The notion of entrepreneurship was first introduced by Richard Cantillon and later popularized by the French economist J.B. Say in the early 1800s. The term "entrepreneur" originally referred to "merchant wholesalers who bear the risk of reselling agricultural and manufactured produce" (Moon, p. 31). Later, the term came to describe the individual who "shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield" (Moon, 31). Entrepreneurship, in recent years, as the process of globalization has expanded, has taken on new significance in that the connection of culture to entrepreneurship is now being recognized (Begley and Tan, 537).
Begley and Tan (538) have suggested, for example, that entrepreneurship tends to flourish in those cultures or social systems in which innovation or what Schumpeter called "creative destruction" is highly regarded. In essence, theorists tend to connect cultural norms to levels of innovation in countries on the premise that innovation predicts economic development. This leads to the conclusion that societies placing a premium on innovation are likely to show the highest rates of entrepreneurship (Begley and Tan, 538).
East Asian countries, unlike Western countries, do not show a high regard for innovation in most instances. Begley and Tan (538) speculate that threats to existing social structures are seen in East Asian cultures as antithetical to harmony which is a collective social good. However, it is also becoming apparent that many East Asian cultures, including that of Hong Kong, are now emerging as strongly entrepreneurial in their orientation (Jessop, 2287).
This business report offers a case study of entrepreneurial operations in Asia in general and Hong Kong in particular. Issues to be covered include the nature and significance of the entrepreneurial process, the behavioral characteristics of the entrepreneur, outcomes of...