Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in China

Abstract

As the largest and fastest growing transition economy in the world, China's entrance onto the global stage has been swift and dramatic. As such, almost every facet of entrepreneurship, from the identification of nascent opportunities to the challenges of managing triple‐digit growth to the transformation of firms from dying to emerging industries, can be studied as natural experiments. The four papers in this issue are dedicated to exploring entrepreneurial innovation in the Chinese private economy. They include two clinical studies, one on the impact of the Beijing Olympics on entrepreneurship, and the other on the co‐evolution of guanxi networks and entrepreneurial growth. Two studies test theories explaining the organizational drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship. In the best traditions, these four studies offer theoretical insights on the broader implications of entrepreneurship research in the Chinese context. We locate the findings offered by these four papers in the systems, organizational and social contexts of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship research. Finally, we offer some suggestions for future research and ways in which advances in the theoretical conversation should proceed.

Entrepreneurial Creativity: Sources, Processes and Implications

“…As regards the definition of entrepreneurial creativity, Perry-Smith and Coff (2011) and Phan and Zou (2011) define it as an antecedent to entrepreneurial discovery (Phan and Zhou, 2010); others as an entrepreneurial characteristic (Butler et al, 2010), still others as an essential component in the entrepreneurship process (Zhou, 2008). Some scholars link the creativity to a flexible approach necessary for the entrepreneurial challenges (Fillis and Rentschler, 2010) Our analysis of prior studies shows that entrepreneurial creativity is also an attitude and it is, sometimes associated with innovative flexibility (Fillis, 2007;Baron and Tang, 2011) and strategic elasticity, as synonymous of creativity.…”

“…Coming back in 1942, Schumpeter used the expression "creative destruction" to emphatize the influence of entrepreneurial creativity and innovation on the creation of new products, services and organizations. More precisely, through creative distruction the entrepreneur 'reforms or revolutionizes the Some authors define entrepreneurial creativity as a complex phenomenon (Phan et al, 2010) that recalls both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (Amabile, 1997). Others (Goss et al, 2007;Fillis & Rentschler, 2010;Fortwengel et al, 2016), instead of defining "entrepreneurial creativity" put the attention on creativity as a component of entrepreneurial process that encourages the entrepreneur on catch/create opportunities from which benefit the competitive advantage.…”

The Source of Innovation in China

“…In concrete studies of Chinese individuals and employees, specific research is still lacking (Phan et al, 2010). Though there are some studies such as Chen and Aryee (2007) and Zhang and Bartol (2010) which examine factors that promote or inhibit employee or team creativity in Chinese organizations, generally speaking it is a green field with many research opportunities for breakthrough in the building or extension of theory.…”

Project management 'East' and 'West': findings and reflections

“…Additionally, Asian cultures are very innovative, but while the social norms in the West encourage novelty, those in the East prioritise usefulness (Phan et al, 2010). An overall business strategy starts with creativity and informs project planning, which in turn is supposed to ensure that a project's success impacts an enterprise's success.…”