Enabling Guanxi Management in China: A Hierarchical Stakeholder Model of Effective Guanxi

Guanxi (literally interpersonal connections) is in essence a network of resource coalition-based stakeholders sharing resources for survival, and it plays a key role in achieving business success in China. However, the salience of guanxi stakeholders varies: not all guanxi relationships are necessary, and among the necessary guanxi participants, not all are equally important. A hierarchical stakeholder model of guanxi is developed drawing upon Mitchell et al.’s (1997) stakeholder salience theory and Anderson’s (1982) constituency theory. As an application of instrumental stakeholder theory, the model dimensionalizes the notion of stakeholder salience, and distinguishes between and among internal and external guanxi, core, major, and peripheral guanxi, and primary and secondary guanxi stakeholders. Guanxi management principles are developed based on a hierarchy of guanxi priorities and management specializations. The goal of this application of instrumental stakeholder theory is to construct, for Western business firms in China, a means to reliably identify guanxi partners by employing the principles of effective guanxi. These principles are described in the form of testable propositions that advance social scientific research in this area of international business ethics. Chenting Su is Associate Professor of Marketing at City University of Hong Kong. He is also Adjunct Professor at Wuhan University, P.R. China. He previously taught at the University of Victoria, Canada, He writes for Journal of Marketing Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychology & Marketing, International Journal of Market Research, Service Marketing Quarterly, Research in Marketing, and others. He presently serves as Executive Director of China Marketing Association, P.R. China. Ronald K. Mitchell is Professor of Entrepreneurship and J. A. Bagley Regents Chair in Management in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University. He publishes in the areas of new value creation and stakeholder theory. From 1999–2002 he held a joint appointment in strategy and public policy in the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, Beijing, PRC. He has won numerous awards for research and program building; presently serves in the leadership of the AOM Entrepreneurship Division; and is Co-Editor for the Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice three-volume Special Issue on Entrepreneurial Cognition. Joe Sirgy is Professor of Marketing and Virginia Real Estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the area of business ethics and quality-of-life (QOL) research in relation to theory, philosophy, measurement, business, and public policy. He co-founded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) in 1995 and is currently serving as its Executive Director. He received the Distinguished Fellow Award from both the Academy of Marketing Science and ISQOLS. In 2003, ISQOLS recognized him as the Distinguished QOL Researcher for research excellence and a record of lifetime achievement in QOL research. He also is the current JMM section editor on QOL issues and a co-editor of Applied Research in Quality of Life.     

Effects of mentoring functions on receivers' organizational citizenship behavior in a Chinese context: A two-study investigation

This research examines the relationship between mentoring functions received by employees and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and the moderating effects of perceived quality relationships with mentoring function providers in China. Results of Study 1 from a sample of 385 supervisor-subordinate dyads reveal that role modeling received by protégés positively relates to their OCB, and perceived mentoring relationship quality moderates the association between career support received and protégés' OCB. Moreover, nonprotégés and protégés who receive high levels of overall mentoring functions perform more OCB than protégés who receive low levels of mentoring functions. Results of Study 2 from 258 supervisor-subordinate dyads show that role modeling received by subordinates positively relates to their OCB directed at individuals (OCBI) and at the organization (OCBO) while career support received positively relates to OCBO. Additionally, leader-member exchange moderates the linkages of role modeling with OCBI and OCBO.     

Social Exchange in China: The Double-Edged Sword of Guanxi

We present two studies that examine the effects of guanxi on multiple social groups from the perspective of Chinese business people. Study 1 (N = 203) tests the difference in perceived effects of six guanxi contextualizations. Study 2 (N = 195) examines the duality of guanxi as either helpful or harmful to social groups, depending on the contextualization. Findings suggest guanxi may result in positive as well as negative outcomes for focal actors and the aggregate.     

A meta-analysis of the relationship between perceived organizational support and job outcomes: 20 years of research

Anecdotal comments from practitioners and extant empirical research suggests a tenuous link between perceived organizational support and desired employee outcomes. Accordingly, in this study the authors conduct a meta-analysis examining the effects of perceived organizational support on four employee outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention to leave. The authors also examine the extent to which these effects are moderated by job type (frontline vs. non-frontline employee). Findings from the study indicate that perceived organizational support has a strong, positive effect on job satisfaction and organizational commitment; a moderate, positive effect on employee performance; and a strong, negative effect on intention to leave. Study findings also indicate that the effects of perceived organizational support are more pronounced for non-frontline employees.     

The culture-effectiveness link in a manufacturing context: A resource-based perspective

The literature and the press tout organizational culture as a major source of competitive advantage and a key approach through which organizations can achieve superior effectiveness. However, research on this link within and across global regions remains inconclusive. Grounding the study on the resource-based view of the firm, analysis of 238 plants from eight countries shows that, while individual culture types predict manufacturing effectiveness, the combined effects of multiple culture types have a greater effect. Different culture types emerge as significant in East and West regions depending on the effectiveness dimension prioritized by the plant.     

Executive GDSS: Behavioral considerations at individual,organizational, and environmental levels of analysis

This article emphasizes the importance of behavioral considerations at individual, organizational, and environmental levels of analysis when researching and evaluating the design, implementation, and use of group decision support systems (GDSS) within complex organizations. Discussion is based on interview and archival data collected on an executive level GDSS used within a corporate setting. Issues that are considered generalizable to organizational computing, coordination, and collaboration technologies concern (a) viewing organization participants as strategic, intuitive information processors, (b) understanding the importance of organizational power, politics, and situational constraints on decision making, and (c) appreciating the symbolic value of advanced information technologies to an organization's external environment.     

Corporate shareholdings and organizational ambidexterity in high-tech SMEs: Evidence from a transitional economy

As important engines for economic development in transitional nations, high-tech SMEs are confronted with numerous business opportunities, but are at the same time faced with developing institutions and a legacy of government involvement in their domestic environments. We examine the case of Chinese high-tech SMEs and develop a strategic orientation framework distinguishing between exploitation and exploration-type opportunities which accounts for the possibility that managers of such firms may attend to one, both, or neither. We find that shareholdings by top-managers promote a dual “ambidextrous” focus on both types, but that governmental share ownership leads to an orientation focusing on neither. We also find that the degree to which these firms utilize comprehensive decision-making processes partially mediates these main effects. Implications regarding the entrepreneurial performance of firms and economies in transitional contexts are discussed.     

中国与印度农产品贸易的动态与前景分析

近几年来,中国与印度的农产品双边贸易发展较快,不断增长的趋势明显,但双边贸易的不稳定性与不平衡性亦显得尤为突出。文章从实证分析的角度出发,利用出口集中度指数、产业内贸易指数、显性比较优势指数、贸易互补性指数等方法分析中印农产品双边贸易的现状、产品结构、发展趋势等问题。研究发现:中印两国在农产品贸易方面具有出口集中度高、以产业间贸易为主、优势农产品差异明显、双边贸易互补性强、发展潜力巨大等特征。     

Artificial intelligence and the future of work: Human-AI symbiosis in organizational decision making

Artificial intelligence (AI) has penetrated many organizational processes, resulting in a growing fear that smart machines will soon replace many humans in decision making. To provide a more proactive and pragmatic perspective, this article highlights the complementarity of humans and AI and examines how each can bring their own strength in organizational decision-making processes typically characterized by uncertainty, complexity, and equivocality. With a greater computational information processing capacity and an analytical approach, AI can extend humans’ cognition when addressing complexity, whereas humans can still offer a more holistic, intuitive approach in dealing with uncertainty and equivocality in organizational decision making. This premise mirrors the idea of intelligence augmentation, which states that AI systems should be designed with the intention of augmenting, not replacing, human contributions.     

Training and firm performance in economies in transition: a comparison between Vietnam and China

This paper provides a comparative analysis on the role of training and its impact on firm performance in some economies in transition in Asia. The starting point is an examination of country contexts and training, and how these have shaped organizational approaches to human resource (HR) training. The paper also reviews the results of recent studies that have investigated the relationship between training and firm performance in Vietnam and China. The review results show that training is positively related to firm performance and reveals some convergence of HR training in both countries. On the basis of this, some caveats on HR training development in the future in these two countries are given. The paper ends with theoretical and practical implications.     

Knowledge management and organizational performance in the service industry: The role of transformational leadership beyond the effects of transactional leadership

This study examines a comprehensive model comprising of various relationships between transformational and transactional leadership, knowledge management (KM) process, and organizational performance. Data are collected from human resource managers and general managers working in 119 service firms. Exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis are used to analyze the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that transformational leadership has strong and positive effects on KM process and organizational performance after controlling for the effects of transactional leadership. Further, KM process partially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance after controlling for the effects of transactional leadership. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Marketing management,its environment,and information processing: a problem of organizational design

The marketing literature has overlooked the problem of designing optimal organizational structures for marketing management. The study of this problem is crucial and pressing. Some relationships are proposed between the information generated by the market environment and the ability of the organization of a marketing department to process this information. Insights and opportunities for future conceptual and empirical work are provided.     

反补贴:中国和欧盟贸易之间的博弈

反补贴是继反倾销之后兴起的又一种贸易保护政策的一种手段,在2010年,欧盟和中国对彼此都发起了反补贴的调查,这让我们不得不猜想,反补贴是否会成为欧盟与中国贸易之间的一场博弈.反补贴的影响有利有弊,重要的是我们要趋利避害,针对反补贴提出有利欧盟与中国双方贸易的有效措施.     

组织学习的跨文化效应:中国和荷兰的比较

Based on the theory of cross-cultural management and organizational learning, this paper comparatively analyzes the role of culture differences between China and the Netherlands in organizational learning processes, climate, and capabilities. Three propositions are proposed to help multinational corporations (MNCs) build learning-oriented subsidiaries in China.      

中国和新西兰货物贸易:动态和展望

2008年4月7日《中华人民共和国政府和新西兰政府自由贸易协定》正式签订。本文在概述中新两国贸易规模和产品结构的基础上,对双边的市场紧密程度和贸易互补性进行研究。结果表明:中新互为重要的贸易伙伴,新西兰是中国农产品重要的进口来源地,中国是新西兰工业品进口的重要市场,但双边紧密程度有所弱化。中国与新西兰之间存在持久的产业间贸易互补性,这种互补性在不同行业和国别上存在差异。     

Managing Opportunism in China: The Roles of Guanxi,Environmental Uncertainty,and Management Culture

ABSTRACT

This cross-cultural comparison aims to understand whether the influence of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on consumer preference for domestic versus foreign products is product category and country-of-origin dependent. Three countries with dissimilar cultural orientation and economic status—China, South Korea, and the United States—were examined. American consumers were found to be more ethnocentric than Chinese and South Korean consumers. CE was found to significantly and positively predict American and Korean consumers’ preference for domestic products across product categories, while Chinese consumers’ CE did not translate into their preference for Chinese products. In addition, the relationship between CE and purchase preference varied across product categories as well as countries of origin.     

中国与印度服务业比较:竞争力及其影响因素

近年来,中国和印度成为亚洲经济发展备受瞩目的国家,两国在服务业领域的竞争成为关注的焦点。本文从产业结构、服务贸易总量与结构、服务贸易竞争力指数三方面考察了中印两国服务业竞争力的现状,并借助波特的"钻石体系"理论,对中印两国的要素条件、需求条件、相关支持产业及对外开放等因素进行了分析,得出虽然印度在目前取得了服务业的竞争优势,但是中国在今后的发展中更具潜力的结论和启示。     

中国与拉美国家贸易摩擦：动因及应对之策

近年来,中外贸易摩擦的主体逐渐由原先的发达国家转为包括印度、土耳其和拉美等发展中国家。虽然从贸易摩擦案件涉及的数量和金额来看还远小于发达国家,但是从长远的战略意义上来看,其影响要远远大于发达国家。从现实状况入手剖析贸易摩擦的产生动因,应对中拉贸易摩擦政府要转变经济增长方式,适时调整对拉美出口战略,采取更灵活的经贸合作形式;企业要提高应对贸易摩擦的能力,加大对拉美的直接投资。     

中国与欧美流通发展比较及启示

改革开放以来,随着我国经济的快速增长,我国流通业也取得了很大的发展。但我国流通产业仍以传统经营方式和业态占主导地位,流通产业分布较为分散,规模较小,先进信息技术在流通业的应用刚刚起步,流通产业集中度明显低于发达国家,严重制约了生产、消费及整个国民经济又好又快发展。加快实现流通现代化、提高流通业竞争力对于促进经济社会发展具有重大意义。为推动我国现代流通体系创新,应借鉴欧美发达国家经验,大力发展信息产业,积极推动流通管理体制创新、流通方式创新、流通政策创新与流通组织结构创新,为专业市场发展提供更加方便、快捷、高效的现代流通体系,满足专业市场变革的需求。     

An investigation into the link between service quality dimensionality and positive word-of-mouth intention in Mainland China

The purpose of current study is to investigate the relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and positive word-of-mouth intention in a Chinese context. A survey was carried out with a sample of 241 customers of China Mobile, the biggest telecommunications company in China. A structural equation model was created. It was found that Reliability and Assurance encouraged more positive word-of-mouth intention, while Tangibles, Responsiveness, and Empathy did not have a significant effect on word-of-mouth intention. In addition, age was negatively correlated to positive word-of-mouth intention. These findings have useful implications to international service companies, particularly those operating in a Chinese environment, by identifying factors that are salient for the generation of positive word-of-mouth.