[内容简介]：社会资本和中国民营企业的发展都是目前颇受关注的问题。前者，社会资本，作为一个新概念，在被广泛而热情的运用的同时，也在被普遍的误解；后者，中国民营企业的发展由于中国的改革开放和自身的迅速壮大而获得了学术界的注意，尤其是本文的调查对象——温州地区，更是因其“传奇式”的崛起而被称为“温州模式”。本文试图从对社会资本的概念的探讨开始，以托马斯?福特?布朗教授的“系统主义”的社会资本概念为基础（从微观、中观和宏观三维角度去定义），提出了一个理论假设——社会资本的获取，即为民营企业的发展获取资源的前提条件是社会资本网络中的“自我”与这一网络结构的契合，并且通过我从温州S地区调查所获得的资料作为论据，证明了我的假设。

　　改革开放二十年来，温州经济发展取得了令人瞩目的成就。而这些成就，在很大程度上得益于民营企业的迅猛发展和壮大。与中国的大部分地区不同，温州的工业产值有80%以上是来自于民营企业。温州这种特殊的发展模式，引起了社会的广泛关注，并被人们称为“温州模式”。但近几年来，随着“温州模式”弊端的暴露，又有很多学者开始批评它的不足。那么到底何为“温州模式”？它对中国民营企业的发展带来了什么?在这篇文章中，我准备运用社会资本的概念和理论探讨这种模式的本质。

一、理论回顾与思考

　　社会资本目前还是一个比较年轻的概念，各界的学者运用它的热情都很高，因此，它被广泛的应用在各种社会问题研究。在国外，与企业发展有关的有对少数民族的商业飞地和小环境的研究，其结论是：社会网络对起发展有重要作用。“飞地是移民的企业或者少数民族的企业高度密集的地区，它们雇佣的劳动力很大部分是同种族的，而且在城市中形成了自己的明显物质存在。对纽约唐人街的研究（Zhou 1992），对迈阿密的小哈瓦那的研究（Portes 1987,Portes&Stepock 1992,Perez 1992），对洛杉矶的高丽城的研究（Light&Bonacich 1988,Nee et al 1994）一直强调社群网络给那里的少数民族企业提供了关键的资源。这些资源包括，但不限于启动时的资本、商业机会的提供、市场进入以及廉价的劳动力。”（亚历山德罗?波茨）

　　由于中国民营企业发展的特殊性，运用社会资本理论研究中国民营企业发展的国外学者很少，只有一些运用网络理论的实证研究涉及到企业方面的，但重点是大陆以外的华人。如迈克豪夫对新加坡华人小企业的研究和东亚研究小组关于亚洲华人企业网络的研究。而运用社会网络方法直接针对大陆的研究主要有沃尔德和林南。“沃尔德通过对到香港的大陆居民的访谈，研究了改革开放前我国的国有企业，提出了我国国有企业中存在着有原则的特殊主义的观点。美国芝加哥大学的林南教授，在他所做的一项关于大邱庄问题的研究中，提出了地方性市场网络的概念，把改革开放后的结构性变化概述为地方性市场网络的形成。”（张其仔，1999）

　　在国内，研究社会资本与中国私营企业发展关系的相关理论也不多见。其中较有代表性的有李路路对社会资本与私营企业家的研究。（李路路,1995）李路路通过对1993年私营企业所作的全国性抽样调查资料的分析指出“私营企业家与他的亲戚和朋友的关系，特别是这些亲戚和朋友的职业地位和权利地位，对他们进入私营经济领域、获得资源和私营企业的发展等方面，都有重要作用。”我认为, 在这篇论文中, 李对社会资本理论的运用主要存在两方面的问题: 首先, 在社会资本的概念上, 李路路把社会资本等同于社会关系——“企业家的社会资本、即企业家拥有社么样的社会关系，主要由两个指标来表示，即企业家本人所选择的、与他来往最密切的一个亲戚和朋友；社会资本的差异，用这个亲戚和朋友的职业地位和在国家行政权力系统中的职务地位来标志。”但实际上，社会关系只是社会资本的一种表现形式，而不是社会资本全部内容。其次, 李路路的研究是中观意义上的和静态的, 而忽略了社会资本网络中的“自我”的能动性与特殊性. 李路路的出发点是“确定各种不同因素在中国社会结构转变过程中的作用，以及作用的程度，通过分析社会资本的作用及作用程度，去认识中国社会结构变迁和向市场经济体制过度的特点，丰富我们关于社会结构变迁的理论”。这样一个出发点使得李路路的研究是中、宏观意义上的——他关注的是特定的社会网络结构下，资源在其中流动的特殊方式，每一个网络结点在这里是无差异的和静态的。因此，李的假设是“中国的私营企业家是体制变革的产物，社会资本在决定社会地位、影响资源分配等方面的作用，在他们身上表现得应该更为明显。”在这一假设中, 私营企业家，是社会资本发挥作用的表现，而不是能动的使用者。

　　除了李路路, 张其仔、边燕杰等人也都从不同的角度探讨了社会资本与企业发展的关系。但是，总的来说，他们的大都是对社会资本概念某一方面的强调和忽视。

　　针对社会资本与私营企业发展关系的研究现状，我准备从对“社会资本”的概念的定义开始，提出动态的研究社会资本的方法，并在讨论中，充分重视网络结构中的“自我”的能动性。

　　关于社会资本的概念，不同的学者从各自的研究领域和研究对象出发，给予了不同的界定。我比较偏向与美国的托马斯?福特?布朗教授的“系统主义”——“ 社会资本是按照构成社会网络的个体自我间的关系类型在社会网络中分配资源的过程的系统。”其中，个体自我、联结自我的关系类型和社会大生态，分别属于微观、中观、宏观三个层面，他们是社会资本系统中的要素（个体自我）、结构（联结自我的关系类型）和环境（社会大生态）。

　　（托马斯?福特?布朗）这一定义的优点是：（1）因为采取了三维的分析方法，他把网络中的自我和网络结构很好的包容在一起，这样既可以考虑到每一个自我的能动性，又能关注到整个网络的特点和影响；（2）他强调这是一个过程的系统，也就是指出要素、构成和环境三者之间的互动关系，使得整个理论呈动态特征。

　　布朗教授进一步解释了他的三维分析法：“我把微观层面的社会资本的分析称之为嵌入自我的观点。在这个层面上，我们将讨论个体自我通过社会网络（自我包括在内）调动资源的潜力。我们这里关注的是个人的结果，不过是在特定社会结构的情境中来考虑。我把中观层面的社会资本分析称之为结构的观点。在这个层面上，我们将讨论社会资本特定网络的结构化，该网络中的自我之间联系的定型，以及资源因其特殊结构而通过该网络流动的方式。我们这里关注的是网络结构化的过程及其分布的影响，而不是构成网络的个体自我。我把宏观层面的社会资本分析称之为包含结构的观点。在这个层面上，我们将讨论特定社会资本网络包含在政治经济体系中的方式，以及包含在更大的文化或规范体系中的方式。我们这里关注的是‘外在’文化、政治和宏观经济对网络中的社会联系的性质的影响，对网络结构的影响，以及对网络构建、变化和转移的动力的影响。”（托马斯?福特?布朗）

　　　根据这一理论，结合温州S地区的具体情况，我把自我的理想类型分为以下两种：（1）传统型，表现为对于和自己有血缘关系和以此类推的情缘、地缘关系的人具有特别的信任，而对于此圈以外的人则具有“天生的”排斥心理。（2）现代型，指不以血缘关系作为衡量他人是否可信的唯一，甚至是主要的标准，他们更愿意通过长期的合作，来判断别人的可信度，不排斥陌生人。

　　　我把社会资本的结构——自我的关系类型划分为以下两种理想类型：（1）传统封闭型，是指以血缘、情缘、地缘为纽带联系起来的一个共同体内，共同体内部具有高度的信任度，对于共同体外的人具有排斥性。离关系中心的自我越近，越可能被信任并获取经济资源。（2）现代开放型，指不受“三缘”关系的限制，经过长期的互惠互利的合作后形成认同关系，在这个共同体内，自我以追求利益最大化为目的而进行交往。

　　自我的理想类型是微观层次上的划分；社会资本结构的理想类型则是中观意义上的；而宏观环境的影响则体现在：当环境改变时，社会资本的结构会随着改变，其趋势是：当社会逐渐开放，市场经济的地位越来越显著，传统的文化被多元的文化所冲击时，社会资本的结构就从传统封闭型向现代开放型转变。在这种结构的转变中，嵌入其中的自我也必须转变其社会网络的形态和规模，以及与这种形态规模相适应的价值观念、道德、信仰等网络背后所积淀下来的东西。如果，这种转变失败，那么自我在以前的社会资本被消耗殆尽时就无法建立起新的社会资本，企业的发展将被牵制。因此我们的理论假设就是：当自我类型与社会资本的结构类型相适应时就可以调动资源以利于经济发展；相反当自我类型与社会资本结构类型相左时，个人就会丧失这种能力，甚至会阻碍自身的经济发展。下面我将用对温州民营企业的调查结果分析来证明我假设。

二、案例分析

　　我这次调查的主要对象是温州市S地区的两个民营公司，现在都已发展为规模较大的集团——H集团和Z集团。对于上文提出的理论假设，我将利用搜集的资料，从：（1）传统类型的自我在传统封闭型的社会资本的结构中的成功；（2）传统类型的自我在现代开放型社会资本结构中的失败；（3）和现代类型的自我在现代开放型的社会资本结构中的成功三个方面去证明。

　　（一）、传统封闭型社会资本的成功获取——血缘、情缘、地缘关系的作用

　　中国的改革开放之初，温州农村的“家庭工厂”迅速崛起，并迅猛发展为规模宏阔的一个经济群体，直至惊动了党中央、国务院。是什么力量使一个剩余劳动力很多，国家投资很少，交通资源基础设施又很差的地区的“家庭工业户达到13万户，产值占了全市农村工业总产值近60%”？（费孝通）在我对温州市S地区的几家规模较大的集团的访谈与调查中发现，他们成功的创业，在很大程度上都归功于他们可以利用社会网络中的血缘、情缘、地缘关系，低成本的获得企业发展的各种关键要素。这也就是人们常讲的“温州模式”的本质所在。

　　案例1：L 是温州市S地区的H集团的董事长，他的集团现实际资产约3.8亿元，但L 创业初期的总资本只有2到3万。L向我口述了他的发家史：凭借初中文化水平和打工学到的手艺，L在80年代末，办起了家庭作坊，当时的所有劳动力就是他、妹妹和3、4个雇佣工，资金有6、7百，50%来自朋友的帮助。后来生意做大后，与其好友个出1万多的资金，成立变压器厂。销售上，一是借靠当时小有名气的一家国营企业的牌子；第二，也是最主要的，是卖给当时专门在外面跑销售的人（被人们称为“销售大军”），而这些人大多为亲戚、朋友，或亲戚的亲戚、朋友的朋友，信息的获得也大多从此而来；第三就是在当地做零售业，买主大多为国企的采购员。L说，由于品种S地区的品种齐全，吸引了不少零售商。

　在这里，企业的启动资本是靠朋友、亲戚的帮助；销售的途径、商业信息的获得以及原材料的购进既是依靠了亲戚和朋友，也是利用了有利的地缘关系和特殊的分工局面；整个地区的“区域经济”则是得益与当地人们的社会化大协作的局面。“温州家庭工业的兴起和发展，是由三个主要部分组成的：（1）家庭工业；（2）依托集镇的专业市场；（3）十万大军的购销员。”（张根生）如果把家庭工业看作是自我对于其内部社会关系网络——“亲戚、朋友”的利用，那么专业市场和购销员，则是外部社会关系网络——“同乡”的利用，当然这两者的并非泾渭分明的，他们有很多情况下是互相重合的。由此可见，以血缘、情缘、地缘为纽带构建的社会关系网络，以及基于此的互惠互利的合作关系为处于中心的自我提供了很多资源和节约了交易成本，它们是农民企业家的创业得以成功的关键。

　　（二）现代开放型社会资本的转变——家族式管理模式的困境

　　90年代末期，市场经济那只看不见的手，在越来越大的程度上影响着商业竞争，与此同时，温州原有的家庭工业也都渐渐的转变为“有限责任公司”以适应新的经济、政治形式和企业自身发展的需要。仍以L为例，经十年的创业发展于1996年创建了H集团，吸纳了亲戚、朋友的一些企业加盟。组建集团两年后，发展加快，于1998年经国家工商总局批准更名为无区域的H集团。1999年为适应企业发展的需要，对产权制度进行改革，组建了H集团有限公司，正式实施行股份制。目前，H集团有限公司共有股东18名，公司董事长L占总股本的65%，其余各股东所占股份为1%——5%不等。公司目前已形成了较大的规模。在当地23个同类企业中的排名为6到8名，在温州百强企业中排20多位。但是，“股份有限公司”的成立并没有带来长久持续的发展，两权的分离、责权的分配、管理的现代化、人员素质等问题并没有真正解决，他们成为制约公司发展的因素。

　　1、从企业的组织结构来看，企业的自我类型仍是传统型的。
表1 H集团股东组成表：
亲戚 朋友 其他
股东（个） 8 5 5
股份（%） 20 11．3 3．7
注：L个人持65%的股份

表2 H集团股东参与经营情况表：
（高层以管理人员）
总裁、副总裁 （中层管理人员）
部门经理 （一般管理人员）
办公室人员
股东（个） 4 6 5
注：共有股东18个

　　由表1到表3可见，企业的投资者和经营者大都与L有“三缘关系”。在前文中，我们曾指出了，由亲朋为纽带构成的社会关系网络帮助了处于其中的自我获取经济利益。但是当企业的规模壮大，家庭工业转变为有限公司后，L企业的内部的这种血缘关系、情缘关系和地缘关系仍然在企业内部占主要地位的状况，就阻碍了企业的发展，主要表现在：

（1）家属之间的矛盾影响公司的正常运做。
如：L的小舅子和哥哥闹矛盾，双方都以退股相要挟，请L主持公道。

　　（2）对外人的不信任，影响了员工的积极性。
如：H集团办公室主任A的手下有4名员工，其中2人直接听从L的安排，做事不向A汇报。结果：A以消极的态度对待公司的工作，并且有离开的念头。而A所遇的问题在以前已经多次发生：集团从建立到现在的4年内，已经换了5人，原因都与L和L妻子直接插手办公室的工作有关。

　（3）低文化素质影响企业的规范化管理。
如：A、H集团2001年8月份的出勤考核纪录，共迟到49人次，中高层33人次，有31人次为亲戚。

　　B、L总是利用下班时间开会。曾经有一位外聘总裁B，因为在下班前30分钟开会，遭到L的批评，最终因为两人关系不和而导致B的离开。

　　2、从企业主的个人社会关系网络看，L 对别人的信任仍停留在“差序格局” 阶段（见表2）

　　在企业发展初期，L与亲戚、朋友的联系越紧密，越能从他们那里获得经济资源，但是，在今天的企业发展中，L与这些亲戚、朋友的联系阻碍了他个人素质的提高和社会关系网络中异质因素的介入。

（1）素质影响：
L 个人社会关系表：
交往群体 亲朋 当地企业 局级副局级
政府官员 工商机关
交往时间 平日 平日 事假日 事假日
交往内容 打牌、喝酒、聊天 打牌、聊天 参与子女喜事、礼尚往来 同前
关系程度 好 面子上的关系 有事相托 同前
文化程度 低 较低 中 中

　　表4
由表4可见，L平日的大部分时间是与自己的朋友和其他企业的老板在一起的。

　　和这些文化水平不高的人在一起，限制了L个人素质的影响，最终阻碍了企业的发展。表现在：

A、缺乏战略眼光。
a、无长远规划，想到什么问题就解决什么问题。
b、不愿意增加广告和科技创新的资金投入。
c、只关心利润的增长，但是其利润的算法是不科学的——没有扣除在广告和技术等方面的投资所增加的产品的成本

　　B、小生产者意识：因小聪明，失大机会。

　　A、人才引进的困难：L长期和亲戚朋友的紧密联系使其仍然局限与下的信任格局，这就阻碍了人才向企业的流动。　

　　案例2：常务副总C，他曾在国企中做了20多年的厂长，先后领导了三个企业的扭亏转盈，是一个不可多得的人才。L聘用他时的许诺条件之一是让其做总裁，并把公司的日常管理工作完全放手让C做，但C到公司后，他又因怕其他股东不认可，把C安排在副总裁的位子，并且没有清晰的权利与责任，大大影响了C的积极性——不到一年，C已经有离开的打算。

　　B、机遇的丧失：L没有和上层的政府，尤其是与自己行业息息相关的高层政府部门建立密切的关系网络，这样有很多与政策相关的商业机遇就没能即时把握，例如中国农网改造的大机遇，L就因为信息掌握不及时而错失良机。这种机遇丧失还体现在与其他企业的比较中：一些与政府联系紧密的企业总是能够参加一些“抛头露面”的场合，这就在无形中宣传了企业的形象。另外，缺乏具有一定影响力的媒介中的朋友，也是H集团的一大弱点。

　　通过上面的案例和分析我们得出了这样的结论：企业自身的规模和制度改变了，企业外部的环境也改变了，企业主原来适应传统型社会网络结构的获取资源的潜力已经被消耗殆尽。如果企业主不主动的与环境形成互动，——改变自己的社会关系网络以及网络背后的种种价值理念和信任格局，那么原来的社会资本不仅会消失，而且会阻碍企业的发展。

　　（三）现代开放型社会资本的重新获得--自我类型的成功转变
在对温州民营企业的调查中，我们发现了Z集团，它在同类产品中的遥遥领先引起了我们的兴趣。通过进一步的了解，我们发现了其社会关系网络与其他企业的不同之处，以及由此而获得的大量社会资本对企业发展的帮助。

　　在这里我们将采用与H集团对比的方式对Z进行分析。

　　N为Z集团的董事长。早在1994年2月，N组建温州地区同行业第一家企业集团——Z集团；1997年7月，组建ZT集团第一家股份制企业——Z股份有限公司；1999年7月，全国工商联公布会员企业调查结果，Z集团综合实力名列全国百强民营企业的第8名；去年，Z的工业产值为42亿，利税5.05亿，出口2800万美元。

1、N的个人社会关系网络：
N社会关系表
交往群体 亲朋 中央级领导 国家有关主管部门 媒介 专家、学者
身份 一般百姓 中央级 厅级 商家、知识分子 知识分子
学历 较低 高 高 高 高
交往时间 节假日 重大事件、特殊时间 平日 平日 平日
表5

　　与L形成对比的是：
A、N现在的社交圈的层次明显高于L：来往较多的有：中央级领导（多次来到Z）；国家机械主管部门；《经济日报》、中央电视台等大媒体；专家学者（国内外的）

　　1、 B、N的工作时间大部分在温州以外，甚至是在国外。

这样的一个关系网络显然是脱离了原有的亲朋的小圈子内，虽然这没有原来那样的强网的效应，但是却得到了很多新的有价值的信息和机遇：

（1）政府方面的：首先政府对Z的关注带动了社会对他的关注，这是对企业最好的广告；其次，政府经常邀请N出席一些高层商业会议，和政治会议（N本人就是全国人大代表），比如：去年在厦门召开的中欧企业的一个讨论会，Z作为中方民营企业的唯一代表的身份出席了这次会议，大大提高了他的国内和国际知名度。

（2）媒介方面：媒介与广告宣传效应是息息相关的，与媒介人物的来往不仅有利于企业形象的宣传而且帮助企业“用最少的钱，办最好的事”（Z宣传处处长语），为企业节省了交易成本。

　　（3）专家学者的联系：最大的好处体现在对N个人素质的提高上。N在起步时与其他企业主的学历都差不多，现在却可以在北京大学讲课。另外一个非常直接的作用体现在他们帮助N出谋划策，比如在企业进行股份制改革时，由于N听从了专家的建议，用了两年的时间做好了股东的思想工作，没有本事的给他们钱（保留股份）但不让他们在企业任职，有一些本领的就把他安排在相称的职位上，这样就为企业以后的发展扫除了后患 ，而不象其他企业，随着企业的规模的扩大，内部的家族管理和任人唯亲的局面所带来的负面影响逐渐暴露了出来。

　　2、这里我要强调这一社会关系网络对N个人人力资本的影响，主要体现在三个方面：（1）超越差序格局的信任格局，由任人唯亲到任人唯贤；（2）具有建立规范化和现代化管理的意识与能力；（3）具有战略性的眼光。N从他的社会关系网络中获得的这些人力资本表现在企业中，就是对现代企业发展的很好的促进作用，具体表现在两个方面：

（1） 规范化的企业管理：

　　A、我们以和N有血缘和情缘关系的人在企业的投资者和经营者中所占的比例，以及这些人在公司的经营模式是否规范这两个指标来衡量。 　　Z共有107位股东，主要由三类人构成：N家族的原始股东小于1/3，N个人占20%；兼并组合其他小企业的股东占2/3；要素股东1-2%。其高层管理人员共7人：总裁、4个副总、两个总裁助理，其中，总裁为董事长弟弟，其余有两人为亲戚，一人为朋友。5人是当地人，一人为外省的，90年就来到正泰，是外聘人员中职位最高的。中层管理人员：外聘的与有关系的各占一半。与H集团相比，Z的两权分离已经有了不少的进步。

　　B、另一方面，血缘关系和情缘关系对企业的影响不仅仅是在亲戚或朋友直接占据企业的职务上的一些不良影响，更本质的是看企业的大小管理者是否有“裙带意识”，也就是说，他们是否根据关系的疏远决定利益的分配、惩罚的处理方式等本应客观处理的问题。在我们的调查中发现，Z集团对股东的处理态度基本上是与一般员工一致的，如在我们访谈的前一个星期，Z集团刚刚处理了N的一名亲戚。

　　C、另外，N个人充分认识到现代化管理的重要性，所以，他积极地推动规范化的进程。与H集团董事长L的越级管理的行为相比，N有意识的避免这种现象。如：一名副经理越级递上来的报告被N退回到相关部门进行处理。

　　（2）战略性的眼光：
A、Z有一个5年的滚动规划，对于自己每一年，每一月，每一周，每一天的工作目的都很清楚。

B、重视企业文化的建立：
表6： H和Z集团企业文化建设表：
Z集团 H集团
岗位培训 每人都必须参加 敷衍
集体文娱活动 有 无
企业报纸 有职工专版 全部是集团和L个人消息
影响 职工有归属感 职工无归属感

　　C、具有全球意识：N重视国外先进技术和管理方法的引进，正打算在美国办一家工厂。

D、具有品牌意识：a、N很注意广告宣传的作用，并经常在各种媒体中露面，与媒体保持良好的关系。b、强调产品质量的重要性：1999年5月，Z集团公司计量工作通过国家级水平确认，成为同行业第一家通过该计量水平确认的企业。在90年代初，温州假冒伪劣产品遭到打击时，Z集团没有受到很大的影响。

　　N通过积极主动的转变个人的素质而很好地增加了个人资本。由于这一人力资本所有者对于企业而言的特殊地位和影响力，当它作用在整个企业时，就推动了企业从经营理念到经营方式的转变，从而适应了整个外部环境（这里是指中观意义上的社会资本网络结构）的变化，顺利地从外部获得了社会资本。由此可见，在企业规模和机制发生变化时，社会资本的获得必须通过，且可以通过，建立新的社会关系网络以及由此网络形成新的信任格局、价值观等，与新的社会资本网络结构相适应，以从中获取社会资源。

三、讨论
　　如前文所示，H和Z集团的具体案例支持了我最初的假设，即：当社会资本网络中的自我类型与社会资本结构类型能准确合适的相嵌时，社会资本就可以获得。下面，我们将从理论上进一步解释自我理想类型与社会资本结构类型嵌入的运做机理 ，并且讨论前面较少提到的宏观因素的影响。在这之前，我还要对自我理想类型的理论假设，做出一些补充说明。

（一）自我的类型的说明
　　布朗把自我按照网络交易的动机分为三种理想类型：“（1）‘经济的’指受到经济利益驱动的自我网络；（2）‘地位’指受声望考虑驱动的自我网络；（3）‘社交活动’指自我按照利他主义动机建立联系的网络。”（布朗）在我前文的讨论中，我把自我的动机都假设为经济的，原因是后两种类型在温州私营企业初步发展时缺乏可能性，这是由这一地区原为农村的特点和中国的特殊国情决定的，而中国农村的特点在很大程度上又是由城乡二元结构所决定和强化的。城乡的二元结构虽然在很多国家都存在，但是像中国这样通过一套政策、制度强烈“固化”的很少见（改革开放前）：在经济上，农村搞农业，城市搞工业；社会结构上，市民与村民、非农人口与农业人口、职工与农民都是彼此不仅身份不同，而且待遇不同，并且具有一定等级差别的两个不同阶层，而这些阶层存在着先天遗传的因素，即农民的孩子永远是农民（只有少数通过上学、参军改变身份），而职工的孩子即使不念大学、中专，也可以通过顶职，继续父母之业，不会成为农民阶层。这种二元结构实际上是不合理、不公平的制度为具体内容的城乡差别、工农差别的格局。在这样的格局的长期影响下，温州地区人们长期以来就不存在什么地位的优势，而社交活动对与这样一个人多地少的地区更是奢谈。“温州是人多地少、资源紧缺的地区。全市人均耕地只有0.46分，劳动力人均耕地仅1.5亩（按改革开放初统计，现在则更少）。而森林、矿产等自然资源人均占有两更是微乎其微，在这样一个“穷山恶水”的地方，生存是人们一直努力解决的问题。”（赵顺鹏、朱知喜，2000）所以，基于这样的自我的动机，我把他们简化和假设为经济利益驱动的自我，而从自我建立、获取社会资本的不同方式的角度把它划分为传统型和现代型两种。

（二）自我类型嵌入的机理
　　1、传统型的自我嵌入传统封闭型具有较强的获取资源的能力。这一点较易理解，因为它们共同在传统文化的影响下形成，本身就是一体的。具体说来：对于圈内人的特殊信任，使他们在与亲属和朋友的交易中省去了监督和交易前审查的成本；家族内人担任企业的劳动者时则节省了人力资本；高度的信任还使他们在与亲朋的交易中，不会出现市场交易中的“囚徒的困境”和“搭便车”的情况。这也就是人们常说的“温州模式”成功的原因。

　　2、传统型的自我嵌入现代开放型的社会资本网络的不适应。首先我们要明白现代型的社会资本网络的特征：（1）现代型的社会资本网络中的自我，应该是现代企业；环境（市场）是作为资源的主要配置手段；（2）因此这时企业已初具规模，企业的基本要素都已经具备（启动资金、销售网络、进货途径和合作伙伴等），这时所需要的资源主要是人才和信息。由于历史原因，温州地区民营企业家的文化水平都不高，他们都是农民出生，因此也没有什么社会地位。因此传统型自我在这样的一种关系圈里虽然能够得到特殊的信任关系，但是当这种信任关系所能提供的资源已成为所有企业共同具有的资源时，它就不再具有竞争力，换句话说，这种社会资本已经被消耗。而此时，他们强网络联系和低地位的弱点就显现了出来。

　　美国社会学家格兰洛伍特提出了“弱网络的强力”的理论，他指出，在强网之中，人们都相互熟悉，每个人都知道其他人所知道的，所以，无助于新的信息和观念的传播，弱网则不同，它可以成为新信息、新观念和新机会的传播渠道，把不同的“族”（CLUSTER）联系起来。在此基础上，林南提出了个体所拥有社会资本的数量和质量有下列三个因素：一是个体社会网络的异质性，二是网络成员的社会地位，三是个体与网络成员的关系强度。具体说来，就是一个人的社会网络的异质性越大，网络成员的社会地位越高，个体与成员的关系越弱，则其拥有的社会资源就越丰富。

1、 国际关系要想正常、和谐地运作必须有“礼”来制约。

　　这种理论可以用来解释传统型的自我无法适应这种传统封闭型的社会资本网络：温州的私营企业家大都是农民出生，而他们的亲戚朋友的地位和文化水平都不高，同样，同质性也是农村社团的特征之一。同质性、社会地位低和网络成员之间的强关系，这些都不适应“新信息、新观念、新机会”的获得。而“温州模式”后来的失败也因此而起。

（三）要素、结构和环境的互动
　　在我们前面的分析中，明确了这样一个问题：当社会资本系统中的结构发生了变化时，要素（自我）没能随之而变化，社会资本这个系统就不再运做。那么我们现在面临的问题就是，为什么社会资本系统中的要素并不总是成功的与结构发生有益的互动呢？换句话来说，是什么决定着要素的变化或者不变呢？回答这个问题，我们就要“站的更高，看的更远”--关注环境在这个系统中的重要作用。在对自我类型嵌入机理的讨论中，我提到了传统类型的自我嵌入传统封闭型的社会资本网络结构时的“传统文化”和现代开放型的社会资本网络时的“市场作为资源配置的主要手段”，它们就属于环境对结构和要素的影响。但是，这种提法并不全面。环境对结构和要素的影响也可以分为三种理想类型：（1）经济的（2）政治的（3）文化的。这三者对结构与要素的影响有时是一致的，有时是不一致的。从大的角度说，转型期的社会中，这三者的关系往往表现出不同步，甚至是相冲突的；具体到每一个社会中，在不同群体中，这三者的影响也是不同的。比如，主流文化群体往往表现出一致性，而非主流，甚至反主流的文化群体不一致的现象更多一些。总的说来，文化环境的影响最为根深蒂固，难以在短期内改变，其次为政治，再次为经济。回到我们的调查中来，虽然在经济上，生产、市场和管理三个方面已发生了很大的变化，但是传统的自我由于受到的是几千年来文化、习俗的影响较深，很难即使的随着变化，这就导致了要素、结构和环境互动的失败。

　　当然，在相同的大环境中，“自我”的差异是很大的。那些能够及时扑捉到社会发展的趋势，灵活适应新的发展环境的“自我”们是能充分地发挥其能动作用，积极地推动着自我关系网络的转变以适应社会资本网络结构的转变，从而顺利地使自身得到发展，反之亦然。但是，这些成功的“自我”并不是永远成功的。他们也是在不断的变化中。他可以在今天成功，却在明天失败。但不论什么时候，环境与社会结构都会与无数成功的“自我”结合成完美的社会资本网络，这就是“胜也‘温州模式’，败也‘温州模式’”的实质所在。

参考文献：
英文部分：
Zhou M. 1992. New Yorks Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclare.
Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press
Petez. L. 1992. “Cuban Miami.” In Miami New. Ed. GJ Grenier, A Stepick, PP.83-108.
Light I, Bonacich E. 1988 “Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Hngeles 1965-1982. ” Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press Lin N, Ensel WM, Vaughn IC. 1981. “Social resources and strength of ties: structural factors in occupational attainment. ” Am. Sociol. Rei. 46: 393_405.
Nee V, Sanders JM, Sernau S. 1994. “Job transitions in an immigrant metropolis: ethnic boundaries and the mixed economy. ” Am. Social. Rev. 59:849_872

[Extract]: Both the social capital and the development of China’s private enterprises are hot issues at present. As a new concept, the former, social capital is enthusiastically and widely applied, but is also widely misunderstood. The development of China’s private enterprises, the later, has aroused the attention from academic circles because of China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, and its rapid development and growth in Wenzhou area, the investigation target of this paper, in particular, was given the title of “Wenzhou Mode” due to its legendary uprising. Starting from the social capital concept based on Thomas Ford Brown’s “systemism” (a three dimensional analysis to define social capital at micro, meso and macro levels), the paper proposes a theoretical assumption: the prerequisite of acquiring of social capital, that is, getting resources for the development of private enterprises, is an individual ego’s embeddedness in a social capital network to this network’s structure, the author proved his assumption by citing evidence from the S district in Wenzhou area.

Twenty years after China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, Wenzhou has made outstanding achievement in economic development due to a large extent to the rapid development and growth of its private enterprises. Wenzhou is different from most other areas in China in that, over 80 percent of Wenzhou’s industrial output comes from private enterprises. This special development mode of Wenzhou has aroused a wide spread attention in the society and is called “Wenzhou Mode”. During recent years, however, weaknesses of this Wenzhou mode has exposed, and scholars started to criticize the mode. What on earth is the exact “Wenzhou Mode”? What is its significance to the development of China’s private enterprises? In this article, I probe into the nature of this mode with the concept and theory of social capital.

I. THEORIES REVIEW AND THOUGHTS

As a relatively young concept, social capital has been actively used by scholars from various circles and it is widely applied to studying various social problems. Researches done on the enterprise developments in commercial enclaves of ethnic minorities and other little environments in foreign countries conclude that social network has played an important role in the development of social capital. “An Enclave is a highly concentrated area of immigrant or ethnic minority enterprises, these enterprises employ to a great part people of their won ethnic roots, and they form a distinct presence in cities. Research on Chinatown (Zhou 1992), on Little Havana in Miami (Portes 1987, Portes & Stepock 1992, Perez 1992) and on the Koreatown in Los Angeles (Light & Bonacich 1988, Nee et al 1994) has emphasized that social networks there provide these enterprises with crucial resources, these resources include but not limited to the startup capital, commercial opportunities, market access and cheap labors.” (Portes Alejandro)

Because of the special characteristics of the development of China’s private enterprises, few foreign scholars has used the social capital theory to study the development of China’s private enterprises, and studies on China’s private enterprises with network theories are mainly limited to overseas Chinese that live outside the mainland, such as Mike Huff’s study on small enterprises run by Chinese in Singapore, and East Asian Research group’s study on Asian Chinese enterprise network. Researches on the mainland with a social network approach are done mostly by Wald and Lin Nan. “By interviewing Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong, Wald has studied state-owned enterprises of China before reform and opening up and proposed that there was principled specialism in China’s state owned enterprises. Professor Lin Nan of the University of Chicago, in one of his studies on Daqiu village, put forward the concept of local market network, and considered the structural changes after reform and opening up as the formation of a local market network.” (Zhang Qizi, 1999)

In China, theories on the relationship between social capital and the development of China’s private enterprises are scarce with Li Lulu’s research on social capital and private entrepreneurs being the most representative. (Li Lulu, 1995) By analyzing a national sample survey done in 1993 on private enterprises, Li Lulu pointed out that:” Private entrepreneurs’ relations with their relatives and friends, and with their professional and power status in particular, are very important for them to access the private economic filed, get the needed resources and develop their private enterprises. In my opinion, there are two problems in Li’s use of social capital theory. First, in terms of social capital concept, he identifies social capital with social relations. “The social capital of entrepreneur, that is, what kind of social relations does he have, is shown in two indicators, his closest friend or relative he chose to associate with, and the difference of social capital, marked by his friend or relative’s position or status in his work and in the state administrative power system.” In fact, social relation is only part of social capital, not the whole of it. Second, Li Lulu’s research is done at meso level and is static, ignoring the proactive and particular ego in the social capital network. Li Lulu’s purpose was to “ascertain the effects of various factors on the transformation of China’s social structure and the extents of these effects, to understand the special characteristics of China’s social structural transition to a market economy system by analyzing the effect of social capital and enrich our theories about social structural changes.” Because of this aim, his research is done at meso and macro levels, he is concerned with the specific ways the resources flow in a particular social network structure, to him, every network nodes are identical and static. Therefore, in his assumption “China’s private entrepreneurs are the outcome of changes in China’s structural system, the effects of social capital on social status and allocation of resources should be more pronounced on them.”, private entrepreneurs are only the manifestations of the effects of social capital, they’re not regarded as proactive users.

Besides Li Lulu, Zhang Qizi, Bian Yanjie and other scholars has also studied the relations between social capital and the enterprise development from different angles. In general, they all stress or ignore certain respect of the social capital concept.

In face of this research status about the relations of social capital and private enterprises development, I will start with the definition of the social capital concept, propose a dynamic approach in social capital researches and give sufficient attention to the proactive ego in a network structure.

Different scholars have given the social capital concept different definitions to serve their own research needs in their respective fields and research targets. American professor Thomas Ford Brown’s “Systemism” is my favorite definition of the concept. “Social capital is a processual system for allocating resources across a social network according to the pattern of relations among the individual egos that comprise the network.” The individual egos, pattern of relationship ties among the egos and the greater social ecology are the micro, meso and macro levels of the system, they’re the components (individual egos), structure (pattern of relationship ties among the egos), and environment (greater social ecology) of the social capital system.

The merits of Thomas Ford Brown’s definition are: (1) Systemism implies a three-dimensional analysis that integrates well the individual egos in a network with the network structure, taking into considerations each proactive egos as well as the characteristics and influence of the whole network; (2) He emphasized that this is a processual system that indicates the interactive relations between components, structure and environment, giving the system a dynamic feature.

Professor Brown further explained this three-dimensional analysis:” The micro level of social capital analysis I call the embedded ego perspective. At this level, we are considering an individual ego's potential to mobilize resources through the social network in which the ego is embedded. Here, our focus is on individual nodal outcomes, but considered within the context of a particular social structure. The meso level of social capital analysis I call the structural perspective. At this level, we are considering the structuration of a specific network of social capital, the patterning of ties between egos in that network, and the ways that resources flow through the network as a consequence of its particular structure. Here, our focus is on the process of network structuration and its distributional implications, rather than on the individual egos that comprise the network. The macro level of social capital analysis I call the embedded structure perspective. At this level, we are considering the ways that a particular network of social capital is embedded in a system of political economy, and embedded in greater cultural or normative systems. Here, our focus is on "external" cultural, political, and macroeconomic influences on the nature of social ties in a network, influences on the structure of the network, and influences on the dynamics of the network's construction, change, and devolution.” (Thomas Ford Brown)

Based on this theory and taking into consideration of the specific circumstances of the S district of Wenzhou area, I classified the ideal ego into the following two types: (1) Traditional type, represented by special trusts among individuals that have mutual blood, emotional and regional ties, and an “inborn” repulsion towards people outside their circle; (2) Modern type, kinship is not used as the only or main criteria for judging people’s trustworthiness, they’re more willing to see if others are trustworthy through long term cooperation and they don’t keep their doors shut to strangers.

I classify the structure, the pattern of relationship ties, of social capital into the following two ideal types: (1) The traditional encapsulated type, a community bonded by close blood, emotional and regional ties, people inside the community have a high mutual trust toward each other, and discriminate against those outside the circle. The closer one is to the center of the relation, the more trust he can get, and therefore more economic resources. (2) Modern open type, not restricted by the blood, emotional and territorial ties, common bonds are formed by long term mutual beneficial cooperation, in this type of community, people associate with each other for the purpose of maximum individual gains.

The ideal individual ego types are classified on the micro level while the structural ideal types are classified on the meso level. The effect of macro environment is materialized in: when the environment changes, the structure of social capital will change accordingly, and the changing trend is: when the society opens up gradually, market economy becomes more salient, and traditional culture is being shocked by plural cultures, the social capital structure will shift from traditional closed type to modern open type. During the course of this structural shift, the individual egos that embed in the structure must also make appropriate transformations to the form and scale of their social network as well as their concept of value, morality, belief and other thing behind the network. If they fail to make the transformation, they will not be able to set up new social capital when they has run out of their former social capital, and the development of their enterprise will be affected. Therefore, the assumption of our theory is: when an individual ego type fits well the structure type of social capital, it will be able to mobilize resources across the social network to facilitate its economic development, and conversely, if the individual ego cannot fit in with the structure of social capital, it will lose the ability to mobilize resources and its economic development will be hindered. I will use the following case studies to prove my assumption.

II CASE STUDIES

My investigation targets are two private companies in the S district of Wenzhou city, these two companies has grown into two large business groups, H group and Z group. I will prove my above theoretical assumption with the materials I collected from the following three respects: (1) Success of traditional ego type in traditional closed structural type of social capital; (2) Failure of traditional ego type in modern open structural type of social capital; (3) Success of modern type of ego in modern open structural type social capital.

(a) Successful Acquirement of Traditional Closed Type of Social Capital------Effect of Blood, Emotional and Territorial Ties.

In the early stage of China’s reform and opening up, the “household factories” had grown so fast in the countryside that a large economic colony was soon emerged, and the central party committee and the state council stunned. What power causes a poor region with lots of surplus labor, little state investment, very poor transportation facilities and infrastructure to grow in a short time into a wealthy region with 130,000 household factories whose industrial output accounts for nearly 60 percent of the city’s total? (Fei Xiaotong). After interviewing and investigating several large enterprise groups in the S district of Wenzhou city, I found out their successes was due to a large part to their blood, emotional and territorial ties in their social networks, which enable them to get all the elements necessary to their enterprise development at a very low cost. And this is the essence of the commonly noted “Wenzhou Mode”.

Case Study 1: L is the chairman of H group in S district of Wenzhou city, his group now boasts of 380 million yuan of actual assets, but he started the enterprise with only 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. L personally told me his getting-rich history. With only junior middle school education and handicraft learnt from employment, L set up a household workshop at the end of eighties All the labors in the workshop was himself, his younger sister and three for four employees with about six to seven hundred yuan assets 50 percent of which are borrowed from friends. The workshop had run well and later he and one of his friends each invest over 10,000 yuan and founded a transformer factory. The products were mainly sold by: 1. Sell the product in the brand name of a well-known state-owned enterprise; 2. Most importantly sell the product to professional salesmen, the so-called “Sales Army” that sell products all over the country, they’re mostly relatives, friends, relatives of relatives or friends of friends, and L got his information mostly from them; 3. Retails, purchasers were mostly state owed enterprises. L told me that because there were complete varieties of products in S district, so lots of retailers came to area for purchases.

Here, the startup capital was helped by friends and relatives, the sales of products, acquiring of commercial information and the purchasing of raw materials has relied on relatives and friends, the advantageous territorial relation and the special division of labors in the region. The “Regional Economy” in the whole region was benefited from social division of labors. “The rise and development of household industries in Wenzhou was composed of three major parts: (1) household workshops; (2) specialized township markets; (3) 100,000 purchase and sales army.” (Zhang Gensheng). If household workshop was considered as individual ego’s utilization of relatives and friends, the internal social relation network, then the specialized market and purchase and sales personnel would be the utilization of countrymen, the external social relation network, these two are not entirely different, they overlap under many circumstances. Therefore, we can see that the social relation network constructed with blood, emotional and territorial ties, and the mutual beneficial cooperative relations base on it have provided the individual ego with lots of resources and spared it lots of costs, they’re the key for the success of farmer entrepreneurs.

(b) Changes in Modern Open Type Social Capital-------Plight of Family Type Management Mode

At the end of nineties, the invisible hand of market economy has gain more and more controls over commercial competition, at the same time, the former family factories has gradually become limited liabilities companies to suit the needs of new economy, politics and their own development. I’ll still take L as an example, after ten years of development, L set up H group in 1996 after taking in enterprises from his relatives and friends. The group’s development accelerated two years after it was founded, and the State Industrial and Commercial Administration has approved the group to remove the regional restriction from its name. In order to suit the development need of the enterprise, the group has reformed its ownership system in 1999 and set up H Group Co Ltd to become formally a shareholding company. At present, H Group Co Ltd has a total of 18 shareholders, chairman L has about 65 percent of the total shares, and the rest shareholders take about one to five percent stakes in the company. The company now has grown large in scale; it ranks the 6th to 8th place among similar enterprises in the area, and is one of the top 30 enterprises in Wenzhou city. However, the setting up of Co Ltd didn’t offer the enterprise a sustainable development, problems concerning the separation of rights of ownership and management, allocation of responsibilities, modernization of management and qualification of employees are yet to be solved, and these problems has become handicaps to the company’s development.

1. In terms of the company’s organizational structure, the enterprise’s individual ego type is still a traditional one.
Table 1 H Group Share Holders
Relatives Friends Other
Number of Shareholders 8 5 5
Shares (%) 20 11.3 3.7
Note: L takes a 65 percent stake in the group.

Table 2 H Group Shareholders with Management Roles:

(Senior Managers)
President, Vice President (Medium Level Managers) Department Managers (Ordinary Managers)
Office Personnel
Number of Shareholders 4 6 5
Note: The group has a total of 18 shareholders.

Table 3 H Group Board of Directors:
Total Number Relatives Friends
Number of Directors 13 9 3

Tables 1 through 3 indicate that a majority of investors and managers have blood, emotional and territorial relations with L. We had discussed that the social relations network has provided the individual ego embedded in the network with economic benefits, but with the development and growth of the enterprises, and after a family workshop has become a Co Ltd, this blood, emotional and territorial ties are still the dominate force in L’s enterprise, and they become barriers to the enterprise’s development, because:

1) Disputes between family members can have negative effects on the company’s normal operation.
For example, L’s wife’s brother has quarreled with L’s brother, and both of them threatened to withdraw their shares from the company, and they asked L to be the judge.

(2) Distrust of outsiders suppress employee’s
For example, H Group’s office director has under his leadership four employees, but two of them are under the direct control of L, and they don’t report to A. The result: A works passively in the company and thinks of quitting the job. The problem has occurred many times before, during the four years since the group’s foundation, the office director has changed five times mainly because of L or L’s wife’s direct interference in the office work.

(3) Poor education level of employees affects standard management.
For example, according to H group’s August attendance check record in 2001, 49 person-times were late for work, of which 33 were managers at senior or medium levels, and 31 were relatives.

Another example, L always holds meetings after work. Once the president B, employed from the outside, had held a meeting 30 minutes before off-hour, and was criticized by L, B finally left the company due to his discordance with L.

2. In terms of Entrepreneur’s individual social relation network, L’ trust in others is still in the “Difference Sequence Pattern” stage (see Table 4).

In the early stage of enterprise development, the closer L’s connection with his relatives and friends, the easier he can get from them economic resources, but in today’s enterprise development, L’s connection with these relatives and friends has hindered the improvement of his personal qualifications and the incoming of foreign components in this social relation network.

(1) Affect on personal qualification

Table 4 L’s personal social relations:

Association Group Friends and Relatives Local Enterprises Bureau Directors

Governmental Officials Industrial & Commercial Departments

Association Time Normal Days Normal Days Holidays Holidays
Association Content Play Cards, Drink Wines and Chat Play Cards and Chat Participating in their family events, gifts giving Participating in their family events, gifts giving

4. A country of virtue should be brave in undertaking internal leading responsibility so as to better defend and develop virtues.

Degree of Connection Good Superficial Asking for Favor Asking for Favor
Education Level Low Low Medium Medium

We can see from the Table 4 that L spends a large part of his time with his friends and other entrepreneurs that are poorly educated, and such affects the improvement of his personal qualifications and eventually encumber the enterprise development with the following consequences:

A. Lack of strategic vision

a. Without a long term planning, solve problems only when problems occur.

b. Unwilling to invest in advertisement and technical innovations.

c. Concerned only with the increase of profits, but they’re wrong in calculating their profits, they didn’t deduct the added costs spend in advertisement and technologies.

For example: When the group was founded, it relied on sales companies and member enterprises for its purchasing and sales, and the three parties involved should stand on equal footings. But because of the group’s big size and strength, L had made unfair rules, if the group purchased goods from member enterprises, and cannot take back money spent on the good, the member enterprises should shoulder the loses; and if it was profitable, then it would be counted as the profit of the group. This unfair practice had caused discontent among member enterprises, and the long-term development of the group was affected.

(2) Blocking the incoming of new components: His relation network is based on the blood, emotional and territorial ties, in other words, it is based on his old friends and partners. They have negative effects not only on the entrepreneur’s personal qualifications, but also on the incoming of new components into the group due to their deeply rooted trust pattern, this is shown in:

A. Difficulties in introducing talented people：L’s long term close relationship with his relatives and friends have made him stay put in his old trust pattern, affecting the inflow of talented personnel into the group.

Case Study 2: The standing vice president of the group had been a factory director for over 20 years in state owned enterprises, and three enterprises under his leadership had turned from losses to being profitable, he’s really a very capable person. L has promised to let him take the position of the group’s president when he was employing him, and allow him to do whatever he likes in the daily management work. But when C came to the company, he was afraid that other shareholders might not accept him, so he gave him the position of vice president without giving him clear rights and responsibilities, this greatly affected C’s enthusiasm, in less than a year’s time, he thought about leaving the company.

B. Loss of opportunities: Since L hasn’t set up a close relation network with senior governmental departments, especially with those that have close relations with his industries, he did not take on a timely fashion commercial opportunities related with policies, such as the restructuring of China’s rural network, L missed this great chance because he didn’t get the information in time. Compared with other enterprises, other enterprises that have close connection with the governments always have the chance to show themselves in public occasions, and their enterprises’ images are improved. In addition, having no friends in some influential media is another major weakness of H group.

Through the above case studies, we conclude that with the changes in enterprise’s scale and system as well as the external environment, the entrepreneur has used up his potential for getting resources from the traditional social network. If he does not actively interact with the new environment, making modifications to his social relation network and various beliefs in value and trust pattern, he will found that not only his former social capital disappeared and the development of his enterprises will run into difficulties.

(C) Re-Acquiring of Social Capital in a Modern Open Type Network---The Successful Transformation of Individual Ego Type
In our investigation on the private enterprises in Wenzhou, we discovered Z group; it by far leads other similar enterprises. After further investigation, we found out the difference of its social relation network with that in other enterprises, and the tremendous social capital it gets from the network that greatly facilitates the development of the enterprise.

We will analyze the Z group in comparison with H group here.

N is the chairman of Z group. N has set up this Z group in February 1994, the first enterprise group in the industry in Wenzhou area. He also set up a Z Co Ltd, in July 1997, the first limited company in the group. According to a survey done by the National Federation of Industry and Commerce in July 1999, Z group was ranked the eighth place among China’s top 100 private enterprises by its overall strength. The industrial output of the group totaled 4.2 billion yuan last year, with 505 million yuan in taxes, and US$28 million in export.

1. N’s personal social relation network:

Table 5: N’s Social Relations

Associating Groups Friends and relatives Officials from the Central government Administrative departments of the State Media Experts and Scholars

Identity Ordinary people Central governmental level Departmental Level Businessmen and Intellectuals Intellectuals

Education Low High High High High
Associating time Holidays Events and Special Occasions Normal days Normal days Normal days

Compare with L:
A. N’s association circles are much higher than L, covering: top central governmental officials (visited Z many times); administrative departments in the state ministry of machinery, Economic Daily, CCTV and other media, experts and scholars both at home and abroad.

B. N spends a majority of his time outside Wenzhou, even in foreign countries.

Such a relations network has broken away from the original little circle of friends and relatives, though he may lose the benefit of his former relations network, he gets lots more valuable information and opportunities

（1） Government: Firstly, Governmental attentions paid to Z have aroused wide social interest to the company, the best advertisement for this enterprise; Secondly, governments often invite N to attend certain high level commercial and political meetings, N himself is a representative of the People’s Congress. For example, he was chosen as the only representative for China’s private enterprises to take part in the Sino-European Enterprises Conference held in Xiamen last year, his fame was greatly increased both domestically and internationally by the meeting.

（2） Media: Media and advertisement is closely correlated, nurturing a close relationship with media is not only good for the company’s image, but can also enable it to spend the least money but get the best result (Z publicity section chief), saving transaction cost for the enterprise

(3) Experts and Scholars: The biggest benefit is indicated in the improvement of N’s personal qualifications. N started with the same education background with that of other entrepreneurs, but now he gives lectures in Peking University. Another very direct benefit is that they offer N advices and suggestions. When the enterprise was undergoing shareholding reforms, N has followed the advice from these experts. It took him two years in persuading the shareholders to accept the new system, for shareholders that are less capable, he gave them money (keep their shares), but wouldn’t let them to take positions in the company, for those capable shareholders, he lets them take appropriate positions, and such removed future troubles , unlike other enterprises that as they grow in size, the weakness of family style management and nepotism will gradually show themselves.

2. I’ll emphasize here the effect of this social relations network on N’s individual human resources capital in the following three respects: (1) transcending the Difference Sequence trust pattern, from appointing people by favoritism to appointing people on their merits; (2) being conscious and capable of standard and modern management; (3) having strategic vision. The human resources capital N gets from his social relations network has promoted his enterprises development in the two following aspects:

(1) Standardized enterprise management:

A. We will use two indicators for the measurement; the first indicator is the proportion of investors and managers that have blood or emotional ties with N, the second indicator is whether they exercise standard management in the company. Z has about 107 shareholders in the following three categories: original shareholders from the N family now account for less than one third of total shares, N himself has about 20 percent of the total shares; shareholders from other enterprises bought and acquired by the company account for about two third of total shares; factor shareholders account for one to two percent of total shares. Of the seven senior managers in the company, there are one president, four vice presidents and two assistant presidents. The president is the younger brother of the chairman, and two others are relatives, one is friend. Five of them are local people, and one is from outside the province, he came to the company in 1990, and his position is the highest among outsiders. Of the medium managers, outsiders and those with ties each account for about 50 percent of the total. Compared with H Group, Z has made remarkable progress in the separation of ownership rights and management rights.

B. On the other hand, negative effects of blood and emotional ties are not only restricted to the occupying of positions by relatives and friends in the enterprises, more importantly, if there is nepotism among managers at various levels, in other words, if they allocate benefits or give punishments in accordance with closeness of their relations. During our investigation, we found out that Z group treats shareholders equally with ordinary employees, for example, one week before our interview, the group had just punished one of N’s relatives.

C. In addition, N fully recognizes the importance of modern management and he therefore has been active in promoting the standardization process. Compared with the chairman L of H group, N consciously tries to avoid unauthorized management practice. For example, an unauthorized report sent to N by a deputy manager was sent back to relevant department.

2) Strategic Vision:
A. Z has a five year development plan and he knows clearly the purposes of each working day, week, month and year.
B. Attentive to the construction of enterprise culture:

Table 6: Construction of enterprise cultures in H and Z groups:
Z group H group

Post training Required for everyone Superficial

Collective entertainments Available None

Enterprise newspapers Special pages for ordinary employees Exclusively of information about the group and L
Effects Employees have the sense of belonging Employees have no sense of belonging

C. With global awareness: N attaches great importance to the introduction of advanced technologies and management methods from foreign countries, and he is planning to set up a factory in the US.

D. Having brand awareness: a. N has always paid attention to the effects of advertisement, and often shows himself in various medias, maintaining good relationships with the media. b. N considered product quality very important: in May 1999, the measurement work of Z group has passed the state authentication, becoming the first in the industry that has got the approval. At the beginning of nineties, when the whole country was cracking down on the fake and poor quality products made in Wenzhou, Z group was not affected.

N has successfully increased his personal capital through active transformations of his personal qualifications. Due to his special standing and influence in the enterprise, the human resources capital in him has been able to promote changes in management philosophies and methods so that the enterprise make adaptations to the changes in external environment (here it refers to the social capital network structure at meso level) and acquire smoothly social capital from the outside. Therefore, we can see that when the size and mechanism of an enterprise changes, the enterprise must and can build up new social relation network as well as new trust pattern and ideas of value to suit the new social capital network structure to get social resources.

III. Analysis

Just as I had said, the case studies of H and Z group has supported my initial assumptions, that is, when the individual ego type in a social capital network embeds accurately and appropriately in the social capital structure type, it can get social capital. We will further explain in theory the operation mechanism of ideal ego type’s embedding in the social capital structural type, and discuss the effect of macro factors that we had not discussed fully in the above. Before I start, I will make some supplementary explanations about the theoretical assumption of the ideal types of individual egos.

(I). Introduction to Individual Ego Types

Brown has specified three ideal types of social capital networks, categorized according to the prevailing motivation behind the network's transactions: “’Economic’ describes a network of egos motivated by economic considerations; 2) ‘Status’ describes a network of egos motivated by reputational considerations; 3) ‘Sociability’ describes a network whose egos forge ties according to altruistic or particularistic motivations.” (Brown). In my above discussions, I had assumed that the egos are motivated by economic considerations, because the following two ideal types are not applicable at all to the initial stage of Wenzhou’s private enterprise development due to the reason that the area is in essence countryside and the special characteristics of China. The characteristics of China’s rural area are dictated and strengthened to a great extent by the urban and rural duality structure in China. Though the urban and rural duality structure exists in many countries, it is rare for the structure to be solidified through a set of policies and systems as in China. Before reform and opening up, in terms of economics, agriculture is exclusively developed in rural areas, and industries in cities; in terms of social structure, citizens and farmers, non-agricultural population, and agricultural population, and workers and farmers, they not only different in identities, but also receive different treatments, forming distinct social classes. There are hereditary factors in these classes, the children of farmers are born to be farmers (only a handful of them can change their status by going to the college or joining in the army), and the children of workers cannot become farmers even if they don’t go to college or vocational schools, they can still take the positions of their parents. In fact, this dual structure is unreasonable and unfair, causing a big gap between urban and rural areas, farmers and workers. Under the long-term influence of this structural pattern, people in Wenzhou don’t have any advantage over status, and social activities are too luxurious for them to have. “Wenzhou has more population, less land and is deficient in natural resources. In the area, the average per capita arable land is a tiny 0.46 fen and the average per labor arable land is only 1.5 mu, the statistics was made at the beginning of reform and opening up, it is even less now. Forests, minerals and other natural resources in the area are even scarcer, among these poor natural conditions, people have always been struggling to make their ends meet.” (Zhao Sunpeng, Zhu Zhixi, 2000). Because of these, I simplify and assume them as individual egos motivated by economic considerations, and categorize them into traditional and modern types from the perspective of the ways they construct and acquire social capitals.

(II) Mechanism of the Embedding of Ego Types

1. When a traditional type of ego is embedded in a traditional closed type of network, the ego has a high capacity in acquiring resources. This can be easily understood because they’re all formed under a common traditional cultural influence, they’re originally part of each other. To be more specific: because of their special trust in people in their relatives and friends, they can save the costs of supervising and checking up before transactions when they conduct business among themselves. And if members of the family has taken the roles of labors in their enterprises, the cost of human resources are also saved. The trust can also prevent them from being put in a “prisoner’s position or the occurring of hitchhiking when they trade with their friends and relatives, these are the reasons for the Wenzhou Mode to be successful.

2. The traditional type of ego does not fit in the modern open type of social capital network. At first, we need to understand the characteristics of modern type of social capital network: (1) The individual ego in a modern type of social capital network should be a modern enterprise; and the environment (market) should be the major means to allocate resources; (2) Because at this time, the enterprise has grown in size, and all components are ready (startup capital, sales network, purchasing channels and cooperation partners). What the enterprise needs the most are qualified personnel and information. Due to historical reasons, private entrepreneurs are poorly educated; they’re born as farmers, and therefore have no social status. Though traditional egos can get special trusts among their circles, when resources offered by the trust has become common resources that are available to all enterprises, then traditional egos will not be as competitive as before, in other words, their social capital has been used up. The weakness of their strong ties and low social status will be exposes.

American sociologist Granovetter has proposed the theory of "the strength of weak ties”. He pointed out that because people are familiar with each other in a strong ties network, and everyone knows what others know, therefore the network is not helpful to the distribution of new information and ideas. In a network characterized by weak ties, different “Clusters” are linked together, therefore the network can be a good distribution channel for new information, new ideas and new opportunities. Based on this, Lin Nan has pointed out the following three factors in an individual ego’s possessing of social capital in quantity and quality: the first one is the heterogeneity of an individual social network, the second one is the social status of the members in the network, and the third is the strength of ties between the individual and the members in the network. To be specific, the more the heterogeneous components are in the network, the higher the social status of the members in the network and the weaker the ties between the individual ego with other member, the more social resources the individual will get.

This theory can be used to explain why traditional type of ego cannot adapt to this traditional closed type of social capital network. Most private entrepreneurs were born as farmers, their friends and relatives are poorly educated with low social status, and moreover, homogeneity is one of the characteristics of communities in the rural area. Homogeneity, low social status and strong ties between network members are not suitable for the acquiring of new information, new ideas and new opportunities, that’s why the Wenzhou mode failed afterwards.

(III) Interactions Between Components, Structure and Environment

In our above analysis, we have clarified this problem: when the structure of social capital system changes, components (ego) don’t make according changes, the social capital system will not work. Then our question is, why components cannot always successfully interact with the structure? In other words, what caused the components to change or remain unchanged? To answer this question, we need to stand higher and look further, paying attention to the important effects of environment on the system. In the discussion of ego type embedding mechanism, I had mentioned the “Traditional Culture” when traditional egos are imbedded in traditional closed social capital network structure and the “Market as the major means for allocating resources” in a modern open social capital network, they’re the effects of environment on the structure and components. However, this notion is rather one-sided, the effects of environment on the structure and components can also be categorized into three ideal types:” (1) economic; (2) political; (3) cultural. These three types of effects are sometimes consistent and sometimes not consistent in affecting the structure and components. From a broader point of view, in a transitional society, the three are often out of sync with each other, there are even conflicts between them. The three may have different effects on different communities in a certain society. For example, they’re usually consistent on mainstream cultural groups, but more inconsistent on non-mainstream or anti-mainstream cultural groups. In general, the effect of cultural environment is most deeply rooted, and cannot be changed in a short period, next comes political and then economic. Let’s go back to our investigations, though radical changes has taken places in economic, production, market and management, traditional egos are under the deep influence of thousands of years of culture and traditions, and it’s hard for them to make adaptation changes, that’s why components, structure and environment fails to interact with each other.

Of course, in a common environment, there are big differences between individual egos. For those that catch up with the development trend of the society and make adaptations to the new environment, they can make the best use of their energy, actively promote the transformation of their individual relations network to suit the structural changes of social capital network, and smoothly promote the development of themselves. But, these successful egos cannot always to successful. They too are changing constantly. He can succeed today but fail tomorrow. But no matter when, the environment and the social structure can always form a perfect social capital network with countless successful egos, and this is the essence of why the Wenzhou Mode succeeded and failed.

REFERENCES:
References:

Zhou M. 1992. New York’s Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave.

Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press

Petez. L. 1992. “Cuban Miami.” In Miami New. Ed. GJ Grenier, A Stepick, PP.83-108.

Light I, Bonacich E. 1988 “Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Hngeles 1965-1982. ” Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press Lin N, Ensel WM, Vaughn IC. 1981. “Social resources and strength of ties: structural factors in occupational attainment. ” Am. Sociol. Rei. 46: 393_405.

Nee V, Sanders JM, Sernau S. 1994. “Job transitions in an immigrant metropolis: ethnic boundaries and the mixed economy. ” Am. Social. Rev. 59:849_872

Chinese References:

1、 Paul F. Whitely, “The Origin of Social Capital”, Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000

2、 Fei Xiaotong, “Rural China”, Peking University Press, 1998

3、 Fei Xiaotong, “Wealthy Family, New Venture---Revisiting Wenzhou”, Wenzhou Marekt: Great Achievement of Reform and Opening Up, page 208

4、 Li Huibin, “What Is Social Capital”, Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000

5、 Li Lulu, Social Capital and Private Entrepreneurs” in Sociology Studies 1995, 6th issue.

6、 Michael Woodcock, “Social Capital and Economic Development: A Theoretical Synthesis and Political Framework” Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000

7、 Sun Zao, “Family System and the Growth of China’s Private Enterprises” Economic Problems 9th issue, 1999

8、 Thomas Ford Brown, “Synthesis of Social Capital Theories”, Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000

9、 Alejandro Portes, “Social Capital: Origin and Application in Modern Sociology”, Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000

10、 Yang Xuedong, “Social Capital: A Probe to A New Explanation”, Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000
11、 Alejandro Portes and Patricia Landolt. "The Downside of Social Capital.”, Social Capital and Social Development edited by Li Huibin and Yang Xuedong, Social Science Literature Press, 2000

12、 Zhao Yandong. “Social Capital Theories and Commentaries”, Overseas Social Sciences, 3rd issue, 1998

13、 Zhao Shunpeng and Zhu Zhixi, “Causes of the Development of Family Enterprises and Private Economy in Liushi”, Advance and Fission---A Close Look at the Reform and Opening up in Yueqing, page 25, Zhejiang University Press, 2000

14、 Zhang Qizi. On Social Capital, Social Science Literature Press, 1999

15、 Zhang Gensheng. “Characteristics of Developing Commodities Economy in Wenzhou Rural Area”, Wenzhou Market: Great Achievement of Reform and Opening Up, Page 290