Network Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs: Density, Hierarchy, and Success in China and the West

Abstract

This article is about the network theory of advantage applied to entrepreneurship and an area-probability sample of 700 Chinese entrepreneurs, using 2,193 American and European managers as a baseline comparison group. The article deals with how certain entrepreneurs are disadvantaged by their networks, the contrasting forms that disadvantage takes in China and the West, the role of family in the Chinese networks, and ultimately the robustness of network theory to the cultural, structural, and content variations discussed.