ABSTRACT
The great majority of the entrepreneurs we have interviewed so far had managed to escape severe damage from the Asian crisis, especially in terms of their autonomy and control of their businesses. The transplant of this system into mainland China has enabled the Taiwanese entrepreneurs to reap enormous benefits even at a time when the general economic climate in the Asian region was depressed. It seems easy to conclude that during times of crisis, most entrepreneurs would choose to be more conservative, preferring to devote concerted efforts to consolidate their core business rather than venturing into unfamiliar and uncertain territories of diversification. Despite the differential impact of the crisis on firms of different sizes, kinds of management and activities, many respondents still preferred to maintain full autonomy and control. The capacity, even of small firms, to operate transnationally, through family and network members in different countries, is one of the defining features of any diasporic capital.
