Success, submission and succession

Indians in Malaysia make thriving businesses. The§richest man in Malaysia is of Indian origin. Yet most§Malaysian Indian enterprises §are small family businesses. A saying among the§Malaysian Indian entrepreneurs states that the third§generation will break the §enterprise . This book examines the businesses, based§on fieldwork §by the author. Process analysis of the case material§presented, suggests that the§life cycle of a business corresponds to the model of§the joint family: An entrepreneur founds the§enterprise; the second generation §continues building the enterprise as a joint estate.§In the third §generation the enterprise, and the joint family,§disintegrates. The §analysis demonstrates that a set of two§incommensurate values can §explain the observed emergent social organization of§the Indian §diasporic entrepreneurs. The first of these values is§the desire among Indians to be eminent successful§individuals .§The second, conflicting value, is that of patriarchal§authority§implicating that of §being a subordinate son or daughter, and thus the§impossibility to §achieve eminence within the family and enterprise,§unless they §break out on their own.