Political Connection and Disconnection: Still a Success Factor for Chinese Entrepreneurs
提出更广泛的政治关联度量，结合社会网络数据，发现政治关联对企业成功的影响是非连续的，政治脱节的企业家即使拥有优势商业网络也无法获益。
Political connection in China is often tested for correlation with business success and government support under a suspicion that connected entrepreneurs enjoy special favors and protection. Research evidence is mixed. In revisiting the debate on political capital in China, we apply a socially embedded perspective on political connection. To this end we introduce two methodological innovations: (a) We develop a broader measure of political connectedness that covers the continuum from political connection to disconnection. (b) We integrate data on political connection with social network data. Specifically, we explore how the social structure around the individual entrepreneur affects performance above and beyond the often tested association between political ties and performance. We draw two conclusions: (1) The success association with political connection is discontinuous. Advantage is less for entrepreneurs weakly connected politically, but significant additional disadvantage arises for the politically disconnected. (2) The additional is that entrepreneurs disconnected from government show no benefit from having an advantaged business network. The politically connected with an advantaged business network show more prosperous business, higher returns on assets, and more likely survival over time. The politically disconnected show none of these benefits. We caution the entrepreneur who plans to ignore the government.