Socioeconomic Institutions, Social Capital, and Entrepreneurship: Are They Similar Between East and West?

This paper discusses the extent to which social capital and social contracting are available for new venture development within varying socioeconomic institutional environments. Building on Boisot and Child's typology, we develop a framework that depicts four types of socioeconomic institutions-clan, fief, bureaucracy, and market-plotted along the dimensions of (1) availability of and (2) need for social capital for new ventures. The proposed framework is used to explain entrepreneurial activities and changes from one type of institutional environment to another. The People's Republic of China is used as an example, and the difference of mainland Chinese entrepreneurship from overseas Chinese entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European countries is discussed. (C) 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.