Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T17:14:48.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Comparative Social Capital: Networks of Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists in China and Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Bat Batjargal*
Affiliation:
Harvard University, USA Peking University, China
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

I compare networks of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in China and Russia by examining professional social networks of software entrepreneurs and private equity investors from the perspectives of institutional theory and culture paradigm. In the empirical study, I draw on survey data from Beijing and Moscow based on interviews of 159 software entrepreneurs and 124 venture capital decisions. I found that professional networks of the Chinese software entrepreneurs are smaller, denser and more homogeneous in educational specializations, compared with the networks of Russian entrepreneurs. Furthermore, I found that both ties and interpersonal trust in the referral tie are stronger in China than in Russia.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2007

References

Agresti, A., & Agresti, B. 1978. Statistical analysis of qualitative variation. Sociological Methodology, 9: 204237.Google Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2001. Effects of networks on entrepreneurial performance in a transition economy: The case of Russia. In Reynolds, P.et al. (Eds.), Frontiers of entrepreneurship research: 97110. Cambridge, Mass: Babson College.Google Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2003a. Internet entrepreneurship in an emerging market: Networks and performance of Internet startups. In Nagao, D. H. (Ed.), Best paper proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (CD). Boulder, CO: The Academy of Management.Google Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2003b. Social capital and entrepreneurial performance in Russia: A longitudinal study. Organization Studies, 24: 535556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2004. Software entrepreneurship: Knowledge networks and performance of software ventures in emerging economies. Working paper, # 751. Ann Arbor, Mich: William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan Business School.Google Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2005. Entrepreneurial versatility, resources and firm performance in Russia: A panel study. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 5(3/4): 284287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2006. The dynamics of entrepreneurial networks in a transition economy: The case of Russia. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 18(4): 305320.Google Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2007a. Network triads: Transitivity, referral, and venture capital decisions in China and Russia. Journal of International Business Studies (in press).Google Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2007b. Internet entrepreneurship: Social capital, human capital, and performance of Internet ventures in China. Research Policy, 36: 605618.Google Scholar
Batjargal, B., & Liu, M. 2004. Entrepreneurs' access to private equity in China: The role of social capital. Organization Science, 15(2): 159172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bian, Y. 1997. Bringing strong ties back in: Indirect ties, network bridges, and job searches in China. American Sociological Review, 62: 366385.Google Scholar
Blanchard, O., & Kremer, M. 1997. Disorganization. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(4): 10911126.Google Scholar
Borgatti, S., & Cross, R. 2003. A relational view of information seeking and learning in social networks. Management Science, 49: 432445.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. 1986. The forms of capital. In Richardson, J. (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education: 241258. New York: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Brass, D. 1985. Men's and women's networks: A study of interaction patterns and influence in an organization. Academy of Management Journal, 28: 327343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, D., Galaskiewicz, J., Greve, H., & Tsai, W. 2004. Taking stock of networks and organizations: A multilevel perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 47(6): 795817.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. 1992. Structural Holes, the social structure of competition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R., Hogarth, R., & Michaud, C. 2000. The social capital of French and American managers. Organization Science, 11: 123147.Google Scholar
Child, J., & Mollering, G. 2003. Contextual confidence and active trust development in the Chinese business environment. Organization Science, 14(1): 6980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colyvas, J., & Powell, W. 2006. Roads to institutionalization: The remaking of boundaries between public and private science. In Staw, B. (Ed.), Research in organizational behavoir: Vol. 27, 305353. JAI Press.Google Scholar
Dai, J. 2002. Newly born private enterprise owners in China. Social Sciences in China, 23: 124134.Google Scholar
Djankov, S., Qian, Y., Roland, G., & Zhuravskaya, E. 2006. Entrepreneurship in China and Russia compared. Journal of European Economic Association, 4(2-3): 352365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Droege, S., & Johnson, N. 2007. Broken rules and constrained confusion: Toward a theory of meso-institutions. Management and Organization Review, 3(1): 81104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efremova, T. 2000. Novyi Slovar' Russkogo Yazyka, tolkovo-slovoobrazitel'nyi, 2. Moscow: Russkii Yazyk Press.Google Scholar
Farh, L., Tsui, A., Xin, K., & Cheng, B. 1998. The influence of relational demography and guanxi: The Chinese case. Organization Science, 9(4): 471488.Google Scholar
Fu, P., Tsui, A., & Dess, G. 2006. The dynamics of guanxi in Chinese high tech firms: Implications for knowledge management and decision-making. Management International Review, 46(3): 277305.Google Scholar
Gambetta, D. 1990. Can we trust trust? In Gambetta, D. (Ed.), Trust: Making and breaking cooperative relations: 213237. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Graham, L., & Kantor, J. 2006. A Comparison of two cultural approaches to mathematics, France and Russia, 1890-1930. Isis, 97: 5674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guseva, A., & Rona-Tas, A. 2001. Uncertainty, risk, and trust: Russian and American credit card markets compared. American Sociological Review, 66: 623646.Google Scholar
Hitt, M., Ahlstrom, D., Dacin, T., Levitas, E., & Svobodina, L. 2004. The institutional effects on strategic alliance partner selection in transition economies: China versus Russia. Organization Science, 15(2): 173185.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. 1984. The cultural relativity of the quality of life concept. The Academy of Management Review, 9(3): 389398.Google Scholar
King, A. 1991. Kuan-hsi and network building: A sociological interpretation. Daedalus, 120(2): 6384.Google Scholar
Ledeneva, A. 1998. Russia's economy of favors: Blat, networking and informal exchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lin, N. 2001. Guanxi: A conceptual analysis. In So, A., Lin, N., & Poston, D. (Eds.), The Chinese triangle of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, comparative institutional analysis: 153166. London: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Marsden, P. 1990. Network data and measurement. Annual Review of Sociology, 16: 435463.Google Scholar
Nee, V. 1992. Organizational dynamics of market transition: Hybrid forms, property rights, and mixed economy in China. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37: 127.Google Scholar
Oliver, C. 1992. The Antecendents of deinstitutionalization. Organization Studies, 13(4): 563588.Google Scholar
Park, S., & Luo, Y. 2001. Guanxi and organizational dynamics: Organizational networking in Chinese firms. Strategic Management Journal, 22: 455477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrovskii, A. 1991. Trekhfaktornaya model ‘znachimogo drugogo’. Voprosy Psikhologii, 1:718.Google Scholar
Ralston, D., Holt, D., Terpstra, R., & Kai-Cheng, Y. 1997. The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International Business Studies, 1: 177207.Google Scholar
Redding, G. 1990. The spirit of Chinese capitalism. New York: Walter De Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, R. 2000. The changing world of Chinese enterprise: An institutional perspective. In Li, J. T., Tsui, A., & Weldon, E. (Eds.), Management and organizations in the Chinese context: 5978. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Scott, R. 2001. Institutions and organizations. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Sedaitis, J. 1998. The alliances of spin-offs versus start-ups: Social ties in the genesis of post-Soviet alliances. Organization Science, 9(3): 368381.Google Scholar
Segal, A. 2003. Digital dragon: High technology enterprises in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Shleifer, A. 2005. A normal country, Russia after communism. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sorenson, O., & Stuart, T. 2001. Syndication networks and the spatial distribution of venture capital investments. American Journal of Sociology, 106(6): 15461588.Google Scholar
Spicer, A., & Pyle, W. 2002. Institutions and the vicious circle of distrust in the Russian household deposit market, 1992-1999. In Ingram, P., & Silverman, B. (Eds.), Advances in strategic management: Vol. 19, 373398. Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Tsui, A., & Farh, L. J. 1997. Where guanxi matters, relational demography und guanxi in the Chinese context. Work and Occupations, 24(1): 5679.Google Scholar
Tsui, A., Farh, J. L., & Xin, K. 2000. Guanxi in the Chinese context. In Li, J. T., Tsui, A., & Weldon, E. (Eds.), Management and organization in the Chinese context: 225244. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiao, Z., & Tsui, A. 2007. When brokers may not work: The culture contingency of social capital. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52(1): 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yakubovich, V. 2005. Weak ties, information, and influence: How workers find jobs in a local Russian labor market. American Sociological Review, 70: 408421.Google Scholar
Yang, M. 1994. Gifts, favors and banquets: The art of social relationships in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar