We all know that China has been one of the key economic drivers of the world and with a billion people living within its borders it is not surprisingly that some have gone overseas and become successful. In the book The Dragon Network – inside stories of the Most Successful Chinese Family Businesses by A.B. and Patricia Susanto published by John Wiley & Sons, Singapore,2013 some of the stories are told. Similar to most people leaving their homeland to another country there is discrimination which leads to turning towards people from the family or the same town or province to both get ahead and to succeed. This leads to the organization of the business which is a family run business. In all families some are wonderful, some want to build and some only want the spoils of success. Chinese society goes back thousands of years and within Chinese culture is a core of Chinese ethics, traditions and social organizations. Individuals are members of the family, which translates for you to be successful the family will be successful, to go against the family is not good. The resources of family are grouped together to ensure a self sufficiency. The working for the glory of the family means to live frugal to encourage savings, conserving resources and displaying modesty. Patience and the long run view are important attributes.

The book goes through a variety of concerns for family run or private companies which is useful to anyone who works in such a company.

Linking to dividend producing stocks the attributes for Chinese traditions lend themselves well to business which can lead to many opportunities. Through living frugally which leads to savings can lead to good investments and greater self sufficiency. If you think about a dividend stock, at first you may own a few shares but through the years dividends and reinvestments the number grows and the size of the dividend grows. It is sexy to own shares which double and triple and go even higher, but unless you sell you may end up with little more than started with. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.