The State and Malaysian Chinese Business: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

The paper adopts the notions of embeddedness and the evolutional approach to the study of Chinese business in Malaysia. It provides an overview and assessment of the development of Chinese business from the colonial period to the present. It explains how Chinese business adapts and develops in the context of a protracted affirmative action policy to engage with the rise of a Bumiputera entrepreneurial class; competes with large government-linked companies (GLCs); the expansion of powerful state-backed investment institutions; and the increased liberalization of the Malaysian economy which are shaping Malaysian Chinese business and entrepreneurship.