Edward Elgar Publishing Entrepreneurship and the Internationalisation of Asian Firms: An Institutional Perspective (New Horizons in International Business series)

Entrepreneurs engaging in international business face business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This book applies an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship to empirical investigations of transnational corporations (TNCs) from Hong Kong and Singapore. Henry Wai-chung Yeung argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational business networks. This is illustrated by empirical data from two in-depth studies of over 300 TNCs from Hong Kong and Singapore and over 120 of their foreign affiliates in Asia. Entrepreneurship and the Internationalisation of Asian Firms is a timely contribution to theoretical and empirical studies in international business and will be widely read by those interested in international business, industrial economics, organisation studies, political economy, regional studies and economic geography. Review ‘. . . this is an impressive book which represents a considerable amount of original research into the nature of Hong Kong and Singapore’s economies and more importantly into how economic globalization actually takes place. Yeung’s analysis is clear, thorough and well-argued and the conclusions he draws are powerful.’ -- Andrew Jones, Economic Geography Research Group ‘As significant as its empirical contributions are, however, this book is not merely detailed empirical research, but a sustained theoretical argument for the relevance of an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. . . its theoretical and empirical contributions are considerable. . .’ -- Jim Glassman, Economic Geography ‘The author has done important work by studying entrepreneurs in an institutional context rather than considering them as individuals, and this has the effect of situating entrepreneurs within a culture and a business system, not treating them – as is common in literature on the subject – as extraordinary individuals who are somehow “outside” their business systems. The net result is a book which is valuable on several different levels.’ -- Morgen Witzel, Asia Pacific Business Review ‘This is a stimulating volume on the emerging subject area of international entrepreneurship. . . the specific application to transnational entrepreneurship makes this a significant addition to the literature, particularly given its strong conceptual underpinnings, which provide an institutional perspective on entrepreneurial activities across boarders. . . . Henry Wai-Chung Yeung states that his objective was to stimulate further theoretical and empirical studies in entrepreneurship and international business studies. By this criterion, he has certainly succeeded, and Edward Elgar is to be congratulated on publishing this work within its impressive series on New Horizons in International Business.’ -- Stephen Young, International Small Business Journal About the Author Henry Wai-chung Yeung, Professor of Economic Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore