Feuds and legacies: Conflict and inheritance in Chinese family businesses

Abstract

The remarkable economic performance of the Southeast Asian region has provoked debates among social scientists. One key area of contention is whether there is a particular form of capitalism to account for the East Asian phenomenon. Most of the studies conducted, however, have focused either on national industrial policies and market forces or on a broad cultural explanatory view, such as recourse to Confucianism or Asian values. This article, building on work done by these scholars, seeks to look at not only the effectiveness of business networks in the expansion of businesses, but more importantly, and an area that has been largely unexplored, the drawbacks of Asian business networking. Some questions that the article sets out to answer include: Are there any issues of conflict and inheritance that are exclusive to Chinese family business? If yes, what are they and why are these issues unique to Chinese family business? Is there a particular way that Chinese businesses deal with these issues? Most studies on Chinese family firms and business networks have focused on 'success'. This article seeks to study business failures, focusing on issues of conflict and inheritance. In a sense, it looks at the 'dark side' or dysfunctions of family business, filling an important gap in the current research literature. Using extensive case study interviews conducted in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as fieldwork in China, the article examines the intricate processes in running a family enterprise as well as the nature and management of conflicts.