Entrepreneurs generally believe that time is precious and should be used to create value and seize opportunities (69%)
The personal traits most valued by entrepreneurs include risk-taking (52%), leadership and organisational skills (48%) and innovation (39%)
Using renewable resources to create a low-carbon and environmentally friendly economy is the most recognized action of companies to promote sustainable development (62%)
The greatest value of education for entrepreneurs is to give individuals a unique level of vision (75%)
What entrepreneurs want to pass on to the next generation most is quality and spirit (69%)
Jointly released by Louis XIII and Hurun Report
Inheritance and Reengineering : 2021 White Paper on Wealth, Spirit and Cultural Concepts of Chinese Entrepreneurs
(November 5, 2021, Shanghai) – French luxury brand Louis XIII and Hurun Report today jointly released the "2021 Chinese Entrepreneur Wealth, Spirit and Cultural Concept White Paper", which depicts the basic portraits of Chinese entrepreneurs of Generation X (born 1965-1979) and Generation Y (born 1980-1994), showing the views and insights of Chinese entrepreneurs on topics such as time, education, courage, wealth, high-end consumption, cultural heritage, and sustainable development.
For more than half a year, the project team conducted a quantitative study on 280 entrepreneur representatives in the form of one-on-one special questionnaire interviews, covering major first- and second-tier cities across the country. At the same time, the project team also invited more than a dozen Chinese artist leaders and entrepreneur leaders to participate in the discussion of inheritance topics, aiming to provide more useful inspiration and reference for all sectors of society and promote the sustainable development of the whole society.
Launched in 2014, Louis XIII's 100 Years of Reinvention art project aims to encourage dialogue between contemporary artists and intangible cultural heritage bearers, to think about how to make excellent intangible cultural heritage continue to live and bring brilliant traditional culture back to the public eye. Between time and space, traditional culture and intangible cultural heritage art are passed down through the years, inherited today and enlightened in the future. Louis XIII will continue to spare no effort to disseminate the inheritance and reconstruction of China's intangible cultural heritage and handicrafts to a wider and younger generation, so that traditional culture will continue to glow with new vitality and shine in the long river of time.
Opinion · Li Runya, General Manager of Louis XIII China
Li Runya, General Manager of Louis XIII China, said: "The reason why art is remembered is not only from the extraordinary achievements of the work itself, but also from its inheritance, reflection and influence on the times. Just as time is also the precious raw material for the achievement of Louis XIII, every wonderful moment in the present moment is not only a inheritance of the past years, but also a commitment to the future time. The great changes in the times in the past few decades have made the younger generation in China show a spiritual quality that is completely different from the previous generation and has more personal characteristics. They promote traditional Chinese culture and are extremely innovative, using history as inspiration for more modern creation and interpretation, and they live with time freely and reflect each other. In order to better understand the different era marks of the two generations in contemporary Chinese society, Louis XIII and Hurun Reports have explored in depth the different insights of the two generations in the face of various aspects of inheritance issues such as wealth concept and cultural inheritance through interviews and research, and presented them in the form of white papers. ”
Opinion · Hurun
HuRun, Chairman and Chief Research Officer of Hurun Report, said: "There are three points in this report that deserve special attention. First of all, the younger generation of entrepreneurs, who inherit and carry forward the spirit of the older generation, they are more willing to take risks, dare to innovate, and are willing to increase their working hours, from which I see the continued vigorous momentum of China's economy in the future. ”
"Secondly, entrepreneurs are very much in agreement with the need to assume social responsibility and promote sustainable development, and entrepreneurs have given high recognition to brands that actively promote environmental protection and sustainable development, which shows that brands like Louis XIII are on the right path and deserve to pass on the relevant ideas for a hundred years and a thousand years."
"Finally, what is more interesting is that I found that the younger generation of entrepreneurs prefers the next generation to inherit their knowledge and culture than the older generation, which shows that the evolution of spirit and culture is more likely to happen to the younger generation of entrepreneurs, which also requires luxury brands to pay more attention to the construction and transmission of brand cultural attributes in the future."
"I hope that this report can inspire more entrepreneurs to re-understand wealth, time, cultural heritage, and sustainable development, and encourage entrepreneurs to pass on valuable material and spiritual achievements from generation to generation, so that more people in society can benefit and grow from their experiences."
Report core findings
High-end consumption in the life of entrepreneurs
Investment and wealth management (47%) accounted for the main expenditure of the two generations of entrepreneurs. Designer watches (54%), jewelry gemstones (46%) and designer leather bags (41%) are the most interested luxury objects, mainly for the purpose of yearning for a more refined life (48%) and showing personal achievements with goods (44%). The high-end consumer concept of personal customization, personalization and concierge (57%) is most favored by entrepreneurs. For famous wines, entrepreneurs not only enjoy the good drinking experience they bring, but also attach great importance to the added value of famous wines (55%).
Gen X entrepreneurs pay more attention to the internalized quality of high-end consumption. They are willing to spend more on investing in wealth management (53%: 41%) and their children's education (46%: 16%). Gen X entrepreneurs are more concerned about whether luxury goods can enhance the sophistication of their lives (51%:44%) than Gen Y entrepreneurs. In terms of the consumption of famous wines, they show higher purchase preferences, pay more attention to whether famous wines reflect personal taste (67%: 37%), and hope that famous wines will help show their success (61%: 43%).
Generation Y entrepreneurs pay more attention to the value extension of high-end consumption. They are willing to spend more on travel and leisure (47%:41%), clothes and jewelry (31%:23%), and their interest in luxury cars and classic cars (39%:18%) is much higher than that of the previous generation, and they are more concerned about whether they can help socialize (21%:13%). For vintages, Gen Y is more concerned about the value of investment (70%:42%) and the high-end of packaging (63%:33%).
Entrepreneurs' understanding and use of time
Most entrepreneurs believe that time is money and should be used to create value and seize opportunities (69%). The average working hours of the two generations of entrepreneurs are between 8 and 12 hours per day, with 5 to 10 business days per month and 10 to 15 days off each year. More than half of entrepreneurs love travel (75%) and sports (51%). WeChat (93%) and Enterprise WeChat (66%) are mobile phone apps that are used more frequently by two generations of entrepreneurs every day.
Gen X entrepreneurs are in greater control. They are more convinced of doing as much as possible in their limited time, paying more attention to health and enjoyment than younger generations, such as sports (56%:47%), food (48%:38%), wine tasting (40%:34%), watching movies and TV (34%:17%), and collecting art/antiques (24%: 16%). They use news apps more often (59%:45%) and are happy to grasp the trends of business changes in the macro environment and social changes.
Gen Y entrepreneurs are more hands-on. There is a greater recognition of creating value and opportunity in time than previous generations of entrepreneurs (79%:59%). They work longer hours and travel time. In addition to being more receptive to new forms of entertainment than the previous generation, they are also more concerned with improving their personal abilities in the process of entertainment, such as reading books (46%: 30%), watching art exhibitions or forums (29%: 19%). They use office apps such as Microsoft Office (44%:31%), Tencent Conferencing (41%:29%) more frequently, and need to be more involved in specific business operations.
Entrepreneurial boldness
The vast majority of entrepreneurs encounter difficulties and challenges in the middle of starting a business, of which insufficient cash flow is the biggest challenge (55%) encountered by two generations of entrepreneurs on the way to start a business. Entrepreneurs generally agree that individuals should have risk-taking (52%), leadership and organizational skills (48%) and innovation (39%) if they are to confront challenges. Regarding the breakthroughs that can be achieved in the future, career success (27%) and physical fitness (22%) are aspects that both generations of entrepreneurs value.
Gen X entrepreneurs are relatively more stable and efficient. Gen X entrepreneurs have also experienced more external market and policy changes (28%:16%) as Gen X entrepreneurs have started more businesses (29%:19%). Among the traits that should be possessed to combat challenges, Gen X entrepreneurs value execution more (38%:30%). Regarding the breakthroughs that can be achieved in the future, Gen X entrepreneurs are more focused on the well-being of their families (23%:12%).
Gen Y entrepreneurs are more willing to break through and innovate. Among the traits that should be possessed to combat challenges, Gen Y entrepreneurs are more adventurous (38%:22%).
Sustainability is both an obligation and a business opportunity
More than half (54%) of entrepreneurs believe that it is important for businesses or entrepreneurs to assume social responsibility and generally agree on the importance of sustainable development. Both generations of entrepreneurs believe that the main motivation or starting point for promoting sustainable development is to promote the sustainable development and inheritance of society (52%). Entrepreneurs have given high recognition (60%) to brands that actively promote environmental protection and sustainable human development. Actively promoting garbage sorting is the most common environmental protection behavior of entrepreneurs (60%).
Gen X entrepreneurs are more focused on the integration of social systems. Gen X entrepreneurs have more experience, have a more macroscopic view of society, think more deeply, and have a higher degree of recognition of the need for corporate social responsibility than Generation Y (61%:46%). They pay more attention to traditional social responsibilities such as "paying taxes according to law" (62%: 46%), "leading the development of the industry" (53%: 47%), and agree that sustainable development is part of the corporate culture (49%: 44%). They have a broader perspective on environmental protection from a social perspective, such as paying more attention to "buying products made from recyclable materials" (54%:48%).
Gen Y entrepreneurs are relatively focused on personal responsibility. Gen Y entrepreneurs are more willing to engage in philanthropic activities (54%:34%), pass on cultural heritage (34%:27%), which brings a sense of freshness to themselves, and agree that sustainable development is the personal responsibility of entrepreneurs (41%:30%). Gen Y entrepreneurs think more about environmental issues from the perspective of personal consumption, such as paying more attention to the behavior of not buying leather/real wool clothing accessory bags (41%:32%).
Education promotes entrepreneurial genetic permanence
The two generations of entrepreneurs most commonly used self-education methods: reading group books, watching speech videos (68%), communicating with friends or other entrepreneurs (65%), and participating in industry conferences or seminars (64%). With regard to investing in children's education, enrolling children in various training courses/summer programs is the most common operation (76%). Regarding the importance of education to individuals, both generations of entrepreneurs agree that education can give individuals a unique level of vision (75%).
Gen X entrepreneurs are slightly inclined to impart education. Watching your own books and videos is more popular with Gen X entrepreneurs (73%:62%). For children, they are also more willing to send their children to study abroad (62%:56%).
Gen Y entrepreneurs are slightly inclined towards extended education. They are more willing to pursue higher degrees (41%:16%), because they can communicate with more people in the process, thus expanding their social circles (76%:67%), and bringing business resources (62%:53%). For children, they are more inclined to teach by example than the previous generation (62%:51%).
The complementary inheritance of material and spiritual
It is an eternal topic
Both generations of entrepreneurs have a high level of attention to inheritance. Entrepreneurs believe they have inherited the quality and spirit of their parents (72%). At the same time, good qualities and spirit (69%) and good cultural traditions (48%) are factors that both generations of entrepreneurs hope to pass on to the next generation.
Gen X entrepreneurs are more appreciative of the qualities and spirits passed down from the previous generation (76%:67%), while Gen Y entrepreneurs are more convinced that they have inherited the business of the previous generation (21%:9%). But Gen X is more focused on passing on their wealth and assets to the next generation (44%:37%), while Gen Y entrepreneurs are more interested in passing on their knowledge and culture to the next generation (50%:34%). It can be seen that both generations of entrepreneurs are concerned about the complementarity of material and spiritual.
Research methodology
The research results of "Inheritance and Reengineering - 2021 White Paper on wealth, spirit and cultural concepts of Chinese entrepreneurs" are derived from the joint project of Louis XIII and Hurun Report. This is a special study focusing on the topic of inheritance among Chinese entrepreneurs, exploring the views and understandings of Chinese entrepreneurs on the history of wealth, spiritual evolution and cultural evolution in the post-epidemic era, understanding how they inherit their wealth in life experience, spiritual quality and cultural accumulation, aiming to provide more useful inspiration and reference for all sectors of society and promote the sustainable development of the whole society.
The project team first fully excavated the research results of Hurun Hundred for more than 20 years, relying on the database of 3,000+ entrepreneurs in the Hurun Global Rich List, and combined with the existing achievements such as "2020 Hurun Wealth Report" and "2021 Hurun Zhishang Excellent Products", to explore the current situation and trend of social elites in inheriting the concept.
In terms of research methods, the project team adopted a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to ensure the depth and breadth of research. In order to ensure the authenticity and representativeness of the survey results, the project team relied on the hurun rich high-net-worth population sample bank to conduct hierarchical random sampling according to gender, age, region, total family assets and other dimensions from 2020 to 2021, and carried out a quantitative study in the form of one-on-one special questionnaire interviews for 280 entrepreneur representatives, covering major first- and second-tier cities in China. On this basis, the project team invited more than 15 entrepreneurs and artists from different industries to conduct qualitative visits to explore their views and insights on topics such as time, education, boldness, wealth, luxury consumption, cultural heritage, and sustainable development, with a view to excavating and researching the inheritance concept of China's elites more extensively and deeply.