Coping with Growth Transitions in Asian Family Business: Key Success Factors in Singapore

• Main Authors: TAN, Wee Liang, FOCK, Siew-Tong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1998
• Subjects: Family business succession; Chinese family business; Asia; Asian Studies; Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/354
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Families control more than half of the corporations in East Asia. The contribution of family businesses to Asia’s economic growth is predicated upon successfully growing their businesses. Many family businesses in East Asia, spanning countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, are Chinese owned and managed. It has been asserted these businesses will never develop into full-fledged multinational enterprises because of their cultural heritage (Redding, 1990). However, there are Chinese family businesses that have successfully made the transition. This paper reports an in-depth study of five Chinese family businesses in Singapore that have successfully made the transition in growth, in size, across national boundaries and across family generations. Their business empires extend into the Asia Pacific region. The authors highlight the key success factors of these five noteworthy family businesses that enabled them to make these growth transitions.