ABSTRACT
Why are the Chinese so successful in business? This question has been asked again and again in reference to the Chinese in virtually every location outside of China where they have settled in any substantial numbers in the past 150 years. Many anthropological and historical accounts of the Chinese in this or that location suggest answers to the question, but the answers often end up being either too broad or too narrow. The broad answers are usually sociological, and the narrow answers are either historical or cultural. In this chapter, we steer a middle course between the two extremes. Rather than asking why the Chinese are economically successful, we will examine the organizational contexts of their success.
