ETHOS AT STAKE: ROADS TO SUCCESS AMONG CHINESE SMALL BUSINESSES IN MILAN, ITALY

Certain values are at stake for the success of economic behavior. Since the genesis of modern capitalism a set of beliefs proper of Calvinism (mainly Predestination but also Beruf, Inner-worldly Asceticism, role of Sects…) was said by Max Weber to cause an anxiety about salvation and generate a propensity to economic success as a sign of election. I argue on the contrary that the Calvinist belief in the Perpetual Assurance of Salvation might cause a sense of self-efficacy able to favor economic success. In order to observe this in action today it is crucial to consider the evolution that the Protestant ethic went through migrating first in north America and lastly through the Protestant revival of China. Wenzhou is called ‘Jerusalem of China’ for its large Protestant community that is also strongly involved in business. Some scholar already pointed out the presence among those entrepreneurs of this Protestant ethic (Yi Xiang, Boss-Christian…). The data presented in this comparative qualitative study pertain to ethnographic observations, job-shadowing and interviews done among Chinese Christian and non-Christian entrepreneurs from Wenzhou living in Milan, Italy. The results show with some adjustments the presence of a Chinese-version of the Protestant ethic overlapping with several values proper to the Chinese context (Confucianism, lineage, social network). The extension of the study to other cases must be done with caution considering the non-causal justificatory role of the belief. Regardless: successful entrepreneurship involves specific social, cultural and even religious aspects that move beyond mere business strategies.