Entrepreneurial Culture

'This book is very entrepreneurial. Denise Tsang treads the difficult intellectual terrains of entrepreneurship studies and networks literature. And yet she has succeeded in developing a new theoretical idea, known as cultural capital, in explaining entrepreneurial activities and network advantages. The book is filled with very rich empirical illustrations of the complex behaviour, practices, and network activities of entrepreneurs in the software industry. By taking a case study approach, Tsang has provided us with immense insights into the cultural embeddedness of entrepreneurial networks that are often lost in quantitative survey-based studies of entrepreneurship and networks. Her comparative approach to Irish and Chinese software entrepreneurs is unparalleled and highly innovative. The book is a must read for researchers and policymakers interested in how contemporary entrepreneurs in high-tech industries get their acts together.' - Henry Wai-chung Yeung, National University of Singapore 'Theories of entrepreneurship and business culture have flourished in recent years, but comparative international studies that address both these subjects have been relatively scarce. By comparing the way that a knowledge-intensive industry organises innovation under different national cultures, Denise Tsang provides a timely and important test of modern theories. She finds that while core values relating to achievement and material reward are common across locations, networking strategies are location-specific. This result has significant implications which need to be followed up in future research.' - Mark Casson, University of Reading, UK The Entrepreneurial Culture highlights the subtle yet powerful influence of national cultural heritage on entrepreneurship ventures, using an alternative and fresh approach to explore the entrepreneurial culture of Chinese and Irish software firms. This book presents a unique analysis of entrepreneurship theory development, along with a single industry, cross-national study of entrepreneurship illustrating the impact of values from contrasting cultures. Specifically, Denise Tsang concentrates on the advantages associated with the diverse Chinese 'social' network and Irish 'personal' network (derived from the two nations' respective core cultural values) in relation to the strategies utilised by successful public and private firms emerging in the past two decades. Drawing upon data from China, Ireland and the USA, the author illustrates that the Chinese social network has led to a relationship-based approach in strategic areas such as team building, finance, marketing and recruitment during the early stage of firms' start-up. In contrast, the Irish 'personal' network is linked to a pragmatic and rational approach in the same strategic areas. This original work will provide fascinating reading for a wide-ranging audience. Including academics, researchers, students, practitioners and policymakers specialising in entrepreneurship and/or international business.