High-tech Entrepreneurship in Asia

Citation

Zhang, M. (2008), "High-tech Entrepreneurship in Asia", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 15 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed.2008.27115dae.005

High-tech Entrepreneurship in Asia

High-tech Entrepreneurship in Asia

Article Type: Bookshelf From: Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Volume 15, Issue 4

Marina Y. Zhang and Mark Dodgson,Edward Elgar,2007,330 pp.,ISBN-10: 1847200567,ISBN-13: 978-1847200563,

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Asia, Innovation, Technology led strategy

In their recent book, High-Tech Entrepreneurship in Asia, Zhang and Dodgson present a detailed account of the emergence and development of a new technology and industry in South Korea and China: mobile payments.

Taking an eclectic approach to theories on innovation, entrepreneurship and technological change, coupled with their intimate knowledge and research experience in South Korea and China, Zhang and Dodgson attempted to fill a research gap in the field of hi-tech entrepreneurship in Asia. It is a timely contribution in light of the emergent presence of innovative capacities in a number of Asian economies such as China and India. They applied and expanded existing theories by adopting innovative approaches to the design of analytical framework and research strategy.

Based largely on the first author’s PhD thesis the book is well structured in eight chapters. Chapter One introduces the background and major research themes of the book. The research is fundamentally focused on entrepreneurial start-ups, especially their role as the driver of the emergence of new technologies. Following Kelly and Rice (2001) and Fontes and Coombs (2001), the authors discuss the interplays between the development and high technologies and entrepreneurship. On the one hand, technological advances rather than opportunity recognition are the triggers for ensuing entrepreneurial activities. On the other hand, high-tech start-ups have in recent decades become one of the driving forces behind the advances of new technologies. From here arises their first research question:The introduction of the concept of “the networked economy” adds further complexity to their research themes and subsequent discussion and analysis. Notwithstanding the challenges, the authors have in the remaining chapters shown their intellectual capacity to deal with the interactive and interdependent relationships manifest in a networked economy.

Two more research questions are immediately raised:To answer these questions, Zhang and Dodgson realised the need to examine not only technical and organisational factors but also institutional as well as cultural factors. To this end, they propose an intellectual map (Figure 1.1, p. 8) depicting two analytical lenses through which the above-mentioned research questions are investigated.

The implications of this kind of “thought trials” (Weick, 1989) are for the authors to select an “eclectic multidisciplinary approach” (p. 15, italic original) to a process-oriented case inquiry, the innovativeness and complexity of which demands a separate chapter (Chapter Five).

Chapter Two is a technical description of the mobile payments technology and industry. It can often be difficult for lay readers to understand the ICTs (information and communications technologies) sector. Chapters Three and Four are devoted to comprehensive reviews of the literature on innovation management and entrepreneurship with special reference to high technologies. In combination with the next chapter on research methodology, the three chapters together form a coherent body of materials and therefore would be of interest to both postgraduates and their supervisors in the fields of innovation management, strategic management and entrepreneurship studies.

There has been in the last two decades an increasing concern and awareness of the need to call for more inductive and process-oriented research (Hoang and Antoncic, 2003; Langley, 1999; Zahra, 2007). Adopting this type of research strategy will direct researchers’ attention to the sequences of entrepreneurial events, activities, and choices (Langley, 1999, p. 692), which are the central elements of Zhang and Dodgson’s research. In particular, the “double-loop approach” diagram sheds further light on future research (Figure 5.1, p. 125).

In Chapters Six and Seven the authors present detailed analyses and findings from the case studies of Avaro in South Korea and Jie Yin in China. Data collection and analysis are carried out at multiple levels including individuals, organisations, industries and institutions. The final chapter shows conclusively the complex nature of the interactions between technology, firm, and national and international business environments. It also illustrates the usefulness of the double-loop approach to conducting process-oriented case inquiry in the context of entrepreneurship scholarship.

Although there appears to be a lack of depth in the discussion of cultural and institutional factors, as a whole the book has achieved quite clear results through navigating the massive and sometimes messy data inherent in process-oriented case inquiries. It has made a great contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the emergence and development of new high technologies and entrepreneurship. The book will certainly appeal to students, academics, policy makers and practitioners concerned with the development of high technologies and entrepreneurship in general and those in East Asia in particular.

Abbreviations: RQ1.; What roles do entrepreneurial start-ups play in the emergence and development of a new technology in the networked economy?

Michael ZhangNottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK