TY - JOUR TI - The emergence of the private entrepreneur in reform era China: re-birth of an earlier tradition, or a more recent product of development and change? AU - Atherton, Andrew AU - Newman, Alex T2 - Business History AB - A private sector that now dominates economic activity has emerged in China since 1978, even though many of the essential institutions for market competition have been lacking or are under-developed. We find that there is no evidence that this upsurge of entrepreneurship is a re-birth of an earlier tradition. Instead, the dynamics of entrepreneurial emergence can be attributed to reforms and institutional changes that have occurred since 1949, both before and after the introduction of economic reforms in late 1978. We find that these institutional changes have been evolutionary, adapting to, as well as shaping, emerging forms of economic activity, including entrepreneurship. Our conclusion is that these dynamics of adaptation and evolution produce ‘rule ambiguities’ within the institutional framework that create opportunities for entrepreneurs as well as making these opportunities vulnerable to further institutional change. DA - 2016/04/02/ PY - 2016 DO - 10.1080/00076791.2015.1122702 DP - Taylor and Francis+NEJM VL - 58 IS - 3 SP - 319 EP - 344 SN - 0007-6791 ST - The emergence of the private entrepreneur in reform era China UR - https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2015.1122702 Y2 - 2022/01/31/07:01:12 KW - China KW - Chinese Business History KW - entrepreneurship KW - institutional adaptation KW - private sector KW - rule ambiguities ER -