Entreprenualism is one of the important strategic tools in transforming an economy in modernisation and industrialisation age. One aspect of the Chinese economic success is the entreprenual culture in their market economy.

China is a socialist state with a command economy and centralised political and administrative system. It appears that from a foreign political perspective, the Chinese political system may be perceived as an ideal model that shapes and governs the pattern of economic behaviour in the market economy.

Although this perception may be contentious in nature, there is a feeling of ownership and aggressiveness in people to be productive in the economy. The Great Leap Economic Manifesto designed and deployed by the Communist Party has played a significant role in shaping the economic behaviour of its people. Citizens are compelled to work for the government in the interest of “collective good” or “common good” where wealth is created and distributed equally in the society. This culture, one can argue, provides the foundation for people to be innovative in small scale entreprenualism.

In essence, entreprenualism is an art in China where economic activities take place anywhere at anytime. People buy and sell variety of goods, ranging from vegetables to electronics in the market. There is no such thing as laziness. Its economic activity is mostly premised on “bargaining power”.

Small scale market economy is most common in China and is one aspect that helps Chinese economic superiority in the new reconfigured globalised knowledge-based economy. The Chinese entreprenual culture is an interesting model for Papua New Guinea to learn.
More interestingly, China has a big population with limited natural resources and abundance of human capital but has managed to grow extremely well within a short period of time. The question one would ask is why?

The simple answer is people are becoming so “smart to create wealth”. Entreprenualism is the strategic formula. There is no exception for Papua New Guinea with less population and abundance resources. For instance, in Jilin, the province where I live and study, the population is about 16 million compared to Papua New Guinea which is 6.5 million but people are able to utilise existing resources to produce economy of scale in order to create wealth.

There is no reason for people in Papua New Guinea to migrate and settle in urban centres aimlessly and becoming unproductive. People should refocus their approach in creating wealth using abundance of resources. Unless this is done local people will continue to see Asian dominating the local market economy. There is also a misperception in PNG about Asian dominance in the local market economy, in particular Chinese businesses. Chinese-PNG working altitude can be best expressed in this slang Chinese “people work to live” while Papua New Guinea people “live to work”. Chinese are hard working people and it is part of their life and culture which PNG needs to understand and appreciate. In PNG, people are more dependent and surviving on free handouts which is a bad culture that needs pruning.

Entreprenualism culture is what is lacking right now in Papua New Guinea to drive the economy to modernisation and industrialisation in the age of globalization. There is a need to introduce entreprenualism education in all levels of education (both formal and informal).

It can be said that China is an ideal place for Papua New Guinea scholars, policy makers and business and ordinary people to come and learn and experience its entreprenual culture in the age of globalisation. I am in no doubt Papua New Guiena can attain a “Middle Income Economy” status by 2050 when there is an absolute strategic shifting in people’s mindset and or attitude.

Francis Hualupmomi is a Masters candidate in International Politics at the Institute of International Studies in Jilin University, China. For further information he can be contacted on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

  What do you think about this article? Add you comments and views below:

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."