Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to introduce the indigenous He-Xie management theory (HXMT) through the lens of a holistic perspective from Chinese philosophical wisdom. Design/methodology/approach -The paper revisited the challenges faced by orthodox management theories, proposing management scholars should borrow Eastern philosophical intelligence for problem solving when considering the tradition of Chinese culture on human orientation and its intelligence on tolerating and coping with ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity. By tracing back the core concept of harmony in Confucianism, the paper identified the mechanisms for achieving harmony by differentiating further the general understanding of harmony and its original meaning in Chinese characters. The theoretical framework of HXMT was introduced then by integrating both evolutionism and constructivism perspectives. Findings -The theoretical explaining power of HXMT is rooted in the time-honored philosophies of Asia. HXMT got its gene from traditional thinking by applying dialectic and holistic perspectives. Within complex and unpredictable contexts, the existence of He-Xie theme can replace the searching and planning to strategy. Guided by He-Xie theme, the He principle and the Xie principle, as well as the coupling between them, compose the fundamental mechanisms for effective management and better performance in organizations. Originality/value -The paper opens an avenue for indigenous HXMT. As a methodology for guiding management research and practice in coping with complexity and uncertainty, HXMT is expected to attract more attention from scholars to contribute to knowledge creation in Chinese management studies.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of institutional entrepreneurship in opportunity formation and opportunity exploitation in developing emerging strategic new industries. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the focal literature focussing on institutional entrepreneurs’ role in opportunity formation with special attention to opportunities for institutional entrepreneurs in emerging economy. A multi-method approach consisting of historical case studies and event sequencing is applied to track the historical development of the solar energy industry in two case contexts and to investigate the role of institutional entrepreneurs in this process. Findings – Investigation of two cases illustrates that different types of institutional entrepreneur, as represented by individual entrepreneurs and local government, in the context of massive institutional change – such as the Grand Western Development Program and the Thousand Talents Program in China – have varied effects on triggering and inducing institutional change and innovation to explore and exploit opportunities in emerging new industries. Practical implications – The significance of local context for the nature and scope of institutional entrepreneurship in emerging economy is worthy of further research. The top-down process of institutional innovation dominated by local government might cause myopic outcome and distortion of market opportunities. Indigenous individual entrepreneurs with well-accumulated political capital and strong perceived responsibility could be the main actors to introduce incremental institutional change by combining bottom-up and top-down processes and promoting sustained new industry development through creating and seizing institutional opportunities and market opportunities. Originality/value – This paper illustrates the close relationship between institutional environment and opportunity formation in emerging economies, contributes to the understanding of contextualizing institutional entrepreneurs in different regional contexts and discloses the problems involved in local government acting as an institutional entrepreneur.

This paper is aimed as a contribution to the process of upgrading old industrial clusters towards a new status of innovative clusters. The concept of 'lock-in' is followed as it applies to a specific resource-based industrial cluster, to assess the value of this concept in the degradation of such clusters in a Chinese context. After identifying factors leading to the lock-in situation, we introduce the analytical framework of He-Xie Management Theory to investigate the potential role of this emerging management theory in promoting transition from old industrial clusters to innovative regions.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the dynamic interactions and co-evolution of institutions with the technology and organization fields in emerging industry development. Insights and inspirations from comparison of the triangle relationship among government, market and local community in different institutional contexts could contribute to possible institutional innovation in the context of large-scale institutional transition. In this way, this paper is expected to offer insights to the development of emerging industries in China. Design/methodology/approach -The paper reviews the focal literature focusing on institutional change and the co-evolution of institution, industry and technology. A multi-level conceptual framework is put forward to explain the mechanism for the co-evolution of technology, organization and institution. A multi-case comparison method was applied to compare and disclose the process of co-evolution of institutions, and the technology and organizational fields, as well as varied paths of industry development in different institutional contexts. Findings -Emerging industry development in China is still presenting the character of path dependence to a great extent under traditional institutional arrangement, while the power and possible contribution from broader actors in the local community have been ignored. Driving force for a more innovative institutional transition towards emerging industry development should consider decentralized institutional arrangement and actions at local community instead of "command and control" from central planning. Practical implications -First, the comparison of wind energy industry development in three countries creates possibilities for further analysis and reference for China's emerging industry. Second, the illustration of the triangle relationship among government, market and local community in different countries helps policy makers in China reconsider and redesign an effective institutional framework for balancing the powers among indigenous community, local government and market. Institutional alignment should be listed as an important consideration during the process of the policy design of such an effective institutional framework. Originality/value -The paper presents a model to understand the dynamic co-evolution of the institution, technology and organizational fields. It confirms the role of institution in promoting emerging industry development. Particularly, it offers inspirations for the development of emerging industries in nations facing large-scale institutional transition.