Entry And Survival Strategies Adopted By Chinese Small Scale Entrepreneurs In Sri Lanka: A Case Study

The main aim of this research is to identify the factors that are affecting the success of Chinese small businesses, which are currently operating in Sri Lanka. This study followed the ‘Investigation research model’ with the two main research aspects, ‘success of the Chinese small businesses in Sri Lanka’ and ‘affecting factors for the success’ as the conceptual model of the research, and authors used the qualitative research approach by collecting data through in-depth interviews conducted with the Chinese entrepreneurs who are currently operating their businesses in Sri Lanka and the BOI officers who supporting to promote FDIs in Sri Lanka. For the data collection purpose, researchers used the snowball sampling technique and the unstructured, open-ended question-naire. Thus, this research followed ‘case study method’ and ‘conversation-based content analysis’ to analyze the collected data. Finally, the affecting factors were identified under these four main dimensions viz.: statutory and legal requirements, market related factors, financial related factors and strategy of investments. Moreover, this study concluded that the success of the businesses can be assessed by using the seven success factors under four key dimensions such as operational performance, market performance, wealth of the business and growth of the business. The findings of the study will be useful for the investors mainly from China and also other foreign investors who are planning to invest in Sri Lanka. Further, policy makers need to consider study findings for future initiatives in crafting policies in business development, trade and investment.