Chinese Family Businesses, Dialect Groups, and Succession Planning: sme s’ Perseverance Practices in Malaysia

Abstract Chinese family businesses ( cfb s) have been perceived as a cornerstone of Malaysia’s economic and social fabric. The history of cfb s can be referred back to the early fifteenth century, when the Hokkien arrived in Nanyang as the earliest Chinese immigrants to work in trade ports. Since that time, cfb s have undergone an evolution in their structure, from a traditional Chinese form to more professionalized form. To better understand how immigration patterns and traditional skills influence the industries dominated by different dialect groups, the present work adopts a business-history approach to understand small and medium enterprises owned by Chinese families in different dialect groups, namely Besfomec (Hakka), lh Plus (Henghua), and Fung Keong (Cantonese). This study highlights the historical building of business reputations to describe how these Malaysian cfb s in the dialect groups have adapted to Malaysia’s “New Economic Policy.” This study sheds light on the companies’ integration of unique challenges, and the strategies taken by the different dialect groups to achieve market prominence and sustain their businesses over generations. By promoting Nanyang-branded products in Malaysia, this paper aims to demonstrate the importance of Chinese-owned small and medium enterprises’ perseverance practices, the role of the state in fostering public-private partnerships, and inter-ethnic business strengthening during generational change.