Growth pattern of an employee-owned business: a narrative inquiry concerning the new venture creation experience of Wowprime in Taiwan

Abstract

The current private- and shareholder-ownership pattern has found its limits. The aim of this research is to explore a growth pattern of employee-owned business adopting the narrative inquiry approach. The findings show that there are four growth stages: the ‘family-owned’, the ‘family- and manager-owned’, the ‘family-, manager-, and staff-owned’ and the ‘family-, manager-, staff- and franchisee-owned’ stages. This study explains why the pattern is becoming an important part of the business environment around the world and why mutual ownership can better grasp opportunities and turn environmental threats into new opportunities. This study contributes to advancing the understanding of the ownership pattern from private (family), to shareholder (manager) to employee.

Keywords::

• employee-owned business
• entrepreneurship
• growth pattern
• mutual
• narrative inquiry
• Wowprime

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the Guangzhou Vocational College of Science and Technology (No. 2014JG02: transfer of social capital and absorptive capability: family business successors in Guangdong as examples).

Notes

^1. The interview code.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Li-Chung Chang

Dr Li-Chung Chang (Brian) is an associate professor at the Department of Management, Guangzhou Vocational College of Science and Technology and at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Zhongshan Institute. He received his PhD degree in Business Administration from National Chengchi University (Taiwan). He received his MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree and bachelor degree in Business Administration from National Sun Yat-Sen University (Taiwan). He was a director research fellow at Topology Technology, an associate research fellow at TIER (Taiwan Institute of Economic Research) and an analyst at TECO Group and OSE (Orient Semiconductor Electronics).

Chao-Tung Wen

Dr Chao-Tung Wen is a professor at Graduate Institute of Technology, Innovation and Intellectual Property Management. He received his PhD degree in Environmental Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA), a master degree in Business Administration from the University of Rochester (USA) and a bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering from Tunghai University (Taiwan).

Yeg-Ming Chang

Dr Yeg-Ming Chang is a professor at the Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University (Taiwan). He received his PhD degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (USA), MBA degree from National Chengchi University (Taiwan) and a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University (Taiwan).

Pei-How Huang

Dr Pei-How Huang is an associate professor at the Department of Business Administration, National Sun Yat-Sen University. He received his PhD degree and master degree in Business Economics from the University of Mannheim (Germany), bachelor degree in Philosophy from Chinese Culture University (Taiwan).