Despite increasing attention to the role of social ties in emerging economies, few studies have explicitly distinguished the differential roles of business versus political ties. Drawing on relational governance and institutional theories, this study offers a contingent view of business and political ties in China. The findings from a survey of 241 Chinese firms indicate that business ties have a stronger positive effect on performance than political ties, and both effects depend on institutional and market environments. Business ties are more beneficial when legal enforcement is inefficient and technology is changing rapidly, whereas political ties lead to greater performance when general government support is weak and technological turbulence is low. These findings indicate that firms operating in China should be cautious in their use of business and political ties and adapt their tie utilization to changing institutional and market environments.

The Effects of business and Political Ties on Firm Performance: Evidence from China.

Results of a longitudinal study of ads from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Taiwan depict distinctive consumer cultures. PRC ads emphasize utilitarian appeals, promise a better life, and focus on states of being as a consumption theme. Hong Kong ads stress hedonistic values, promise easier and American lifestyles, and focus on doing. Taiwan ads fall between these two extremes, but are converging toward Hong Kong ads in consumption appeals over time. PRC ads, presumably anchored by remnants of an anti-materialistic political ideology, seem to chart a different trend.

Becoming a Consumer Society: A Longitudinal and Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of Print Ads from Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan

Advances in international marketing

A “supermarket revolution” has occurred in developing countries in the past 2 decades. We focus on three specific issues that reflect the impact of this revolution, particularly in Asia: continuity in transformation, innovation in transformation, and unique development strategies. First, the record shows that the rapid growth observed in the early 2000s in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand has continued, and the “newcomers”—India and Vietnam—have grown even faster. Although foreign direct investment has been important, the roles of domestic conglomerates and even state investment have been significant and unique. Second, Asia's supermarket revolution has exhibited unique pathways of retail diffusion and procurement system change. There has been “precocious” penetration of rural towns by rural supermarkets and rural business hubs, emergence of penetration of fresh produce retail that took much longer to initiate in other regions, and emergence of Asian retail developing-country multinational chains. In procurement, a symbiosis between modern retail and the emerging and consolidating modern food processing and logistics sectors has arisen. Third, several approaches are being tried to link small farmers to supermarkets. Some are unique to Asia, for example assembling into a “hub” or “platform” or “park” the various companies and services that link farmers to modern markets. Other approaches relatively new to Asia are found elsewhere, especially in Latin America, including “bringing modern markets to farmers” by establishing collection centers and multipronged collection cum service provision arrangements, and forming market cooperatives and farmer companies to help small farmers access supermarkets.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/109/31/12332.full.pdf

Supermarket revolution in Asia and emerging development strategies to include small farmers

Despite the prominence of the competitive strategy perspective, it remains unclear whether foreign firms entering China can still adopt a differentiation or low-cost position to achieve superior performance, given the unique market and institutional environments in China. Alternatively, should foreign firms follow conventional wisdom and actively build managerial ties with government officials and business community to enhance their performance? This study develops and tests an interactive perspective that highlights the moderating effects of managerial ties on competitive position–performance relationships. The results indicate that though both differentiation and low-cost positions foster foreign firm profitability, the benefit of a differentiation position is conditional on political and business ties in different directions: political ties impede and business ties strengthen the positive effect of a differentiation position on foreign firms’ profitability. Moreover, foreign firms benefit from their use of business ties, but their profitability suffers when they rely increasingly on the heavy use of political ties.

/pdf/competitive-position-managerial-ties-and-profitability-of-42ergok2j7.pdf

Competitive position, managerial ties, and profitability of foreign firms in China: an interactive perspective

By examining the Hong Kong food-retailing experience spanning the past five decades, this article demonstrates how the forces of evolution and tradition drive the development of the industry to the state it is today. It illustrates how the three major players—consumers, marketers, and government entities—within the aggregate marketing system environment interact in ways that shape the structure of the food-retailing system across time. The author argues that when significant economic and social consequences are at stake, public policy must be called into play as a check and balance to companies. The author emphasizes the need to develop context-sensitive approaches to policy implementation on the part of both the government and firms to ensure that the system can maximally operate to serve the needs of the broader society.

Evolution versus Tradition in Marketing Systems: The Hong Kong Food-Retailing Experience:

The economic reform in China has led to the emergence of a consumer society Concomitant with the development of the consumer society comes a growing power of the consumers in the marketplace This is occurring in the form of consumers’ rising awareness of their rights and increasing readiness to take the companies to court to protect their rights The author describes seven litigation cases pertaining to consumer issues that involve multinational corporations operating in China The author identifies some general characteristics that cut across the cases, along with suggestions and managerial implications

Executive Insights: Growing Consumer Power in China: Some Lessons for Managers

With China's decision to readjust its economy in 1979, marketing and advertising also came to the fore. Foreign advertising is officially welcomed, and it accounts for some 6 per cent of advertising turnover over the years. Since advertising as a marketing tool is still very much in its formative stage, this paper examines the findings of two empirical studies to highlight the prospects and problems of employing advertising as a marketing tool in China. It is concluded that the Chinese advertising set-up should not be viewed as a Madison Avenue of the East but be assessed in the light of the idiosyncratic nature which pervades the current economic adjustment in the country.

Advertising in China: Looking Back at Looking Forward

Looks at consumer research in Greater China including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Maps out the contributions within this area and guides future research. Examines the state of the art over the 1979‐97 period, with particular emphasis on the topics that have been researched, the extent of the theory development in the field and the methodologies used in conducting research. Uses content analysis to review 75 relevant articles. Suggests that, while a considerable breadth of topics have been researched, there remains much to be done, there is further room for theoretical development in Chinese consumer behaviour studies; and the methodologies used need improvement and further refinement.

An assessment of theoretical and methodological development in consumer research on Greater China: 1979‐1997

Notwithstanding the increase research interest in advertising in China in the past two decades, there has been no comprehensive review of this literature that assesses contributions and guides future research endeavors. This paper attempts to examine the state of research in the area over the 1979–98 period. Our findings suggest that the research/publication on advertising in China is in the early stage of development as evidenced by a wide range of topics remained under-researched, a deficiency of theoretical- or conceptual-based research and the utilization of relatively less advanced research methods and analytical techniques.

Suk‐ching Ho

Papers

Evolution versus Tradition in Marketing Systems: The Hong Kong Food-Retailing Experience:

Executive Insights: Growing Consumer Power in China: Some Lessons for Managers

Advertising in China: Looking Back at Looking Forward

An assessment of theoretical and methodological development in consumer research on Greater China: 1979‐1997

An Assessment of Theoretical and Methodological Development in Advertising Research on Mainland China: A Twenty-Year Review