Total 140 5048 2.77% 3 3500 427 531
* The final footwear products including leather shoes, leisure shoes, safety footwear and children's shoes etc.
** Number of the employers at the end of 2004.
Source: Field survey by authors.
3. Overcoming technology barriers
3.1 Features of the Entrepreneurs
Table 3 displays the number of sample enterprises, the average years of schooling and years
of Chuangdang7of the founders, and the composition of their occupational backgrounds at the
time of their entry into the footwear industry.
Table 3 Characteristics of enterprise founders
|
1980 and before |
1981-1985 |
1986-1990 |
1991-1995 |
1996-2000 |
2001-2005 | |
|
No. of enterprises |
4 |
18 |
27 |
31 |
38 |
22 |
|
Years of schooling |
6.25 |
7.97 |
8.02 |
9.03 |
9.70 |
9.18 |
|
Years of C huangdang Occupation 1( %) |
5.00 |
7.38 |
8.50 |
9.68 |
11.16 |
14.53 |
|
Farmers |
0.00 |
11.11 |
18.52 |
16.13 |
13.16 |
13.64 |
|
Factory works |
50.00 |
27.78 |
37.04 |
29.03 |
13.16 |
9.09 |
|
Salesmen of trades |
25.00 |
33.33 |
25.92 |
35.48 |
50.00 |
54.54 |
|
Engineers |
0.00 |
16.67 |
0.00 |
6.45 |
10.53 |
9.09 |
|
Managers |
25.00 |
11.11 |
7.41 |
3.23 |
5.26 |
13.64 |
|
Others Occupation 2( %) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
11.11 |
9.68 |
7.89 |
0.00 |
|
Related to footwear industry Occupation 3( %) |
75.00 |
77.78 |
22.22 |
48.39 |
42.11 |
59.09 |
|
Capable of Footwear |
75.00 |
94.44 |
62.96 |
80.64 |
65.79 |
63.64 |
Source: Based upon the data from authors’ field survey in Wenzhou.
Years of schooling and years of Chuangdang are the average s of each respective group.
Several interesting facts emerge from table 3: (i) At the beginning of opening and reform,
newcomers in the Wenzhou shoemaking industry increased rapidly and this trend lasted until the
end of the last century. (ii) The years of schooling of the founders increased gradually along with
the increase of the average education level in Wenzhou . This result corresponds to those of Sonobe,
Hu and Otsuka (2004) in their inquiry into the Wenzhou low-voltage electric appliances cluster.
(iii) Before setting up their own enterprises, newcomers typically left home and worked elsewhere
for many years and accumulated an increasing amount of non-local working experience which
gradually exceeding the years of schooling in the mid 1980s. Certainly, this was critical for the
formation of the footwear cluster. Hu (2002) argued that market demand and obtaining
7 This refers to joining armies, doing business or working away from home. After leaving school, Wenzhou people
tend to work or learn to do business across the country, as is an very important feature of Wenzhou people.
Through these non-local experiences, they may accumulate human resources and social capital, and obtain
precious market information.