IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v43y2008i4p385-399.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Private firms in China: Building legitimacy in an emerging economy

Author

Listed:
  • Ahlstrom, David
  • Bruton, Garry D.
  • Yeh, Kuang S.

Abstract

Firms are legitimized by their environments if they survive and prosper. But firms can also proactively build legitimacy to enhance their long-term growth prospects. This is vital for private firms based on emerging economies given the weak protection for private property. This article examines ways in which private firms in China build legitimacy for themselves and their industries. Through field interviews with firm founders and top managers in China various legitimization strategies and the conditions under which they can be used are examined. The authors also conducted follow-up interviews in Taiwan to investigate legitimacy-building strategies there. Though more advanced, Taiwan's economy shares many cultural traditions with Mainland China, and it presents firms with similar legitimacy-related challenges. Interviews with managers of multinationals operating in China were also conducted to determine what they are learning from the legitimization strategies of the indigenous Chinese firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahlstrom, David & Bruton, Garry D. & Yeh, Kuang S., 2008. "Private firms in China: Building legitimacy in an emerging economy," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 385-399, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:43:y:2008:i:4:p:385-399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951608000035
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric W. K. Tsang, 1996. "In Search of Legitimacy: The Private Entrepreneur in China," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 21(1), pages 21-30, October.
    2. Ahlstrom, David & Bruton, Garry D. & Lui, Steven S. Y., 2000. "Navigating China's changing economy: Strategies for private firms," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 5-15.
    3. Andrew Delios & Zhi Jian Wu & Nan Zhou, 2006. "A New Perspective on Ownership Identities in China's Listed Companies," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 2(3), pages 319-343, November.
    4. Kumar, Rajesh & Rangan, U. Srinivasa & Rufín, Carlos, 2005. "Negotiating complexity and legitimacy in independent power project development," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 302-320, August.
    5. Ed Clark & Anna Soulsby, 1999. "The Adoption of the Multi‐divisional Form in Large Czech Enterprises: The Role of Economic, Institutional and Strategic Factors," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 535-559, July.
    6. Mike Peng & Jessie Zhou, 2005. "How Network Strategies and Institutional Transitions Evolve in Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 321-336, December.
    7. Kumar, Sanjiv & Thacker-Kumar, Leena, 1996. "Investing in India: Strategies for tackling bureaucratic hurdles," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 10-16.
    8. Hisrich, Robert D. & Grachev, Mikhail V., 1993. "The Russian entrepreneur," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(6), pages 487-497, November.
    9. Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev & Robert E. Hoskisson & Mike W. Peng, 2005. "Strategy Research in Emerging Economies: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 1-33, January.
    10. Blake E. Ashforth & Barrie W. Gibbs, 1990. "The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 177-194, May.
    11. Chong-En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "The Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform: Empirical Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 353-357, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiangyong Lu & Bin Xu & Xiaohui Liu, 2009. "The Effects of Corporate Governance and Institutional Environments on Export Behaviour in Emerging Economies," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 455-478, September.
    2. Guo, Hai & Xu, Erming & Jacobs, Mark, 2014. "Managerial political ties and firm performance during institutional transitions: An analysis of mediating mechanisms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 116-127.
    3. Zhang, Hongjuan & Young, Michael N. & Tan, Justin & Sun, Weizheng, 2018. "How Chinese companies deal with a legitimacy imbalance when acquiring firms from developed economies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 752-767.
    4. Danis, Wade M. & De Clercq, Dirk & Petricevic, Olga, 2011. "Are social networks more important for new business activity in emerging than developed economies? An empirical extension," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 394-408, August.
    5. Lu, Jiangyong & Xu, Bin & Liu, Xiaohui, 2007. "The Effects of Corporate Governance and Institutional Environments on Export Behaviour: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms," MPRA Paper 6600, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Mbalyohere, Charles & Lawton, Thomas & Boojihawon, Roshan & Viney, Howard, 2017. "Corporate political activity and location-based advantage: MNE responses to institutional transformation in Uganda’s electricity industry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 743-759.
    7. Sihai Li & Yi Quan & Gary Gang Tian & Kun Tracy Wang & Stella Huiying Wu, 2022. "Academy fellow independent directors and innovation," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 103-148, March.
    8. Jie Wu & Hongxin Zhao, 2015. "The Dual Effects of State Ownership on Export Activities of Emerging Market Firms: An Inducement–Constraint Perspective," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 421-451, June.
    9. Liu, Xiaohui & Gao, Lan & Lu, Jiangyong & Lioliou, Eleni, 2016. "Environmental risks, localization and the overseas subsidiary performance of MNEs from an emerging economy," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 356-368.
    10. Mike Wright, 2007. "Venture capital in China: A view from Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 269-281, September.
    11. Wang, Chengqi & Kafouros, Mario & Yi, Jingtao & Hong, Junjie & Ganotakis, Panagiotis, 2020. "The role of government affiliation in explaining firm innovativeness and profitability in emerging countries: Evidence from China," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    12. Mike Peng & Jessie Zhou, 2005. "How Network Strategies and Institutional Transitions Evolve in Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 321-336, December.
    13. Majid Ghorbani & Michael Carney, 2016. "The changing face of China’s billionaire-entrepreneurs," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 881-902, December.
    14. Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles & Ramya Aroul & Sunny Sun & Yu-Shan Su, 2007. "The adolescence of Asia management research: APJM, 1997–2006," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 467-489, December.
    15. Garry Bruton & Gregory Dess & Jay Janney, 2007. "Knowledge management in technology-focused firms in emerging economies: Caveats on capabilities, networks, and real options," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 115-130, June.
    16. Zhang, Yanlong & Zhao, Wei & Ge, Jianhua, 2016. "Institutional duality and political strategies of foreign-invested firms in an emerging economy," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 451-462.
    17. Bersant Hobdari & Peter Gammeltoft & Jing Li & Klaus Meyer, 2017. "The home country of the MNE: The case of emerging economy firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 1-17, March.
    18. Lei Li & Zhiang Lin & Bindu Arya, 2008. "The turtle–hare race story revisited: Social capital and resource accumulation for firms from emerging economies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 251-275, June.
    19. Jessie Zhou & Mike Peng, 2010. "Relational exchanges versus arm’s-length transactions during institutional transitions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 355-370, September.
    20. Chang, Eric C. & Wong, Sonia M.L., 2009. "Governance with multiple objectives: Evidence from top executive turnover in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 230-244, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:43:y:2008:i:4:p:385-399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.