Guanxi and Business Strategy: Theory and Implications for Multinational Companies in China

ISBN-13: 9783790819557 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 244 str.

Eike A. Langenberg

Opis

This book examines a topic of paramount importance to those doing business with China: the impact of personal relationships (guanxi) on business affairs. It shows that the commercial utilization of guanxi with suppliers, customers, competitors and authorities yields significant sustainable competitive advantages. Coverage also assesses guanxi-based business strategies in terms of compliance with legal and ethical standards.

Spis treści

The Guanxi System.- Guanxi-Based Business Strategies.- Discussion.

O autorze

Eike A. Langenberg, Magister und Doktor der Sinologie (Universität Hamburg) und Diplomkaufmann (Universität Hamburg), arbeitet seit mehr als fünf Jahren als Geschäftsführer bei Siemens Ltd., China in der Eisenbahnindustrie. Die Erkenntnisse seiner wissenschaftlichen Analysen des chinesischen Eisenbahnwesens hat Dr. Langenberg in dieser Position verifizieren können.
Die vorliegende Analyse zählt zur Pflichtlektüre für Industrie- und Dienstleistungsunternehmen, die den chinesischen Eisenbahnmarkt bedienen; sie ist ebenfalls interessant für Akademiker, welche sich mit den Herausforderungen des chinesischen Verkehrssektors befassen.

Blurb

"Guanxi and Business Strategy" elaborates upon a topic of paramount importance to both academic scholars and managers doing business with China: the impact of personal relationships (guanxi) on business affairs. In the Chinese cultural and socio-economic environment, how are the ubiquitous practices of guanxi to be considered in entrepreneurial strategies?

Rather than explaining the emergence of guanxi and its persistence – in spite of the existence of a market economy – with Confucianism, the author applies the phenomenon to the methodology of New Economic Sociology. By integrating guanxi into a business context, he shows that the commercial utilization of guanxi with suppliers, customers, competitors and authorities yields significant sustainable competitive advantages. As guanxi practices, however, may pose risks to unsuspecting managers, guanxi-based business strategies are also assessed in terms of compliance with legal and ethical standards.