Author Description

Many people want to do business with China, but very few foreign business people have an understanding and appreciation of how business is actually conducted in the country. This book offers insights into the history, philosophy, and practice of business in China today. The book begins by asking several key questions about business in China: Why is it a common phenomenon in China that one prefers being a leader in a small organization to being led in a big one? Why is it common in Chinese enterprises that within an organization there is generally a bureaucracy to control a network of comparatively independent sub-units? There are different forms of self-organized sub-units within an enterprise, such as affiliated subsidiaries or self-directed teams, contracted out business units, independent local branches, profit-center departments, and internal startup teams. Why do Chinese enterprises always network with each other to realize an all-win situation? These cooperative networks include regional business groups, small enterprise networks, platform-based models, network consolidators, and industry networks characterized by one town focusing on a single industry. In exploring these questions, the book examines the form and structure of Chinese social networks and indigenous management. It looks at the origins and importance of Chinese management philosophies, including "Guanxi" management - a concept and practice crucial to understanding business in China and increasingly central to management teaching in China. Guanxi is examined in great detail and from various dynamics and perspectives. The book is based upon a series of lecturers given to management students at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. Therefore, it also offers an insight into what China's business leaders of the future are learning. (Series: Cases in Modern Chinese Business)