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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Book•
01 Jul 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a study of Chinese negotiating behavior that explores the ways senior officials of the PRC Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and others managed these high-level political negotiations with their new American old friends.
Abstract: After two decades of hostile confrontation, China and the United States initiated negotiations in the early 1970s to normalize relations. Senior officials of the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations had little experience dealing with the Chinese, but they soon learned that their counterparts from the People s Republic were skilled negotiators.This study of Chinese negotiating behavior explores the ways senior officials of the PRC Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and others managed these high-level political negotiations with their new American old friends. It follows the negotiating process step by step, and concludes with guidelines for dealing with Chinese officials.Originally written for the RAND Corporation, this study was classified because it drew on the official negotiating record. It was subsequently declassified, and RAND published the study in 1995. For this edition, Solomon has added a new introduction, and Chas Freeman has written an interpretive essay describing the ways in which Chinese negotiating behavior has, and has not, changed since the original study. The bibiliography has been updated as well."
55 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1985
55 citations
Book•
08 Jul 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the increasing influence of regulatory codes over urban design and planning in the past century, tracing how codes arose when they did, and how they were adapted over time.
Abstract: Tracing how codes arose when they did, and how they were adapted over time, the authors examine the increasing influence of regulatory codes over urban design and planning in the past century.
55 citations
TL;DR: The authors synthesize and make available important recent research on China's social and economic history, offering a completely new perspective on the four centuries from the Ming Dynasty to the Communist revolution, drawing on a wide array of sources.
Abstract: This is the first book to synthesize and make available important recent research on China's social and economic history, offering a completely new perspective on the four centuries from the Ming Dynasty to the Communist revolution. Drawing on a wide array of sources, the author clarifies the complexities of Chinese society, covering a wide range of topics from population trends, class structure, and religion to agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing.
54 citations