Business Demography of Overseas Chinese Firms in Indonesia, 1890-1940

This paper analyses quantitative data on the population of registered firms owned or operated by ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in colonial Indonesia. It uses data from a published annual register of firms in colonial Indonesia. The paper finds that the number of firms increased significantly during the 1890s to 1920s, before bankruptcies reduced the population of firms in the early 1930s, and made way for a new generation of firms. Most firms were privately owned; the shares of only a very few companies were listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges. By shareholder equity, the largest firms were those operated by well-known entrepreneurs like Oei Tjong Ham (黃仲涵) and Tjong A Fie (張耀軒), and/or their family members. By average real value of equity, most firms were small relative to Dutch-Indonesian and foreign firms in Indonesia. Most firms were active in trade and business services, but in the 1920s and 1930s entrepreneurial interests diversified and the share of firms in other economic sectors, particularly manufacturing industry increased. In the 1930s, real equity more than doubled, indicative of diversification of entrepreneurship into more capital-intensive operations.