such as property rights and company laws safeguarding investor and creditor interests. We highlight the social structure of cooperation that enables innovative activity in private manufacturing firms when formal property rights protection remains weak. We show how network effects linked to inter-firm cooperation in industrial clusters allowed private entrepreneurs to quickly develop reliable business norms to reduce the inherent risk of malfeasance and contract breach in formal and informal collaborative efforts. Survey data from a sample of 700... (More)
The rapid rise of an innovative private manufacturing economy in China challenges standard economic explanations of growth, which typically assume the existence of well-defined formal institutions such as property rights and company laws safeguarding investor and creditor interests. We highlight the social structure of cooperation that enables innovative activity in private manufacturing firms when formal property rights protection remains weak. We show how network effects linked to inter-firm cooperation in industrial clusters allowed private entrepreneurs to quickly develop reliable business norms to reduce the inherent risk of malfeasance and contract breach in formal and informal collaborative efforts. Survey data from a sample of 700 manufacturing firms located in China’s Yangzi Delta region confirms that both formal and informal types of inter-firm collaboration are effective, though in different areas of innovative activity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
China, informal cooperation, formal R&D agreements, entrepreneurship, innovation, network effects
in
Asian Business & Management
volume
14
issue
4
pages
283 - 302
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
external identifiers
  • wos:000360946700003
  • scopus:84940772946
ISSN
1476-9328
DOI
10.1057/abm.2015.11
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ba5a36c4-535e-4e60-aa6f-48644f06328e (old id 7866823)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:45:52
date last changed
2022-04-28 01:12:17
@article{ba5a36c4-535e-4e60-aa6f-48644f06328e,
  abstract     = {{The rapid rise of an innovative private manufacturing economy in China challenges standard economic explanations of growth, which typically assume the existence of well-defined formal institutions such as property rights and company laws safeguarding investor and creditor interests. We highlight the social structure of cooperation that enables innovative activity in private manufacturing firms when formal property rights protection remains weak. We show how network effects linked to inter-firm cooperation in industrial clusters allowed private entrepreneurs to quickly develop reliable business norms to reduce the inherent risk of malfeasance and contract breach in formal and informal collaborative efforts. Survey data from a sample of 700 manufacturing firms located in China’s Yangzi Delta region confirms that both formal and informal types of inter-firm collaboration are effective, though in different areas of innovative activity.}},
  author       = {{Opper, Sonja and Nee, Victor}},
  issn         = {{1476-9328}},
  keywords     = {{China; informal cooperation; formal R&D agreements; entrepreneurship; innovation; network effects}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{283--302}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Asian Business & Management}},
  title        = {{Network Effects, Cooperation and Entrepreneurial Innovation in China}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2111804/7868240}},
  doi          = {{10.1057/abm.2015.11}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}