- Huiyao Wang (Editor), Wenxian Zhang (Editor), Ilan Alon (Editor)
- Hardcover: 325 pages
- Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited (May 6, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0857240897
- ISBN-13: 978-0857240897
- Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
- Online Amazon
Entrepreneurial and Business Elites of China:
The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China
中国当代海归创业及商界精英
Table of Contents
Foreword by William Kerr
Introduction by Huiyao Wang, Wenxian Zhang and Ilan Alon
Introduction by Huiyao Wang, Wenxian Zhang and Ilan Alon
Acknowledgments
English-Chinese Name Index
Biographical Profiles of Chinese Returnees in Business and Entrepreneurship
A List of Abbreviations
A List of Contributors and Their Entries
About the Editors
Short Quotes of Endorsement (for back cover & promotion purpose)
Foreword: Chinese Returnees
The world changes quickly these days. While the drivers of change are numerous, China commands particular attention. China’s economic, political and social development has been a defining force for its citizens and for the world over the last thirty years. Many of these drivers—e.g., China’s general economic growth—have been fairly consistent over time. Moreover, these drivers are understood conceptually and descriptively, even if the translation into business practice or policy design, domestically and abroad, is often less certain.
This book deals with a very important aspect of China’s development—the international migration of some of its most talented people. The powerful nature of this driver is not disputed, but it is also substantially less understood than most other forces. Moreover, as discussed below, the nature of China’s international migration has dramatically changed over time. We know much more about the way it was, rather than the way it is or the way it will be. Entrepreneurial and Business Elites of China: The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China addresses this deficit, which is essential for proper policy design, business choices, and similar actions.
The Way It Was
The international migration of talented Chinese to the US and other advanced economies began in earnest in the 1980s. Data regarding science and engineering are the most available and reliable. It is hard to believe, but just three (3!) US Ph.D. graduates in science and engineering were of Mainland Chinese nationality in 1980. Decades of exponential growth increased that number to 4,774 by 2006, or 11% of all US Ph.D. graduates. This is well over twice as many as the next country.
Through much of this rapid growth in student enrollments, talented Chinese chose to remain in the US or other host countries if allowed to do so. In its annual survey, the National Science Foundation asks graduating PhDs about their future career intentions. Throughout the 1990s, over 90% of graduating Chinese doctorates were intending to stay in the US for employment after school.
These tremendous dynamics brought China front and center in the debate on the impact of high skilled migration for sending countries. The oldest theories—which may still have the most adherents—frequently took a brain drain perspective. These theories argued that the migration of the best and brightest talent from developing and emerging economies to advanced economies substantially hurt the economic and social development of the sending countries. These losses could come in many forms, from a weakened local business sector to fewer role models.
Observing the contemporaneous explosive growth in Chinese economies, however, led many scholars, business leaders, and policy makers to suggest an alternative theory of brain gain. This model emphasizes more the positive effects that developing and emerging economies can derive from having the migration of talented people to frontier nations. Example of the beneficial transfers include technology and knowledge flows, remittances, business contacts and investment, and similar. Some observers further proposed that developing and emerging nations could leap frog traditional economic growth stages due to the power of these trans-national ethnic networks.[1]
The Way It Is
For the most part, these basic theories of brain drain and brain gain had a static view of international migration. That is, talented individuals migrated to advanced economies and remained, causing either a net loss or gain to their homelands depending upon the relative strengths of their subsequent interactions. And, for the world of even a decade ago, this simplification might not have been so bad.
The 1990s paradigm, however, melted away sometime after 2002 or thereabout, as many Western-trained Chinese students and workers are returning home for private-sector jobs, university positions, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Among my own MBA students at Harvard Business School, it is hard to find a Chinese student not returning to China after graduation for work (or taking a job that will bridge advanced economies and China). Often times these students are also taking some of the best of the US with them—for example, US venture capital investment into their companies.
Matching these changing facts, with China again as one of the poster cases, the newest theories emphasize a brain circulation phenomenon. These new theories suggest that the best way that developing and emerging economies can obtain beneficial transfers from advanced economies is through people moving regularly back and forth between the countries. This includes both permanent return migration and continuous moving between locations.[2]
While these theories continue to grow in prominence, we unfortunately have very little collected information about the returnees themselves. We need to move from singular case studies to developing more comprehensive data collections to ultimately large-scale empirical analyses. Bringing more data to this question will allow us to refine our theories and formulate more sophisticated accounts of international migration.
This book is a step in this direction. Entrepreneurial and Business Elites of China: The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China provides up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of top overseas returnees who have made noteworthy contributions to the Chinese economy since the reform era began. These elites are the men and women who mattered, both in the early years when returnee migration was rare, and in recent years where it has become much more prominent. Understanding the stories of the entrepreneurial and business elites is an important step for understanding the international migration force overall.
This book is the product of great work by many contributors. The editors—Wenxian Zhang, Huiyao Wang and Ilan Alon—are each very steeped in the returnee phenomena and the dynamics of international migration. Many contributors moreover developed the biographies that are central to this book. Each biography acknowledges the author, and their careful work shows. The final product will be an important reference volume in years to come.
William Kerr
Harvard Business School, 2010
English-Chinese Name Index
Cao, Guowei (曹国伟)
Chang, Zhaohua (常兆华)
Chen, Ge (Gary Chen 陈戈)
Chen, Hong (陈宏)
Chen, Naike (陈乃克)
Chen, Xingdong (陈兴动)
Cheng, Changqing (Charles Cheng 成常青)
Cheng, Yuan（Grace Cheng 程原)
Deng, Feng (邓锋)
Deng, Zhonghan (John Deng 邓中翰)
Ding, Jian (James Ding丁健)
Feng, Ziping (冯自平)
Fu, Chengyu (傅成玉)
Gao, Qunyao (Jack QY Gao 高群耀)
Gao, Xiqing (高西庆)
Gao, Zhikai (高志凯)
Ge, Ming (葛明)
Gu, Yongqiang (古永锵)
Han, Gengchen (韩庚辰)
Han, Xiaohong (韩晓红)
Hao, Quan (郝荃)
He, Xin (何欣)
Hong, Huang (洪晃)
Hu, Shengfa (胡胜发)
Hu, Zuliu (Fred Hu 胡祖六)
Huang, Jin (黄劲)
Ji, Weidong (Richard Ji 季卫东)
Jiang, Ruxiang (姜汝祥)
Jing, Muhan (景慕寒)
Ju, Tina (Ru, Linqi 汝林琪)
Kuang, Ziping (Duane Kuang 邝子平)
Lee, Kaifu (Li, Kaifu 李开复)
Li, Xiaojia (Charles李小加)
Li, Yanhong (Robin Li李彦宏)
Li, Yi (David Y. Li, 李一)
Li, Yifei (李亦非)
Liang, Jianzhang (James Liang 梁建章)
Lin, Yongqing (林永青)
Liu, Erfei (刘二飞)
Liu, Jiangnan (Jean-Jacque Liu 刘江南)
Liu, Xiaocheng (刘晓程)
Liu, Yun (刘允)
Mao, Daolin (Daniel Mao 茅道临)
Mao, Daqing (毛大庆)
Mo, Tianquan (Vincent T. Mo 莫天全)
Ning, Gaoning（宁高宁）
Qian, Yingyi (钱颖一)
Qin, Xiao (秦晓)
Shen, Nanpeng (Neil Shen 沈南鹏)
Shi, Zhengrong（施正荣）
Shu, Qi (舒奇)
Sun, Wei (Christianson Sun孙玮)
Tang, Min (汤敏)
Tang, Yue (Justin Tang 唐越)
Tian, Suning (Edward Tian 田溯宁)
Ulrich, Jing (李晶)
Wang, Boming (王波明)
Wang, Boqing (王伯庆)
Wang, Chaoyong (王潮涌)
Wang, Chunyan (王春岩)
Wang, Lifen (王利芬)
Wang, Shen (王兟)
Wang, Weijia (Victor Wang 王维嘉)
Wang, Yafei (Jane Wang 王亚非)
Wang, Yan (汪延)
Wang, Zhongjun (王中军)
Wang, Zhongwei (王中伟)
Wu, Ping (武平)
Wu, Shangzhi (吴尚志)
Wu, Ying（吴鹰 ）
Xiang, Bing (项兵)
Xiao, Zhiyue (肖志岳)
Xie, Guozhong (谢国忠)
Xie, Lina (谢丽娜)
Xu, Changdong (徐昌东)
Xu, Tiantian (徐甜甜)
Xu, Xiaoping (Bob Xu 徐小平)
Xu, Xin (Kathy Xu 徐新)
Xue, Lan (薛澜)
Yan, Wangjia (Jane W. Yan 严望佳)
Yan, Yan (Andrew Y. Yan 阎焱)
Yang, Lan (杨澜1968)
Yang, Lijun (杨丽君)
Yang, Ning (Nick Ning 杨宁 1975)
Yang, Zhuang (John Yang 杨壮)
Yao, Naxin (Max Yao 姚纳新)
Yuan, Yue (Victor Y. Yuan 袁岳)
Zhang, Chaoyang (Charles Zhang 张朝阳)
Zhang, Fan (张帆 1970-)
Zhang, Fan (张帆 1971-)
Zhang, Hongjiang (张宏江)
Zhang, Lan (张兰)
Zhang, Ligang (Lee Zhang 张黎刚)
Zhang, Weiying (张维迎)
Zhang, Xin (张欣)
Zhang, Xingsheng (张醒生)
Zhang, Yan (章彦)
Zhang, Yaqin (张亚勤)
Zhang, Yichen (张懿宸)
Zhao, Yang (赵阳)
Zhen Ronghui (甄荣辉)
Zhou, Ge (周戈)
Zhou, Yunfan (周云帆)
Zhu, Demiao (Dennis D. Zhu朱德淼)
Zhu, Min (朱敏)
Zhu, Yunlai (朱云来)
Zou, Qifang (Robert Zou 邹其芳)
Zou, Shenglong (邹胜龙)
Zuo, Xiaolei (左晓蕾)
About the Editors
A graduate of Peking University and Southern Connecticut State University, Wenxian Zhang is a recipient of the Cornell Distinguished Faculty Award, Arthur Vining Davis Fellow and Professor of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he joined the rank of Arts and Sciences faculty since 1995. He has team-taught courses on Chinese history and cultures and frequently taken students on field study trips to China. In addition to The Biographical Dictionary of New Chinese Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders (Edward Elgar, 2009, with Alon) and A Guide to the Top 100 Companies in China (World Scientific, 2010, with Alon), he has published many scholarly articles on information studies, international librarianship, historical research, and Chinese business management.
Dr. Huiyao Wang is the Director General of the Center for China and Globalization, Vice Chairman of the China Western Returned Scholars Association, Vice Chairman of the China Talent Research Society of the Ministry of Human Resources and Vice Chairman of the China International Economic Cooperation Society of the Ministry of Commerce. He has also served as the Task Force Leader for the Global Talents Strategy Study Group of the Chinese Government Coordination Office for Talents and also as an Experts Team Leader for the Economic Committee of the Overseas Expert Advisory Group of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, as well as an advisory member of the CPPCC Beijing Committee. Dr. Wang is also a Senior Fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and was a Visiting Fellow of the Brookings Institution in the USA. He has taught as adjunct professor at the Richard Ivey Business School of the University of Western Ontario and the Guanghua Management School of Peking University. A leading Chinese authority on Chinese returnee research, Dr. Wang has published a series of books in recent years on the study of contemporary overseas returnees, which include: 中国留学人才发展报告 (2009), 当代中国海归 (2007), 缤纷海归 (2007), 创业英雄 (2007), 魅力学者 (2007), 资本推手 (2007), 叱咤华尔街 (2007),财富裂变 (2007), 巅峰职业 (2007), 海旧时代 (2005), 创业中国 (2005).
Dr. Ilan Alon is the George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Chair of International Business at Rollins College, Executive Director of the Rollins China Center, and Visiting Scholar and Asia Fellow of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has published numerous books, peer-reviewed articles, and chapters on China, and is a regular featured keynoter in many professional organizations. Alon has cooperated with Zhang (co-editor) on many publications, including ones mentioned in Zhang’s biography above. Some other recent books on China include China Rules: Globalization and Political Transformation (Palgrave-McMillan, 2009), The Globalization of Chinese Enterprises (Palgrave-McMillan, 2008), Business and Management Education in China: Transition, Pedagogy and Training (World Scientific, 2005), Chinese Culture, Organizational Behavior and International Business Management (Greenwood, 2003), and Chinese Economic Transition and International Marketing Strategy (Greenwood, 2003). Alon is also a recipient of the Chinese Marketing Award and the prestigious Huge McKean Award for his work on education in China. He has taught courses in top Chinese MBA programs including Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, and China Europe International Business School. He is also an international business consultant, with experience in China as well as other countries.
Short Quotes of Endorsement (for back cover)
Entrepreneurial and Business Elites of China: The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China provides up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of top overseas returnees who have made noteworthy contributions to the Chinese economy since the reform era began. These elites are the men and women who mattered, both in the early years when returnee migration was rare, and in recent years where it has become much more prominent. Understanding the stories of the entrepreneurial and business elites is an important step for understanding the international migration force overall.
- Dr. William Kerr, Harvard Business School
Animal spirits are the basis of entrepreneurial economies such as China’s and knowing more about the lives of successful businessmen is therefore crucial to understand that country’s economy. By focusing more in particular on the role of talent circulation in the global economy, this book adds a very welcome perspective to the study of Chinese business elites. It is recommended reading to anybody interested in the Chinese economy and globalization.
- Dr. Andrea Goldstein, Senior Economist, OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development); Consultant, the Inter-American Development Bank
Observing the rising tide of the Chinese economy, it is easy to forget it is driven by human talent as much as by global trends, government policies, and firm strategies. This book “brings back” a critical human element -- the Chinese returnee, who serves as a conduit for the transfer of technology, knowhow, and business practices. It is difficult to fathom the rise of China without attending to this growing human stream which will continue to play a major role in the country’s transformation.
- Dr. Oded Shenkar, Ford Motor Company Chair, Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University
This is a fascinating book for the general public and particularly for those who have a keen interest in business China. The information is current and the entries are at appropriate length, which are short enough to general readers but long enough to be comprehensive, providing adequate information on the individual entrepreneur and the field associated with him/her. Highly recommended for the public, but particularly for business students as well as professionals.
- Mr. Haipeng Li, Executive Director, Chinese American Librarians Association; Chair, American Library Association IRC East Asia & Pacific Committee; Associate Director, John Cotton Dana Library, Rutgers University
A complement to A Guide to the Top Companies in China and to The Biographical Dictionary of New Chinese Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders, this timely volume completes the trilogy that makes a valuable asset for every academic and investor.
- Dr. Leo-Paul Dana, University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Senior Advisor, World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises; Founding Editor, Journal of International Entrepreneurship and Journal of Enterprising Communities
[1] For survey evidence regarding China, see AnnaLee Saxenian, Yasuyuki Motoyama and Xiaohong Quan, 2002, Local and Global Networks of Immigrant Professionals in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California. For empirical evidence pulling across multiple countries and industries, see William Kerr, 2008, Ethnic scientific communities and international technology diffusion, Review of Economics and Statistics 90, 518-37. A recent, unpublished survey by Frédéric Docquier and Hillel Rapoport provides a comprehensive academic overview of the themes discussed in this introduction.
[2] For a broad introduction, see AnnaLee Saxenian, 2006, The New Argonauts, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
