Small-scale Enterprises in the Process of Industrial Development

Abstract

In looking at the industrial development of Hong Kong, one of the most obvious features has been the prominent role of small-scale enterprises (SSEs) — entities with modest capital, a few score workers at most, owned and managed by a single individual or family. The SSE segment of the Hong Kong economy plays an almost indispensable part in the economy’s economic growth; it is the primary source of new jobs and an important contributor to innovation — or, as Joseph Schumpeter put it, to the process of ‘creative destruction’ that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion (Schumpeter, 1950). Put plainly, Hong Kong’s growth is largely the result of a proliferating multitude of SSEs, exporting to markets which are separated by distance, culture and language.