Table 1 Disciplinary development process of enterprise anthropology

Stage I

1920s-1940s. Investigation and research into rural industrialization. Representative figures and achievements include Jinghan Li’s Survey on the Social Condition of Ding County (1933), Suming Liang’s Theory of Rural Development (1937), Xiaotong Fei’s Jiangcun Economy (1939), Zhiyi Zhang’s Yicun Handicraft Industry (1943), etc.

From the 1930s to 1950s, industrial anthropology emerged. For example, the Hawthorne Experiment verified the close relationship between human factors and productivity (Bloombaum 1983). W. Lloyd Warner, an anthropologist who participated in the later stages of the Hawthorne Experiment, is known as the “Father of Industrial Anthropology” and the “Father of Anthropology of Institutions”.

Not yet started

Stage II

1950s-70s. Enterprise studies were in stagnation.

In the 1960s, industrial anthropology was in stagnation.

Not yet started

Stage III

From the 1980s to 1990s, research on township enterprises was conducted. For example, in “Small Towns: A Further Exploration” (1983), Xiaotong Fei proposed the “Su’nan Model” and “Wenzhou Model”, and developed a new perspective on the development of Chinese enterprises and the structural transformation of the economy and society.

From the 1960s to 1980s, industrial anthropology became diversified, with studies of industrialization in non-Western countries and regions, ethnographies about professional work, and new and old Marxist critiques of industrial studies in the United States and beyond (Zhang 2014a). Representative figures include Wayne, H.A. Applebaum, etc.

The study of business anthropology began in the late 1980s. Motofusa Murayama introduced the concept of “business anthropology” for the first time in “The Theory of Overseas Transfer of Business: The Road to Business Anthropology” (1989) (Murayama 2002).

Stage IV

From the 1990s to the beginning of the twenty-first century, academic achievements became diversified, with the emergence of industrial anthropology, organizational anthropology, business anthropology, and urban anthropology. Objects of research involved various enterprise types, including family, state-owned, time-honored brand, and multinational enterprises. Representative figures include Peilin Li, Rong Ma, Chunguang Wang, Yi Zhang, Houyi Zhang, Guangjin Chen, and Jijiao Zhang.

In the 1980s, the concept of “organizational culture” emerged. In her monograph The Business Anthropology (2003), Ann T. Jordan argued that business anthropology began to focus on organizational culture, as organizations have their own cultures and are not merely institutional (Jordan 2010).

In the 1990s, Hirochika Nakamaki and Koichiro Hioki pioneered the innovative research of “business anthropology” or “enterprise/corporate anthropology”. For example, “Cultural Anthropology of Enterprises and Wage Earners” (1993-1994) and “Anthropology of Corporate Culture and Museums” (1996-1997).

Stage V

From 2008 to present, enterprise anthropology has entered a period of academic development, and a theoretical framework and methodology has been established for it; the international influence of Chinese scholars has been strengthened.

On the one hand, enterprise anthropology advocated by Chinese scholars has been recognized by well-known scholars among their American counterparts; on the other hand, “business anthropology” advocated by American scholars has been influential in both the United States and China (Jordan 2017).

Research on the cultures of complex organizations such as enterprises and groups was conducted, and the results have been disseminated in China, India, the United States, and other countries. Meanwhile, enterprise anthropology advocated by Chinese scholars has been recognized and praised by subject leaders among their Japanese counterparts.