Embedding Hong Kong enterprises in the Pearl Eiver Delta from the social capital perspective.

• Other Authors: Leung, Chiu Yin.
• Format: Others
• Language: English; Chinese
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Social capital (Sociology); Social capital (Sociology) > China > Pearl River Delta; Economic development; Economic development > China > Pearl River Delta
• Online Access: http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b5549090; http://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/item/cuhk-328268

近年來，社會資本成為了西方學者熱門的研究焦點。然而，以發展中國家為實證例子的相關研究卻相當匱乏。就中國的情況而言，由於改革開放初期下的制度法規常未成熟，非正規的文化規範及社會網路(關係)便成為建設世界工廠、提供靈活而低成本的生產運作的重要元素。本論文以港資跨境企業為研究對象，實地考證珠江三角洲的從改革開放以來的工業發展變遷。作者於二零一零至二零一一年間走訪香港及珠三角，與十名港資企業家及其他有關的專業界別人士作深度訪談。 === 研究結果顯示社會資本在珠三角工業發展過程發揮了關鍵的作用。由於改革開放初期的制度法規積弱，港資企業家大多利用跨境社會網路與珠三角的地方領導接洽，從而在當地設置生產基地。及至中國加入世界貿易組織以後，如何靈活運用社會資本及應付新興的制度力量更成為港資企業的重要議題。隨著中國的制度法規在產業轉型升級的路上更見成熟，部分一直過度依賴地方關係及制度漏洞而生利的企業將被淘汰。為解決現時的發展困局並防止當地工業被連根拔起，地方之間必須尋求更緊密的跨境協作。最後，本文揭示珠三角未來的工業發展將取決於企業如何升級社會資本、積極應付新的制度及市場挑戰、更替舊有的社會關係網路。 === In the past decades, scholars have been conceptualizing the asset of social capital in the contemporary West. However, its empirical reference to the developing countries is particularly missing. In the context of China, with a lack of substantial formal institutional support in the early reform period, it is the traditional Chinese cultural norms and informal social ties (guanxi) that constructed the "world factory" renowned for low operation cost and flexible production. This research studies the industrial dynamics of the Pearl River Delta since the economic reform in 1978, with a particular attention to the transborder manufacturing establishments operated by entrepreneurs from Hong Kong. In-depth interviews and field investigation are conducted with ten transborder entrepreneurs and some other involved officials in 2010 and 2011. === Research findings support the claim of social capital as a significant asset to enterprise development in the context throughout the period. In the early reform period with weak institutional infrastructure but strong preexisting personal and social ties across the mainland-Hong Kong border, transborder manufacturing establishments were emerged in the cultivation of guanxi among Hong Kong entrepreneurs and cadre-affiliates in the PRD as enterprise social capital. Meanwhile, the resilience in mobilizing enterprise social capital and particularly the institutional force has been more important to the sustainability and promotion of these transborder enterprises in the post-WTO China. The institutional turn towards techno-economic restructuring is going to eliminate many of the obsolete transborder enterprises, whose vested interests entangled in local guanxi networks and institutional holes have now been dissipated. Tighter collaboration across the border is urgently needed to simultaneously smash the regional lock-in and prevent the hollowing-out of industries in the region against recent global economic downturn. Eventually, it is believed that the reinventing of enterprise social capital, in the acknowledgement of institutional and market force but also informal guanxi networks, is crucial to the future trajectory of the industrial development in the PRD. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Leung, Chiu Yin. === Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-154). === Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. === Abstracts also in Chinese. === Abstract --- p.i === Acknowledgements --- p.iv === Table of Contents --- p.v === List of Figures --- p.vii === List of Tables --- p.viii === Chapter Chapte One --- Introduction === Chapter 1.1 --- Research Background --- p.1 === Chapter 1.2 --- Scope of Study --- p.2 === Chapter 1.3 --- Research Objectives --- p.5 === Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Outline --- p.6 === Chapter Chapter Two --- Literature Review === Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.8 === Chapter 2.2 --- Firm Dynamics --- p.8 === Chapter 2.3 --- Social Capital Theory --- p.16 === Chapter 2.4 --- The Chinese Context --- p.22 === Chapter 2.5 --- Summary --- p.29 === Chapter Chapter Three --- Methodology === Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.31 === Chapter 3.2 --- Conceptual Framework --- p.31 === Chapter 3.3 --- Research Design --- p.34 === Chapter 3.4 --- Data Collection --- p.35 === Chapter 3.5 --- Date Analysis --- p.38 === Chapter Chapter Four --- Transborder Venture Creation in the Early Reform Era: Process of Social Capital Building === Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.40 === Chapter 4.2 --- Background Conditions --- p.42 === Chapter 4.3 --- Firm Emergence --- p.52 === Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.65 === Chapter Chapter Five --- Sustaining Enterprise Development against the Latest Challenges: Theorizing the Dynamics of Social Capital === Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.68 === Chapter 5.2 --- Case Study --- p.70 === Chapter 5.3 --- Locating the Dynamics --- p.86 === Chapter 5.4 --- Theorizing Enterprise Social Capital --- p.96 === Chapter 5.5 --- Institutional Turn --- p.105 === Chapter 5.6 --- Summary --- p.122 === Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions === Chapter 6.1 --- Discussion of Results --- p.p.124 === Chapter 6.2 --- Contributions and Limitations --- p.130 === Chapter 6.3 --- Remarks for Future Research --- p.133 === Bibliography --- p.135