Socio-Economic Networks: The €Œbamboo Network†Of Southeast-Asia And Its Socio-Philosophical Grounds

The Chinese bamboo network designates an economic network of enterprises run by Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. In general, these firms are medium and small-sized, having at their top the members of one family. The bamboo network is largely concentrated in the major cities along Southeast Asia: Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City. The entrepreneurs connect their businesses through a network of relationships. In Southeast Asia, they represent what Amy Chua named “market dominant minority. The Indian scholar Pankaj Mishra noted that the bamboo network represents the most powerful economic entity in Asia except China and Japan. In the same time, what makes the bamboo network so specific is that they have kept the traditional beliefs in Confucianism. What is the specific of the Chinese bamboo network and how does it function within the regional political environment? The research methods used in this paper are mainly based on the analysis of social documents from economy books and handbooks, academic and press articles. The aplication field of the paper can be used in the human sciencies, as for example sociology or international relations, but it also has a large application in the economic sciences. We showed that Southeast Asia’s business environment is extremely specific, and even unique in the way of making business. Its features are deeply grounded in the Confucian philosophy which makes it hardly approachable by the Western managers.