Wee Liang Tan

Bio: Wee Liang Tan is an academic researcher from Singapore Management University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Entrepreneurship & Social entrepreneurship. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 86 publications receiving 1855 citations. Previous affiliations of Wee Liang Tan include Nanyang Technological University.

The Socio-Cultural Environment for Entrepreneurship: A Comparison Between East Asian and Anglo-Saxon Countries

Abstract: This study uses a theory of face to identify predictors of interest in entrepreneurship in six East Asian and four Anglo-Saxon countries. At the cultural level, social status of entrepreneurship and shame from business failure predict interest in entrepreneurship better in East Asian than Anglo countries. At the individual level, social status predicts interest in entrepreneurship in the entire sample.

Defining the ‘Social’ in ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Altruism and Entrepreneurship

Abstract: What is social entrepreneurship? In, particular, what’s so social about it? Understanding what social entrepreneurship is enables researchers to study the phenomenon and policy-makers to design measures to encourage it. However, such an understanding is lacking partly because there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship as yet. In this paper, we suggest a definition of social entrepreneurship that intuitively accords with what is generally accepted as entrepreneurship and that captures the way in which entrepreneurship may be altruistic. Based on this we provide a taxonomy of social entrepreneurship and identify a number of real cases from Asia illustrating the different forms it could take.

Politico-Economic Factors Associated with Interest in Starting a Business: A Multi-Country Study

Abstract: In this article, we study the constructs of perceived environmental munificence and carrying capacity as they relate to potential for starting a business in samples taken from thirteen Anglo–Saxon,...

The knowledge-creating company

Abstract: How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

Development and Cross-Cultural Application of a Specific Instrument to Measure Entrepreneurial Intentions

Abstract: This article uses Ajzen's theory of planned behavior to build an entrepreneurial intention questionnaire (EIQ) and analyzes its psychometric properties. The entrepreneurial intention model is then ...