Deep Smart of Chinese Entrepreneurs: Tacit Marketing Knowledge, Human Capital and Social Capital

Purpose - Focusing on entrepreneurship in an energing market economy of China, this paper examines the extent to which the human capital and social capital of Chinese entrepreneurs facilitate their acquisition of tacit marketing knowledge. Design/methodology/approach - Observation and research experience are presented. Findings The study proposes a framework that links tacit marketing knowledge and entrepreneurs' human and social capital. When accessibility of the general knowledge of expertise and professional business in a society is low, Chinese entrepreneurs find it hard and costly to acquire the necessary know-how knowledge for business operation. With a strong awareness of the low level of institutional trust in the current transition economy, Chinese entrepreneurs develop interpersonal trusting relationship to gain social support. Chinese entrepreneurs in SMEs thus depend on their own resources of human capital and abilities of social capital to acquire tacit knowledge. Both industry-specific experiences, industry-related training of specific human capital; and formal education of entrepreneurs' general human capital facilitate Chinese entrepreneurs' acquisition of tacit marketing knowledge. Through the trust and trustworthiness, the quality of relationships in business networks creates the personal relational resource for tacit knowledge reciprocity. Originality/value - This study fill the gaps in the literature by identifying critical intervening components of human capital and social capital in the entrepreneurship process in China's emerging market knowledge which remain limited untouched previously. The key issues of how Chinese entrepreneurs of private SMEs initially acquire knowledge-based resources to operate their businesses are critically proposed.