Chinese Entrepreneurship in Indonesia: A Business Demography Approach

Pierre van der Eng

No 6, CEH Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University

Abstract: This paper analyses the demography of 1,600 registered firms owned and/or operated by ethnic Chinese businessmen in Indonesia during 1890-1940 in search of generalizable indications of Schumpeterian entrepreneurship. The population of firms increased significantly since 1890, before many went out of business in the 1920s and a new generation of firms and entrepreneurs emerged. By 1910 most firms were active in trade, but this categorisation takes insufficient account of their diverse business activities. During 1910-1940 the share of firms in other industries increased. Several were active in finance, taking deposits and financing business ventures. In the 1930s, the average equity value of the enterprises more than doubled, reflecting diversification into more capital-intensive operations, particularly manufacturing. These changes in the population of firms refute the perception that ethnic Chinese businessmen were not Schumpeterian entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Business demography; entrepreneurship; Chinese; Indonesia; Southeast Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L10 L20 N85 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-his, nep-sbm and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Chinese entrepreneurship in Indonesia: A business demography approach (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:auu:hpaper:088

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