Guanxi, Networks and Economic Development: The Impact of Cultural Connections
01 Jan 2013-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the mechanics of guanxi in an organizational setting, focusing on the use of interpersonal relationships within Chinese firms to discover how firms initiate, build and use Guanxi networks.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the mechanics of guanxi in an organizational setting, focusing on the use of interpersonal relationships within Chinese firms to discover how firms initiate, build and use guanxi networks. Two richly detailed case studies document changes that take place over time in two distinct networks with respect to key actors and their contacts. This research also investigates patterns of social structure that emerge over time in these two distinct cases looking at brokerage relationships, network density, and dyadic redundancy in three waves at six month intervals. The cases are dissimilar in all aspects except absolute size demonstrating the universal use of guanxi across time, geographic location, specific industries, and firm experience. Dynamic network visualization is used to highlight the sequence and rate of activity in each network to identify salient changes. The findings show that firms seek to improve their organizational guanxi by improving existing employees’ guanxi quality within the firm and by recruiting new actors from outside the firm. Additionally, firms use organizational guanxi to expand their networks by forming cooperative partnerships with complementary organizations that enhance the attributes or potential of both organizations. And finally, firms initially exploit brokerage in organizational guanxi, then attempt to stabilize the network by fostering new ties to exclusive contacts.
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TL;DR: The authors explored the history of early-modern and modern China, from the seventeenth century to the present, examining the rise and fall of China's last empire, the emergence of a modern nation-state, the sources and development of revolution, and the implications of complex social, political, cultural, and economic transformations in the People's Republic of China.
Abstract: This course explores the history of early-modern and modern China, from the seventeenth century to the present. We will examine the rise and fall of China’s last empire, the emergence of a modern nation-state, the sources and development of revolution, and the implications of complex social, political, cultural, and economic transformations in the People’s Republic of China. Course materials include scholarly monographs, a memoir, primary sources, and visual and material artifacts that offer diverse perspectives. We will meet twice a week for a combination of lectures, discussion, and viewing of visual texts.
339 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: This paper analyzed Chinese commercial negotiating practices for two reasons: the first is to minimize future misunderstandings in such activities, and the second is to provide guidance for government-to-government negotiations.
Abstract: Abstract : This study analyzes Chinese commercial negotiating practices for two reasons. The first is to minimize future misunderstandings in such activities, and the second is to provide guidance for government-to-government negotiations. The research procedure used involved interviews with American businessmen and bankers with extensive experience in the China trade, and--in order to control for American cultural factors--interviews with comparable Japanese bankers and businessmen. What was learned from the experiences of businessmen is to value in government-to-government negotiations, even though there are substantial differences between commercial and diplomatic relationships. At present both Beijing and Washington seek a more cooperative and complementary relationship. (Author)
213 citations
TL;DR: The rational choice approach to social behaviour rationality, egoism and social atomism models of the actor rationality, action and deliberation individualism, and social structure was proposed in this article.
Abstract: The rational choice approach to social behaviour rationality, egoism and social atomism models of the actor rationality, action and deliberation individualism and social structure.
154 citations
TL;DR: A comprehensive critical examination of China's folk architectural forms is presented in this article, where the authors provide a study of the environmental, historical and social factors that influence housing forms for nearly a quarter of the world's population.
Abstract: A comprehensive critical examination of China's folk architectural forms. Together with its companion volume, \"China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation\", it provides a study of the environmental, historical and social factors that influence housing forms for nearly a quarter of the world's population. Both books draw on the author's 30 years of fieldwork and travel in China, as well as on published and unpublished material in many languages. The work begins by tracing the interest in Chinese vernacular buildings in the 20th century. Early chapters detail common and distinctive spatial components, including the interior and exterior modular spaces that are axiomatic components of most Chinese dwellings as well as conventional structural components and building materials that are common in Chinese construction. Later chapters examine representative housing types in the three broad cultural realms - northern, southern and western - into which China has been divided. Knapp completes his survey with an exploration of China's old dwellings in the context of the rapid economic and social changes that are destroying so many of them.
50 citations
References
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TL;DR: This paper examined the Chinese face embedded in marital violence and found that the stronger the face orientation, the greater the masculine gender preference in male batterers, and that the face orientation was correlated with marital violence.
Abstract: EnglishThe study examines the Chinese face embedded in marital violence. Results from the analysis of male batterers showed that the stronger the faceorientation, the greater the masculine gender r...
84 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Theories of international political economy as discussed by the authors have been studied in a wide range of contexts, including classical liberalism, classical economic nationalism, poststructuralism, and gender equality.
Abstract: Preface Introduction: Theories of International Political Economy 1 Mercantilism THOMAS MUN England's Treasure by Forraign Trade 2 Classical Liberalism ADAM SMITH Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System Of Restraints upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can be Produced at Home DAVID RICARDO On Foreign Trade JOHN STUART MILL Of International Trade 3 Classical Economic Nationalism ALEXANDER HAMILTON Report on Manufactures FRIEDRICH LIST Political and Cosmopolitical Economy Nationality and the Economy of the Nation 4 Classical Marxism KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS The Communist Manifesto KARL MARX On the Question of Free Trade The British Rule in India The Future Results of British Rule in India Illustrations of the general law of capitalist accumulation: Ireland V. I. LENIN The Export of Capital Imperialism as a Special Stage of Capitalism KARL KAUTSKY Ultra-Imperialism 5 Contemporary Liberalism ROBERT O. KEOHANE After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy ANDREW MORAVCSIK Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics 6 Contemporary Economic Nationalist Theories ROBERT WADE Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization BENJAMIN J. COHEN The Macrofoundations of Monetary Power 7 Contemporary Marxism ROBERT W. COX Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory GIOVANNI ARRIGHI The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times 8 Positive Political Economy ROLAND VAUBEL A Public Choice Approach to International Organization RONALD ROGOWSKI Why Changing Exposure to Trade Should Affect Political Cleavages 9 Poststructuralism MICHAEL HARDT AND ANTONIO NEGRI Empire MARIEKE DE GOEDE Virtue, Fortune and Faith: A Genealogy of Finance 10 Feminism J. ANN TICKNER On the Fringes of the World Economy: A Feminist Perspective V. SPIKE PETERSON How (the Meaning of) Gender Matters in Political Economy 11 Green Theory ERIC HELLEINER International Political Economy and the Greens ALF HORNBORG The Thermodynamics of Imperialism: Toward an Ecological Theory of Unequal Exchange Index
84 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the possible contri- bution of China's grass roots social organization, and particularly its family and kinship structures, and found that despite more than 30 years of collectivist socialism, grass-root social structures that are conducive to economic growth under the proper conditions -social structures that were different in strategically important ways from those in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Abstract: Why has China been so much more successful than the former Soviet Union and its East European satellites in making the transition away from a centrally planned economy? While other articles address a wide range of explanations of China's success, this one explores the possible contri- bution of China's grass roots social organization, and particularly its family and kinship structures. Attention is drawn to social factors by the obvious fact that China, through its spectacular recent growth, has taken its place among other Chinese (and Chinese cultural orbit) populations in East Asia, reinforcing the position of this region as the most dynamic portion of the world economy. Could China share with other Chinese populations, despite more than 30 years of collectivist socialism, grass roots social structures that are conducive to economic growth under the proper conditions - social structures that are different in strategically important ways from those in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe?
83 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate three specific dilemmas relating to the fundamental Chinese cultural principle of guanxi and reveal that they occur in emerging Chinese-Western intercultural networks, irrespective of the specific cultural variations, contractual constraints, or corporate policies applying.
81 citations