Open Access
Guanxi, Networks and Economic Development: The Impact of Cultural Connections
TLDR
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.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The search for modern China
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.
Book
Chinese commercial negotiating style = 談判作風
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Choice, Rationality and Social Theory
D. S. King,Barry Hindess +1 more
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
China's Old Dwellings
Robert W. McColl,Ronald G. Knapp +1 more
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.
References
More filters
Book
A pictorial history of Chinese architecture : a study of the development of its structural system and the evolution of its types
思成 梁,Wilma Fairbank +1 more
TL;DR: Liang Ssu-ch'eng (1901-1972) was a pioneer in the scientific study of Chinese architectural history, and most of its current practitioners are his students.
Journal ArticleDOI
Guanxi and Conflicts of Interest
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors consider the problem of conflict of interest in Guanxi, which involves interpersonal obligations, which may conflict with other obligations people have that are based on general or abstract moral considerations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Debating China’s Economic Reform: New Leftists vs. Liberals
TL;DR: The authors argue that the intellectual discourse over policy has become increasingly salient in the post-Mao period and focus on the following research questions: How and under what circumstances did the New Left and liberals emerge in China? What are the major debates between the two? To what extent have the New leftists and liberals affected the economic reforms and what change they might bring to the political climate?
Journal ArticleDOI
Mapping the evolution and transformation of the new private entrepreneurs in China
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the historical evolution of the new private entrepreneurs through analyzing five main private business groups, including small individual businessmen, price speculators, land speculators and enterprise investors.