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.     

The measurement of guanxi: Introducing the GRX scale

This study posits and examines a measurement scale for measuring guanxi based on three Chinese relational constructs - ganqing, renqing and xinren. Focusing on Anglo-Chinese buyer-seller relationships, the research reports the findings from six qualitative in-depth interviews and survey data obtained from over 200 Taiwanese trading companies. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses the findings from the final second-order confirmatory factor analysis of the guanxi model identified 11 items for measuring ganqing, renqing, xinren and guanxi respectively. The results offer a useful starting point in order for business practitioners to assess their guanxi and at the same time provide academics with a scale for operationalizing the measurement of guanxi.     

Investigating guanxi dimensions and relationship outcomes: Insights from Sino-Anglo business relationships

This study aims to develop and test a concept for improving Anglo-Chinese business relationships. By piecing together and incorporating both Chinese and western relationship constructs into a cohesive framework and testing this on a sample of Taiwanese importers, the study conceptually and empirically advances our understanding of the discipline further. Specifically, three facets of guanxi, namely ganqing (an affective element), renqing (reciprocation and favor), and xinren (personal trust) are conceptualized to determine cooperation and coordination, which in turn lead to improved performance. Based on a sample of 208 buyers (surveying perceptions of their relationships with Anglo suppliers), we provide empirical support for our concept and reveal that ganqing, renqing and xinren are crucial for fostering the development of such Sino-Anglo relationships. By providing an international flavor in terms of the constructs outlined and the importer-exporter context, the study provides fresh insights to help broaden our horizon further and understand more about relationships in an international context. Several implications are extracted from the study which a) western marketers importantly need to practice as they grapple to enter Chinese markets and nurture business relations, b) Chinese buyers can consider when managing their supplier portfolios and c) academics can use to help measure important relational constructs and undertaking research in a Chinese context.     

Guanxi vs. relationship marketing: Exploring underlying differences

The present paper attempts to explore the underlying mechanism between Western relationship marketing and Chinese guanxi by examining the construct equivalence of the two concepts. First, it distinguishes guanxi from relationship marketing in terms of the personal and particularistic nature of the relation. Second, it differentiates trust from xinyong, its counterpart in Chinese, based on a comparison of their roles in relationship building and maintenance. Third, it discusses the unique meaning of renqing, which is proposed as an underlying mechanism that guides behavior norms in guanxi and a mediator between trust or xinyong and long-term orientation. Finally, it concludes by discussing the managerial implications for international marketers who wish to succeed in the Chinese business market and the importance of adapting Western relationship marketing principles to guanxi marketing.     

An examination of the influence of guanxi and xinyong (utilization of personal trust) on negotiation outcome in China: An old friend approach

Managers of multi-national enterprises (MNEs) are at a disadvantage in negotiating outcomes with their Chinese counterparts when compared to local competitors. The reasons include: local competitors are more flexible in handling business terms and conditions; local Chinese managers prefer to negotiate with their old friends or insiders in the same guanxi network; and MNE managers perceive that cultural practices such as gift-giving and guanxi are problematic. This study advances our understanding of negotiation by using a model developed for the reference of MNEs to establish an “old friend” relational status with their local Chinese counterparts. This approach emphasizes cultural adaptation for MNE managers to achieve satisfying negotiation outcomes in China.The study reveals the following unique issues: 1) in addition to their problem-solving attitude, MNE managers should practice mianzi and gift-giving to build renqing with their Chinese counterparts at a new friend stage; 2) the reciprocity dynamics of renqing should enable these managers to accumulate ganqing and to become old friends of their Chinese counterparts; 3) the establishment of ganqing between MNE managers and their Chinese counterparts should enable the development of xinyong between the two exchange parties; and 4) desirable negotiation outcomes can be built on xinyong.     

Managing knowledge leakage in strategic alliances: The effects of trust and formal contracts

Although strategic alliances offer opportunities for knowledge sharing and leveraging, they also carry the risk of knowledge leakage to partner firms. In this study, we conceptualize the notion of knowledge leakage as a multidimensional construct and formalize its measurement. We examine the effects of two dominant governance mechanisms—trust (goodwill trust and competence trust) and formal contracts on knowledge leakage. A survey of 205 partnering firms in China indicates that goodwill trust has a U-shaped relationship with knowledge leakage, whereas competence trust has a negative impact. Moreover, goodwill trust and competence trust interact differently with formal contracts on knowledge leakage. This study offers important theoretical and managerial insights for firms to manage knowledge leakage in strategic alliances.     

The role of renqing in mediating customer relationship investment and relationship commitment in China

There is a growing research interest in guanxi marketing, which has been considered the Chinese version of relationship marketing. However, very little empirical research has investigated the implicit nature of renqing, the underlying mechanism that explains the cultivation and maintenance of guanxi. This study examines the role of renqing in mediating customer relationship investment and relationship commitment in the insurance industry. The authors surveyed 245 car insurance policyholders in China. The findings confirm the mediating role of renqing in such relationships and show that renqing explains a very high proportion of the variance in levels of customer relationship commitment. This result offers valuable insights and suggestions as to how to increase levels of customer relationship commitment in China.     

Relationship stability, trust and relational risk in marketing channels: Evidence from China

This paper provides an integrated framework for examining effects of relationship stability and trust on relational risk and for exploring the moderating effects of guanxi on the relationships between trust and relational risk in marketing channels. The framework is tested with 225 dyads of questionnaires about buyer-supplier relationships in the Chinese household appliances sector. The results indicate that relationship length and dyadic solidarity can reduce the relational risk perceived by buyers through goodwill trust in their suppliers, but can increase the perceived relational risk through trust in their competence. Guanxi helps to weaken the positive relationship between a buyer's trust in suppliers' competence and its perceived relational risk, and dyadic solidarity can directly lower relational risk. This paper makes clear that buyers locked in a stable relationship will face relational risk, and it further identifies the specific variables which impact on the relational risk and the paths from which relational risk comes.     

Manufacturer-supplier guanxi strategy: An examination of contingent environmental factors

While guanxi is a cultural norm in China, the development and maintenance of guanxi can also be viewed as a business relationship management strategy that is leveraged by organizations in response to environmental conditions. The current research proposes that participation in guanxi is not equal to actively pursuing guanxi as a business strategy. Rather, firms respond to external environmental factors through guanxi management. Drawing on contingency theory and based on the perspectives of a China-based manufacturer respondent sample, a conceptual model of environmental factors that influence manufacturer-supplier guanxi is proposed and tested. The results indicate that supply and demand market uncertainties and legal environment complexity significantly affect levels of manufacturer-supplier guanxi, and that guanxi influences the use of non-coercive power by manufacturers. Contrary to expectations, manufacturer dependence on a major supplier did not influence levels of guanxi. The study findings and their implications extend current knowledge of inter-organizational guanxi and its influence on business-to-business relationships.     

Guanxi practice and Chinese buyer-supplier relationships: The buyer's perspective

This study explores the different effects of guanxi practice on Chinese buyer-supplier relationships in the initiation and the maintenance stages during the buyer-supplier relationship lifecycle. Using survey data collected from the retail industry in China, we find that retailers perceive varying buyer-supplier relationship behaviors in these two relationship stages and, accordingly, guanxi practice exerts opposite effects on retailer satisfaction. Specifically, during the relationship initiation stage, guanxi practice is negatively related to retailer social satisfaction and commitment. However, during the relationship maintenance stage, guanxi practice is positively related to retailer economic satisfaction. The results from this study provide suppliers with managerial implications on when to and when not to practice guanxi in China.     

The significance of trust and renqing in the long-term orientation of Chinese business-to-business relationships

While business relationships with China are receiving increased attention in both practitioner and academic discourse, very little empirical work however, has been undertaken to isolate and examine measures that focus on business-to-business relationships, and as such, research in this area is somewhat scant. In an attempt to bridge this gap, and add to the knowledge in this emerging discipline, the research aims to develop a conceptual framework to explore the relationship between trust and the long-term orientation in Chinese business-to-business market relationships. Based on a survey with Hong Kong companies that have a buyer-seller relationship with Chinese companies, the empirical findings indicate the mediating role and significance of ‘renqing’ for enhancing trust and contributing towards the long-term stability in relational exchange. The results highlight several implications for practicing managers to consider when aiming to establish and develop relationships in a Chinese business-to-business context.     

Export intensity and marketing in transition economies: Evidence from China

Firms in transition economies face a common adaptation problem of having to compete within increasingly marketized environments. This creates a need for managers to learn skills associated with marketing, such as those pertaining to the development of new and better products. Although distance is usually a barrier to learning, we propose that in exchange situations involving transition economy firms, the benefits of long-distance trade may outweigh the costs of knowledge acquisition. We find support for this proposition in this study by establishing a link between the export intensity of Chinese exporters and their acquisition of marketing know-how. We also find evidence that the marketing knowledge of transition economy firms has a positive effect on overall performance.     

创新团队公平感知与知识共享行为关系研究——以成员信任为中介变量

创新团队组织形式的蓬勃发展使得团队成员的绩效激励方式成为众多管理者的研究课题。团队中掌握独特隐性知识的成员往往不愿意共享自身的有利于团队的创新知识,从而给团队的发展带来困难。如何针对这类员工做出有利于团队整体绩效提升的激励活动,是创新团队管理者和所有创新团队工作模式研究者的共同目标。通过数据模型的回归,得出如下结论:创新团队的成员公平感知与成员知识共享行为正向相关,成员对互动公平的感知对知识共享行为的影响最为显著。验证了创新团队成员信任在成员公平感知与知识共享行为之间的中介效用。     

On the proportionality of EU spatial ex ante coexistence regulations: A comment

In their recent article in this journal, Demont et al. (2009) discuss the effects of alternative spatial ex ante coexistence regulations (SEACERs) in the context of the EU regulatory framework. We retain from Demont et al. (2009) that small pollen barriers should be considered as a possible regulatory option in all identifiable situations in which they are as effective as large isolation distances. This idea is in accordance with the proportionality principle of the 2003 EC Recommendation. But further analysis of how consumer choice and consumer welfare are affected should be conducted before supporting the idea that SEACERs should be flexible, that is that GMO farmers should always have the option of paying their non-GMO neighbours to implement the SEACERs in their own fields. We reject the authors’ argument that pollen barriers are necessarily more easily negotiable among neighbours (more “flexible”) than are isolation distances. We contest the relation of proportionality to the size of market signals for IP products. We contest the idea of shifting coexistence regulation from ex ante to ex post. We believe that any economic analysis of coexistence measures should include their welfare effects on consumers as well as on producers.     

Mainframes and mandarins: The impact of internet use on institutional trust in East Asia

The roles of contextual determinants such as culture and political regime in existing studies of Internet use and institutional trust remain underexplored. Adopting a cultural-institutional perspective, we ask: How does Internet use relate to institutional trust? Under what conditions is the impact of Internet use on institutional trust most potent? Do authoritarian orientation and perceived institutional responsiveness mediate the relationship? Is this mediating process moderated by the degree of democratic freedom? A total of 20,667 respondents from 14 East Asian countries/territories completed questionnaires. Our results show that the indirect effect of Internet use on institutional trust via authoritarian orientation was stronger for countries/territories with a low degree of democratic freedom, while the indirect effect of Internet use on institutional trust via perceived institutional responsiveness was stronger for countries/territories with a higher degree of democratic freedom.     

The effects of trust and land administration on economic outcomes: Evidence from Vietnam

This paper examines how the interaction of social trust and institutions, such as land administration, affects household economic decisions in Viet Nam. Using a panel dataset of rural households from 2008 to 2014, we show that negative consequences of the duration of land administration on agricultural investment have been lower in rural households with higher level of trust. Higher-trust households, when facing higher barrier from land administration, tend to invest more on agricultural land compared to low-trust households where household heads are male. We also find that high-trust households enhance land property rights when facing obstacles from land administration.     

Impact of personal and cultural factors on knowledge sharing in China

Knowledge sharing has been the focus of research for more than a decade and it is widely recognized that it can contribute to the success of an organisation. However, in comparison with other countries, relatively little work on this topic has been done in the Chinese context. Knowledge sharing is particularly interesting to study in the Chinese context at the individual level, given the unique social and cultural characteristics of this environment. In this paper, we develop a theoretical model to explain how personal factors would affect people’s intention to share their knowledge. The Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Exchange Theory are used in this paper, as are the time dimension of national culture, face, and guanxi. A survey methodology is used to test the model. Face and guanxi orientation both exert a significant effect on the intention to share knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Disaggregation and consolidation of imperfect quality shipments in an extended EPQ model

We consider a standard economic production quantity (EPQ) model. Due to manufacturing variability, a fraction P of the produced inventory will have imperfect quality, where P is a random variable with a known distribution. We consider a 100% inspection policy and further assume that the inspection rate is larger than that of production. Thus, all imperfect quality items will be detected by the end of the production cycle. For such an augmented EPQ model, we first derive the new optimal production quantity assuming that the imperfect quality items are salvaged once at the end of every production cycle. Then, we extend this base model to allow for disaggregating the shipments of imperfect quality items during a single production run. Finally, we consider aggregating (or consolidating) the shipments of imperfect items over multiple production runs. Under both scenarios we derive closed-form expressions for both the economic production quantity and the batching policy, and show that our desegregation/consolidation schemes can lead to significant cost savings over the base model.     

Managing opportunism in a developing interfirm relationship: The interrelationship of calculative and loyalty commitment

This research develops a framework for investigating associations among the duration of an exchange relationship, the interrelationship between a supplier's calculative and loyalty commitment, and opportunistic behavior on the part of a buyer. The findings indicate that (1) calculative commitment and loyalty commitment by suppliers function as substitutes; (2) a supplier's loyalty commitment increases gradually as a developing exchange relationship endures, whereas calculative commitment increases and then decreases; and (3) a supplier's calculative commitment leads to an increase in a buyer's opportunism, whereas the supplier's loyalty commitment leads to a decrease, and a supplier's loyalty commitment decreases the positive impact of calculative commitment on opportunism. These findings provide insights into how relationship duration affects buyers' opportunism through the interrelation between suppliers' calculative and loyalty commitment.     

Consumer trust in the food value chain and its impact on consumer confidence: A model for assessing consumer trust and evidence from a 5-country study in Europe

In order to measure consumer trust in food chain actors and its impact on consumer confidence in food and the technology with which it has been produced, a model was developed relating social trust, beliefs in trustworthiness, overall trust in food chain actors, and confidence in both the supply of food products and food technologies. Data were collected via an online survey in five European countries. Analysis provided support for the model and showed that consumer confidence is largely determined by consumer beliefs about the trustworthiness of food chain actors. In particular the beliefs about openness, and especially about the openness of food manufacturers, are strongly related to consumer confidence. Some national differences in trust and confidence exist. This instrument is shown to be suitable for monitoring the development of, and changes in, trust across countries over time.