Collectivist values for learning in organizational relationships in China: the role of trust and vertical coordination

Partners must engage in integrative interaction in order to combine diverse expertise and experiences into effective learning. Results from 103 pairs of customer and supplier organizations in China indicate that trust and vertical coordination are useful ways to characterize this integrative interaction and together they promote learning. Structural equation analysis suggests that collectivist but not individualist values are important foundations for integrative interaction between partners that result in learning. These findings were interpreted as reaffirming the value of effective relationships for coordination between partners and suggesting that collectivist values can be a source of effective organizational relationships.     

Resolving ethical conflicts at workthrough cooperative goals and constructive controversy in the People's Republic of China

The idea of constructive controversy and the theory of cooperation and competition together suggest the type of interaction that promotes satisfactory resolution of ethical conflicts and the conditions under which this occurs. A sample of 101 Chinese mainland employees described and rated a critical incident of an ethical conflict at work. Structural equation analyses indicated that when the employees had goals that were cooperatively related with those of other stakeholders in the conflict, rather than competitive or independent goals, this facilitated constructive controversy, i.e., open-minded discussion, which, in turn, led to effective outcomes in terms of substantive ethical impact and interactional justice. Results also indicated that high levels of moral intensity strengthened competitive goals and rendered constructive controversy less likely. Implications are that organizations should make it clear to members that conflict avoidance and moral muteness are inappropriate responses to ethically unsound practices and policies, that it is important to detect ethically questionable behaviours or policies at an early stage, and that wherever possible these should be discussed promptly, before an uncomfortably high level of moral intensity is reached. Constructive controversy is suggested as a process through which corporate codes of conduct may be developed.     

Power, conflict, and cooperation: The impact of guanxi in Chinese marketing channels

This paper tests the impact of guanxi on behaviors among firms in a Chinese marketing channel. Guanxi is operationalized in this paper as emotional closeness and interactive state. We find that the emotional closeness between channel-boundary personnel of firms has a positive impact on their exercise of noncoercive power, a negative impact on their exercise of coercive power, and a negative impact on the perceived conflict between them. In addition, emotional closeness has an indirect but positive impact on perceived cooperation. Interactive state between the boundary personnel of two firms has a positive impact on a firm exercising noncoercive power and a negative impact on perceived conflict between them. At the same time, it is positively related to a firm exercising coercive power. This shows not only the significant influence of guanxi on a firm's channel behaviors but also the constructive effects of both emotional closeness and interactive state on marketing channel behaviors in China.     

Fertilizer supplies and foodgrain production in China, 1952–1982

Because organic fertilizer is limited, chemical fertilizer supply has to be increased drastically in the next few years if China is to cope with accelerated demands for foodgrain. Nevertheless, the combined application of both types of fertilizer has yielded a coherent trend of constant returns to scale over time. With marginal and average response rates remaining high, there is still room for increased use. Thus, the recent decentralization has led to higher demand for chemical fertilizers from Chinese peasants. However, it is doubtful whether such demand pressures will ever prevail over the established strategy of maximizing growth of heavy industries.     

E-logistics in China: basic problems, manageable concerns and intractable solutions

This paper examines the reality of issues surrounding e-commerce and logistics in China today. Interviews were conducted with government, business and academic leaders in a major Chinese coastal city. From these interviews, the magnitude of nine major e-commerce and logistics challenges was investigated. Based on the scope of the problems and the scale of potential solutions, the various issues are characterized as basic, manageable or intractable. Conclusions are made about the challenges to be found both today and in the future of e-commerce and logistics in China.     

Korea's Direct Investments in China: Technology, Experience, and Ownership Factors in Performance

This paper is designed to empirically examine what determines the performance of Korea's foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. Three main determinants are hypothesized to influence the performance of Korea's FDI. They include technology, internationalization experience, and ownership patterns associated with Korea's investments in China. Data were collected from surveys with 91 Korean investors. Our empirical analysis suggests that the labor intensity of technology involved in FDI and the appropriateness of manufacturing technology to the local conditions influence the investment performance. In addition, the results indicate that the internationalization experiences of the Korean investors also affect the profitability of FDI. Another finding of note is that the level of local ownership had a positive impact on performance. But, more interestingly, its effects were moderated by the investor's prior internationalization experiences; in other words, the investors with limited internationalization experiences performed well on a minority ownership venture.     

Venture capital in China: Past,present, and future

This article reviews the literature on venture capital in China and examines where China’s venture capital industry has been and where it is likely to go in the future. Since the 1980s, venture capital in China has grown steadily alongside the robust national economy. The future is likely to offer even greater opportunities, as entrepreneurs are encouraged and property rights improve. However, there will also be a period of transition as the market continues to mature and as new legal structures and commercial arrangements emerge. Venture capital in China has many interesting differences from that in Western countries. The venture capital industry is shaped by the institutional context and China is no exception to this. This article also examines some specific differences between the system in China and that of the United States. Future prospects for venture capital are also appraised as China continues its transition to a market economy.

The third-generation-mobile (3G) policy and deployment in China: Current status, challenges, and prospects

Since the inception of telecom reform in 1994, structural reform has been a main thread surrounding the course of the development of China's telecommunications industry. In structuring the 2008 reform and the 2009 3G rollout China's government adopted a relatively balanced approach in the hope of creating level-playing-field in 3G era. Nevertheless, due to the presence of substantial switching costs, substitution effects from the present technology mode, that is, 2.5G, the absence of killer applications, among other technological and institutional factors, China may not have a realistic 3G era before moving toward 4G and beyond. At the bare minimum, currently there is a lacking of either adequate technological-push or demand-pull for a full-scale 3G commercialization—there is no sign that this situation will change in the near term. Triggered by recent initiatives of market convergence between the telecommunications, Internet, and cable, a renewed circle of market, and regulatory reform is probably necessary to cast a sounder industry basis for a timing migration toward the next-generation-networks (NGNs). The timing migration toward 4G (and beyond) may provide a chance for a late-mover nation like China to leapfrog its western counterparts in leading the industry in the era of NGNs. To this end, China is confronted with a challenge in re-examining its industry policy as well as technological strategies for a sustainable development in the era of NGNs. This study offers heuristic analysis and insights on the above issues based on archival documents and interviews. While implications are suggested for China's circumstances, the Chinese experiences may also be considered by other countries and investors when it comes to 3G (and beyond) policies, regulations, deployments, and evolutions.     

Inventory in mainland China: Historical, industry, and geographic perspectives

We review inventories in mainland China by evaluating the trajectory of aggregate inventories in recent decades, and then modelling the relationship of inventories in some 300,000 manufacturers with respect to volume (using cost of goods sold), industry (using SIC codes), and geographical location (using the 31 regions of China). We find that inventories generally exhibit economies of scale (in terms of cost of goods sold) in all but one industry (tobacco), and differ widely by province, with relatively high inventories in remote regions.We provide explanations for apparent diseconomies of scale for large unlisted firms, and reflect on why publicly listed manufacturers have significantly higher inventories than do unlisted firms. We note that manufacturing inventories as a proportion of manufacturing value-added are substantially higher in China than in the US The results may be employed for benchmarking and auditing of firms and managers, as well as for conducting due diligence for investment, mergers and acquisitions.     

Feminism in Transition: Chinese Culture, Ideology and the Development of the Women's Movement in China

This study is concerned with transitional gender roles and relations, illuminated through an examination of the status of women in China from the Mao era to the post-Mao era. The study reveals that the socialist state has maintained a high degree of control over gender construction in order to legitimise its historical achievement of revolution and liberation, assuming given gender identities within the official discourse of socialism. Liberation meant creating a fundamentally new and more democratic socialism within a male hegemony. This is derived from the core philosophy Confucianism in which human role relations are cultivated and developed within a male-centred world. Consequently, this discourse opens up an authoritative normalisation process that hinders women's progress in the state, in the household and in organisations. Women's new identity involves aspects of biologically given features, internalisation of the patriarchal family and social relations. Collective relational construction therefore emphasises the feminine/maternal principles of identity, denouncing separation and independence. This phenomenon seems to be pushing the whole of gender politics in China back towards more traditional sex role differences and power imbalances.     

Divergent patterns of engagement in Internet standardization: Japan,Korea and China

This article analyzes the engagement of Japanese, Korean and Chinese participants in the development of Internet standards at IETF on the basis of four quantitative metrics: attendance, patenting, authorship and leadership. The results are strikingly divergent. Japanese involvement in Internet standardization began early and Japan was, for many years, second only to the U.S. in terms of IETF participation. Though Japanese participation has declined since the early 2000s, Japan remains a major contributor to IETF standardization. Korean involvement in IETF has always been significant, but below the levels of Japan and major European countries. Korean participation in IETF has also declined over the past decade, and has been dominated by one firm, Samsung. Though meaningful Chinese involvement in IETF did not begin until the mid-2000s, it has rapidly expanded in recent years. Today, China is a major player in numerous areas of Internet standardization in terms of three metrics (participation, patenting and leadership), and is rapidly gaining in terms of document authorship as well. Most of China׳s recent IETF involvement can be attributed to Huawei, though other Chinese firms have recently begun to increase their participation in the organization. Thus, contrary to some views that China׳s engagement with standardization is primarily one of indigenous innovation and “catching up”, China׳s experience with IETF demonstrates deliberate and effective engagement with a major Western standards-development organization on its own terms.     

The Internationalization of a Production Network and the Replication Dilemma: Building Supplier Networks in Mainland China

Replication can be a powerful strategy for firms, but the replication of organizational practices is not easy, and there exists a real tension between replication and adaptation. This paper looks at the sourcing strategies and supplier networks of three Taiwanese machine tool companies in mainland China to understand the conditions under which replication may be more or less likely to occur. In addition, by viewing the cases as examples of the production network internationalization and by considering the issue of convoy migration in such a context, this paper presents a new way of thinking about the internationalization of industrial networks.     

Does a Micro-Macro Link Exist Between Managerial Value of Reciprocity,Social Capital and Firm Performance? The Case of SMEs in China

With the deepening of China's economic reform, SMEs are starting to gain tremendous economic momentum and play an increasingly irreplaceable role in China's century-long bid for economic resurgence. Using a micro-macro link approach, this study investigates the effects of managerial value of reciprocity on both social capital and firm performance in China's rural SMEs. A structural equation modelling method was used to test hypotheses. Data from 177 SMEs in China provide supporting evidence that there exists a micro-macro link from managerial value of reciprocity, to social capital (trust) and to firm performance (both overall performance and competitiveness improvement).     

The evolution of the internet of things industry and market in China: An interplay of institutions,demands and supply

This paper seeks to provide some explanation as to how demand-, supply- and institutions-related factors in China have affected the creation and diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT)-related products and services. Concerning demand side factors the paper demonstrates how potential market size and existing technology trajectory work in favor of IoT diffusion. As a related demand side factor the paper argues that, in terms of the technological trajectory, China has started farther from the frontier than most industrialized countries. The degree of incremental benefit from the IoT is thus higher in the country. As to the supply side factors, the article promotes an understanding of how Chinese technology companies have capitalized on a huge user base to develop IoT-based applications. It also suggests that technologies and expertise provided by foreign multinationals have also played crucial roles. Regarding formal institutions, the government's proactive policies have been a major factor in the IoT's evolution. It is also in the Chinese government's interest to develop IoT products to make censorship and surveillance more effective. Regarding informal institutions, Chinese consumers are less concerned than Westerners about being tracked and monitored, which provides a favorable condition for the adoption of IoT-enabled devices. Nonetheless, this condition is changing due to increasing abuse of consumer privacy. China and the U.S. are compared in terms of diffusion, key determinants, performance indicators and impacts of the IoT in order to understand the areas that China outperforms—and underperforms—the U.S. Some indicators are proposed to gauge the IoT-related performance and the impacts of the IoT.     

中部六省全面小康实现程度的评价与比较

全面建设小康社会是中国21世纪前20年为之奋斗的战略目标,中部六省全面建设小康社会的程度和进度,直接关系着该目标能否顺利实现。本文对中部六省全面建设小康社会的综合评价做了回顾和总结;遵照指标体系设计的原则,制定出中部六省全面建设小康社会指标体系,并参照五个方面的依据,确定了各指标的目标值;采用标准比值法对中部六省2003—2005年全面小康实现程度进行了评价与比较;并就加快中部六省全面建设小康社会的进程进行了思考和探讨。