Adaptive entrepreneurship andTaiwan's economic dynamics

Abstract

Taiwan's economic success is well documented in mainstream neoclassical economic literatures. Since the end of the Second World War, Taiwan has transformed in around 60 years time from a farmland to a high tech industrial economy. This 'miraculous' performance has intrigued scholars to search for an explanation of Taiwan's success and more importantly, a development model for latecomer economies. It is generally admitted by scholars (including those from the neoclassical school) that Taiwan's economic success is, to a large extent, attributed to its dynamic entrepreneurs. However, economic studies on the role of entrepreneurship in the economic development of Taiwan are few. This paper attempts to throw light on this issue. It will argue that Taiwan is an entrepreneurial society. A unique feature of Taiwan's style of entrepreneurship lies in its ability to adapt to the rapid changing world markets. Alertness to opportunities, and through the use of guerrilla entrepreneurial strategies, imitation, subcontracting and regional arbitrageurship, manufacturing firms in Taiwan are able to exploit profit margins and survive in the global competition. This paper concludes that, though the Taiwan's style of entrepreneurship emerges out of its unique environments, Taiwan's experience can be useful to other developing economies. The critical issue is whether latecomer countries can successfully incubate adaptive entrepreneurship compatible with their backgrounds so as to exploit international market opportunities.