Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

The Due Diligence That Investors In Family Businesses Must Not Skip, Yuanto Kusnadi, Kenneth T. Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Accounting (Education) Yuanto Kusnadi and Kenneth Goh, Director of Private Wealth Management at UOB Kay Hian, opined that minority shareholders should understand the specific risks highlighted in company filings. They noted that the greatest risk of investing in a family-controlled company lies not only in its business performance, but also in how controlling families exercise their influence. While Singapore's regulatory framework provides safeguards for minority shareholders, these protections are not foolproof. However, they require significant transactions to be disclosed and give minority shareholders a voice, provided they review the circulars and exercise their …

The Impact Of Successor Differences In Family Businesses On Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis Based On China Listed Company Data, Xulong Zhao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Family businesses are an important pillar of global economic development. Currently, Chinese private enterprises are ushering in an unprecedented wave of intergenerational succession. At this critical historical juncture, "who" takes over and how the succession behavior affects firm performance have become core issues of common concern to academia and practice. Traditional principal-agent theory usually posits that introducing professional managers can break the limitations of family governance and improve corporate efficiency. However, Chinese family businesses are deeply rooted in specific institutional environments and cultural soils, where blood-based "relational trust" and socioemotional wealth (SEW) play irreplaceable roles in power transitions. Therefore, how …

The Seller Valuation Of Family Firm Exits: Socioemotional Wealth And Ceo Equity Ownership, Masahiro Nishii

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study examines seller valuation in family-firm exit using the initial asking price from private M&A sales. In the sale of a family firm, it is known that seller valuation may go beyond financial value alone because owners often hold strong emotional attachments to the firm. However, it remains unclear whose judgment brings that non financial value into seller valuation and why this varies across types of family CEOs.

Drawing on socioemotional wealth theory, the study develops the mechanism at the CEO level. I argue that the anticipated SEW loss translates into seller valuation through the CEO’s judgment. When the …

Bringing Back Dignity With Incontinence Care, Nivedita Venkateish

Asian Management Insights

After a decade-long career in consumer brand MNCs, Nivedita Venkateish began her own business to help seniors tackle urinary incontinence.

The Impact Of Corporate Venture Capital On Financing And Innovation In Academic Entrepreneurial Firms, Tingting Luo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Amid the ongoing advancement of China’s innovation-driven development strategy, the effective transformation of scientific research into industrial impact has become a central concern. Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), as a strategic investment mechanism connecting industrial capital with entrepreneurial ventures, is increasingly viewed as a critical external resource for high-technology start-ups. At the same time, Academic Entrepreneurship Firms (AEFs), characterized by their deep research capabilities and original technological trajectories, play a distinctive role as knowledge suppliers in uncertain, emerging industries. However, whether AEFs can effectively attract CVC support and convert it into innovation performance remains an open empirical and theoretical question.

This …

The Impact Of De-Familization Of Governance Structures On Corporate Performance During The Intergenerational Succession Of Family Businesses, Jing Qiao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Intergenerational succession poses a vital challenge for family firms, with only 10% of global family businesses surviving to the third generation. Chinese family firms, growing alongside reform and opening-up, now face a critical succession period as founders average over 60 years old.

Based on 1932 A-share listed family firms from 2007 to 2024, this study theoretically and empirically examines how intergenerational succession affects corporate performance, investigates the mediating role of governance de-familization (management, ownership, control rights), and tests the moderating effect of intergenerational differences.

First, succession significantly harms financial and market performance: ROE falls by 1.330% and Tobin’s Q drops …

Trading With The Enemy: A Coopetitive Perspective Of Resource Exchange At Arm’S Length, Zhefei Li, David Gomulya, Heli Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research Summary: Research on inter-firm cooperation often focuses on long-term strategic alliances while overlooking the distinct form of arm's-length resource exchanges. Our study addresses this gap using the National Basketball Association (NBA) data for precise resource exchange measurements. Contrary to strategic alliances, where competitive pressure fosters cooperation, we find that competitive pressure reduces cooperation in arm's-length exchanges. However, relational capital helps to facilitate resource exchanges. We also found that while resource bundling exacerbates the negative effect of competitive pressure, it amplifies the positive effect of relational capital. Interestingly, relational rivalry intensifies the impact of competitive pressure but does not diminish …

The Reit Man For The Job, John Lim

Asian Management Insights

An interview with John Lim, Co-Founder of ARA Asset Management. Deciding to pursue a lifelong entrepreneurial dream when he turned 45, John Lim went on to reshape the Asian real estate investment trust (REIT) industry.

Mindfulness And Entrepreneurship: Looking Back And Moving Forward, Eva Katharina Peters

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation spans three chapters covering the topics of mindfulness and entrepreneurship. The first chapter is a literature review summarizing the existing literature on mindfulness in entrepreneurship. The review provides an organizing framework for structuring the knowledge of mindfulness in entrepreneurship, along with an integrative framework and a detailed agenda for future research. Building on the insights generated through the literature review, the following two chapters provide empirical evidence for the role of mindfulness in entrepreneurship. The second chapter is an empirical study exploring how mindfulness relates to entrepreneurial well-being via its relation to co-founding team relationship quality and team …

Growing Through Grit And Grace, Roshni Mahtani Cheung

Asian Management Insights

An interview with Roshni Mahtani Cheung on how she scaled up theAsianparent and The Parentinc with resilience and a ‘community-first’ approach. How Roshni Mahtani Cheung scaled up theAsianparent and The Parentinc with resilience and a ‘community-first’ approach.

Optimizing Fulfillment Operations For Online Retailing, Yujie Sun

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This thesis investigates order fulfillment operations for online retailing. Order fulfillment encompasses the entire process of receiving, processing, and delivering customer orders. The rapid growth of e-commerce has heightened the demand for efficient fulfillment operations. This thesis explores strategies for optimizing order fulfillment in three scenarios. The first scenario studies cellular bucket brigade, a method for coordinating workers in an assembly line or order-picking environment to improve workflow efficiency. The second scenario investigates zone picking, serial bucket brigades and cellular bucket brigades with hand-off times. The third scenario focuses on autonomous robotic systems within package sortation centers.

Chapter 2 investigates …

Who’S More Likely To Do Science Philanthropy? Research On The Factors Influencing Chinese Private Entrepreneurs’ Willingness To Do Science Philanthropy, Tsz Ho Tony Lau

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

China’s investment in scientific research funds feature relatively small amount and unitary structure of source. In recent years, the Chinese government has constantly issued policies to encourage social capital to participate in scientific research, especially fundamental research, by charitable donations or the like, but no significant results have been achieved. China's private entrepreneurs are the main force behind charitable giving. Therefore, it is imperative to engage these private entrepreneurs.

This thesis works on the characteristics of private entrepreneurs who are more likely to donate to scientific research. It can be divided into two parts/studies of research: 1) the impact of …

Exploring The Impact Of Entrepreneurship Coaching And Mentoring Models On Founder Capabilities And Business Performance, Zhixiang Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

China's current economic development faces multiple pressures, including contracting demand, supply shocks, and weakening expectations. Coupled with changes in the market environment and structural employment mismatches, entrepreneurship has become a key driver for economic growth, job creation, and the enhancement of social resilience. Against this backdrop, the impact of entrepreneurship coaching on founder development and business performance has drawn increasing attention. This study systematically explores how external coaches, through various coaching methods, frequencies, and competencies, influence entrepreneurs' growth and further improve business performance.

Based on literature review and theoretical analysis, a mediation effect model is constructed to empirically examine the …

Entrepreneurial Orientation In Family Firms: The Role Of Intergenerational Dynamics, Firm Size, And External Working Experience, Wai Sam Kong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Family firms are key contributors to the global economy, yet their long-term entrepreneurial sustainability remains uncertain, particularly during intergenerational transitions. While entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been studied widely in general business contexts, the interplay between intergenerational dynamics and EO remains underexplored in family firms. This study addresses the existing gap by methodically studying how family-specific factors influence EO, thereby contributing a novel perspective to entrepreneurship and family business research. Drawing on Constructivist Learning Theory, we conceptualise EO not as a static firm attribute but as a developmental process shaped by intergenerational interactions, governance structures, and external influences. Using a multi-method …

Research On The Technology And Economy Of Intelligent Transformation Of Textile Enterprises, Hongxia Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The Chinese government has proposed to promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of manufacturing in the next step. The China Textile Industry Federation issued the “14th Five-Year Development Outline for the Textile Industry”, emphasizing accelerating the development of intelligent manufacturing system integrators in the textile field to achieve the transformation and upgrading of the industry. At present, the outstanding problems restricting the rapid development of intelligent manufacturing in China’s textile industry include: Imperfect evaluation indicators; The management system does not match; The reconstruction path is not clear.
This topic (1) constructs a big data policy co-word network through quantitative …

Entrepreneurial Spirit And Firm Performance: An Empirical Study Based On Data From The Star Market​, Zhige Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Entrepreneurial spirit, as a vital production factor in contemporary society, plays a leading and guiding role throughout the entire life cycle of a business. In particular, entrepreneurial innovation spirit, a key element of entrepreneurial spirit, is a pivotal engine of economic and societal progress. This paper adopts an empirical research approach to analyze the correlation between entrepreneurial innovation spirit and firm outcome, delving into the impact of entrepreneurial innovation spirit on a firm's operational efficiency, profitability, solvency, and development capabilities. The findings provide theoretical support and practical guidance for enterprise management, ultimately contributing to the creation of greater corporate value …

A Mother’S Work At Motherswork, Sharon Wong

Asian Management Insights

Sharon Wong turned a desire for fashionable maternity wear into a journey with women into motherhood. Premium mother and baby products retailer Motherswork started off as a maternity fashion label that founder Sharon Wong created to dress herself professionally while pregnant with her first child. Twenty-five years on, the company hires over 160 employees in stores across China, Vietnam, and its home market of Singapore. Following Motherswork’s acquisition by parent-tech company The Parentinc, the mother of three looks back at how the business which she dubs “a hobby” became synonymous with premium mother and baby products, and how “having it …

The Influence Of Venture Capitalists’ Value-Added Service On Capital Financing Outcome: A Research On Chinese Biotech Startups, Hao-Yu Huang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

China’s biotechnology sector has undergone rapid evolution, driven by government policy, capital market reform, and growing global demand for pharmaceutical innovation. Venture capitalists (VCs) have played an increasingly pivotal role not only as financiers but also as strategic partners offering value-added services (VAS). These interventions include operational mentorship, regulatory navigation, talent pipeline facilitation, and strategic repositioning. However, the extent to which such non-financial support influences financing outcomes across startup development stages remains underexplored—particularly in the context of China's unique institutional and industrial environment.

This dissertation examines how VC post-investment interventions affect the financing success of biotech startups in China. Drawing …

Exploring Intelligent Manufacturing: How Artificial Intelligence Affects Productivity And Labor Demand At The Enterprise Level, Jie Gu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Manufacturing is a cornerstone of national economic health and social stability, yet it faces challenges such as declining profits, rising labor costs, and an aging workforce. In China, the manufacturing sector is undergoing a critical transformation, driven by technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and the push for intelligent manufacturing. This study explores how AI revitalizes the manufacturing sector by enhancing enterprise productivity and reshaping labor demand, with a focus on quality inspection processes. Using a leading bearing factory as a case study, the research employs econometric models, A/B testing, and interviews to quantify AI’s impact on production efficiency, costs, …

A Study On Paths And Effectiveness Of Internationalization Of Chinese Apparel Enterprises, Xiaohong Gao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As globalization advances, international expansion has become a key strategy for firms to enhance their competitive edge. Nevertheless, current literature predominantly centers on developed countries, often overlooking the distinct obstacles and prospects encountered by companies from emerging markets. This gap is particularly evident in the apparel sector, where the impact of branding strategies on internationalization outcomes remains underexplored. This paper constructs an analytical framework of “internationalization context - internationalization pathway selection - internationalization performance”, combines case studies and empirical analysis to explore this research issue in depth, and applies the results of the research to enterprise practice.

This paper analyzes …

Knowledge Judgment, Managerial Decision-Making, And Firm Performance: From The Perspective Of Entrepreneurial Spirit Reconfiguration In Second-Generation Family Businesses, Xinhua Li

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Since the reform and opening up, Chinese family businesses, as the main body of the private economy, have played a significant role in the development of the national economy. As the first - generation entrepreneurs are entering their later years, inter - generational succession has become an important issue. This doctoral thesis focuses on the dynamic reshaping process of the entrepreneurial spirit of the second - generation entrepreneurs in family businesses and explores how it affects the improvement of corporate performance. Based on the cutting - edge theories of Austrian economics, this study constructs a research framework of "knowledge judgment …

Digital Twin Dynamics: Employee’S Willingness To Adopt Ai Digital-Twin In A Craftsmanship Environment, Seow Hoon Tee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Singapore’s manufacturing sector, contributing 22% to the nation’s GDP, is undergoing a strategic transformation under the Manufacturing 2030 vision, which aims to increase sector value by 50%. However, a critical challenge emerges in the widening age gap among craftsmen, particularly between 30 and 50 years old, misaligning with succession planning efforts. As senior craftsmen approach retirement, the urgency to transfer specialized expertise significantly increases. In response, initiatives such as the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 and Industry 5.0 efforts by the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) emphasize AI-driven solutions to enhance knowledge retention and …

Meta-Entrepreneurship: An Analysis Theory On Integrating Generative Ai, Agentic Ai, And Metaverse For Entrepreneurship, Yingying Zhang, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Metaverse entrepreneurship has emerged as an innovative topic alongside the development of generative AI, agentic AI and metaverse. This study conceptualizes meta-entrepreneurship as a novel form of entrepreneurial activity that enables value creation within virtual and physical realms and proposes an analytical theoretical framework based on a systematic literature review, observations, and focus group study. Our framework is structured around three layers (infrastructure, content, and experience) and two domains (metaverse-based operational domain and AI-based production domain), aims to conceptualize “what is meta-entrepreneurship” and identify new possibilities. The research highlights the multifaceted impact of meta-entrepreneurship on individuals, corporations, industries, societies, and …

Liberalizing Home-Based Business, Sumit Agarwal, Tien Foo Sing, Changcheng Song, Jian Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Working at home benefits entrepreneurs by lowering fixed costs and allowing them to engage in joint market and household production. We evaluate a large-scale reform in Singapore, the Home Office Scheme, that allowed business creation at one's residential property and study whether home-based entrepreneurship spurs entrepreneurial activities. The difference-in-differences estimate shows that the reform led to a significantly higher level of business creation and that the firms newly created in response to the reform had a higher survival rate. The effect is more pronounced for low-income female individuals and industries with high startup capital, implying that financial constraints and nonpecuniary …

Research On Digital Platform Capabilities And Entrepreneurship Empowerment Performance Of Science And Technology Industrial Parks, Jieyu Zheng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In the era of the digital economy, industries are shifting toward platform-based and ecological trends, with industrial parks similarly adopting digital and platform-based patterns. The systematic planning, functional layout, and service efficiency of science and technology industrial parks (sci-tech industrial parks for short) are designed to address emerging industries’ spatial and organizational needs. This approach aims to create a system where digital transformation is employed as the mechanism and digital platforms empower entrepreneurial enterprises within these parks, fostering high-quality park development. However, despite efforts to build digital platforms for transforming into digital parks, many industrial parks have found their platform …

A Theory Of Host Country Sentiments: An Illustration In Cross-Border Acquisitions, Daphne W. Yiu, William P. Wan, Xiaocong Tian, Kelly Xing Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Capitalizing on massive sentiment diffusion and mobilization aided by mass media and social media nowadays, we introduce a general theory of host country sentiments to illuminate the granular, context-situated, and time dynamic power of social sentiments. We posit that host country is a value-laden context wherein a foreign entity’s strategic action stimulates host country stakeholders’ social sentiments and engagement in systems of discourses (“sentiment arousal”), mobilizes social sentiments toward the foreign entity (“sentiment competence”), and legitimizes social sentiments and the strategic action of the foreign entity (“sentiment resonance”). To test our theory, we employ a context of inward acquisitions by …

Ceo Humility And Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Evidence Based On A New Unobtrusive Measure, Amy Y. Ou, Qian Lu, Xina Li, Chi-Nien Chung, Guoli Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Chief executive officers (CEOs) are expected to guard their firms against corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) incidents. In this study, we hypothesize that CEO humility relates negatively to CSIR occurrence and positively to correction because of CEO preferences for protecting stakeholder interests and employing systematic information processing. These associations are stronger in industries with a high number of CSIR incidents and when top management teams have a higher ratio of gender and racial minorities. We develop and validate a new unobtrusive measure of CEO humility by using automated, objective behavioral indicators derived from earnings conference call transcripts. Our arguments and hypotheses …

The Partnership Question As A Scale Question: Extending The Theorization Of Entrepreneurial Urbanism In China, Yong Zhang

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

In this article I examine recent theoretical and empirical exchanges around partnership-based urban governance between North Atlantic and Chinese academics and policymakers. I argue that the latest wave of de jure private–public partnerships in urban China reflects an ongoing process of governance rescaling beyond conventional entrepreneurial urbanism theory. I propose an analytical framework that foregrounds successive experimental partnerships as tensions between institutional continuity and change arising from rescaling. In this study I examine variegated actually existing partnerships in Jiyuan, China, to identify generalizable ideal types of partnership-driven governance rescaling. I conclude by suggesting to enhance the theorization of entrepreneurial urbanism …

Catalysing Growth: State Of Asean University Innovation And Entrepreneurship: Report 2024, Abdullah Khurshid, Dexter Ye Kai Tan, Gabrielle Lay Khim Tan

Research Collection Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Over the past few years, Southeast Asia has captured global attention with its remarkable economic growth, driven by strong tailwinds. This has led to the expansion of its middle-class consumer base that is actively participating in while benefitting from the region’s rapidly expanding digital economy. In such a climate, there is tremendous potential for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) to be a critical economic driver. Homegrown startups in different Southeast Asian countries have introduced technology-first solutions that have scaled across the region, pushing businesses to innovate rapidly. Moreover, startups promote inclusive growth by leveraging scalable internet platforms and novel technologies to …

Whether In The Classroom Or The Marketplace, There’S No Perfect Formula For Innovation And Entrepreneurship, Havovi Joshi

Asian Management Insights

Successful innovation is never easy, and the fine line between creating the next tech unicorn and the next failed start-up often lies in the founders’ capacity to learn from both their successes and setbacks.