r limiting the number of ventures to the ones inspired by copy-cat ideas that have proven succesful elsewhere, like the plethora of Chinese versions of Groupon or car apps. According to data collected by the World Bank’s Doing Business project, China is among the most unfavorable business environments, ranking 158th among 183 economies. While piecemeal policy changes have signaled an acknowledgement of the contribution of a new wave of companies, the World Bank reports no significant reforms to make it easier to start a business during the 2009-2011 period.
Insecure property rights represent another major roadblock, and removing it has been on the policy agenda since a system of private ownership officially began in 2004, but progress has been slow. The most recent changes have been in the realm of opening new asset possibilities for raising capital. In October 2007, the new property law in China expanded the range of assets that can be used as collateral, to include accounts receivables and a changing pool of assets to secure a loan. Still, the Heritage Foundation has reported sharp declines in the overall property rights environment.
Despite a comparatively unfavorable policy environment, Chinese entrepreneurs in organic clusters in tier-one cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Gaungzhou have long shown that innovation can still flourish in a top-down economy. They form a critical mass of entrepreneurs that have raised the importance of entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur, and entrepreneur-to-investor networks, creating lots of economic freedom. For example, such strong entrepreneurial ecosystems are visible at the Touch (TNT) monthly meetup in Chinese tech cities, or for the outside world through the writings of TechNode, the official partner of the TechCrunch news and events platform in mainland China that is written in both in English and Chinese.
There are also plenty of positive indicators to be found by looking at the incubators and accelerators for China-based entrepreneurs that can be spotted outside of the main cities, such as Axlr8r, a 90-day accelerator program based in Dalian. Some target specific demographics, such as the Tianjin Women’s Business Incubator (TWBI). Respondents to the EY Barometer survey were most positive about this development — 52 percent saying that access to such supported services had improved in the last three years.
Further, in terms of startup or scale up capital, the success of many Chinese startups has demonstrated that if ideas are validated, the team is dynamic, and the entrepreneurs are rightly coached, money will follow. Earlier this year, the online education website TutorGroup raised approximately $100 million in venture capital. At the same time, Alibaba’s recent filing to go public has set the stage for what could be the largest Wall Street debut in history.
The government does seem to recognize the importance of new firms. As reported by the EY G20 Entrepreneurship Barometer 2013, China’s Ministry of Commerce acknowledged that entrepreneurial ventures are responsible for 75 percent of new jobs each year and 68 percent of exports and has started to focus on improving the regulatory environment. In an attempt to reduce the amount of time spent paying taxes, the criteria and accounting methods for tax deductions were unified through China’s new corporate income tax law. More recently, measures to enforce contracts have been directed at streamlining court proceedings. In 2013, the Chinese government reduced the cost of starting a business by exempting micro and small companies from paying several administrative fees from January 2012 to December 2014. The test will come after this period expires when policymakers will have to decide whether they want to continue to find new ways to remove roadblocks for new venture creation and firm growth.
One other important “feat” has been what the Chinese government, prone to a planned economy, did not do, such as organized innovation clusters that more often than not, fail and become mere physical structures with little entrepreneurial life and en