private businesses (TW)

Question 1

confucianist culture within SMEs

Answer 1

*clear hierarchy and deference to authority”

family unit as business units in many SMEs
- bigger companies: family style
- guanxi: network capitalism - core of Taiwan’s market-led development mechanism

-> through these networks, necessary resources such as financial, human, market and material made

Question 2

change

became key driver of economy alongside greater government support

Answer 2

effect:

contributed to:
- more than 70% of total exports from late 1970s-80s
- more than 97% of Taiwan’s manufacturers 1961-1994
- more than 50% of total workforce, up to 80% from late 1970s-80s

greater government support:
- 1981 SME Administration Bureau: provide guidance in terms of operation and management improvements
- SME Development Fund NT$12 billion

• between 1971-1999, SMEs accounted for 95-97% of Taiwan’s total manufacturing firms
• SMEs with less than 30 employees accounted for 90% if manufacturing companies and 80% of workforce in late 80s