China Rules: Globalization and Political Transformation

Citation

Yu, W. (2010), "China Rules: Globalization and Political Transformation", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 184-185. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506141011053096

China rising from transformational conversions

China's political and economic model has been considered special but successful, if not at least as an alternative route to modernity, partly proved by its unique performance in international trade in recent years and in the recent 2008 recession. Those from foreign countries aiming to explore the rationale behind the success and looking for a more profound insight into the Chinese economic development and China's rules interacting with the world should give a good thumbing to China Rules: Globalization and Political Transformation, edited by Ilan Alon, Julian Chang, Marc Fetscherin, Christoph Lattemann, and John R. Mclntyre and published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

This book is the result of the editors' compiling the papers presented at the international research conference, China Goes Global, held at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, in October 2008. Scholars from over 20 countries, including China, contributed to the emerging, timely, and pertinent topics concerning the political transformation of China and the emerging Chinese firms. The 12 chapters of this research volume are grouped into three parts, focusing, respectively, on broad topics under “Political economy and governance,” “International trade and investment patterns,” and “Industry cases,” thus helping readers to trace the topics and move from general to specific. This volume is well organized by adding “Introduction” and “Final reflections” chapters to start and to conclude the topics.

The elaborately selected papers with diverse opinions will enable readers to get a critical, objective, comprehensive interpretation, and assessment of the topics. Obviously, it is the unique advantage of this book to have synthesized different views of expertise from various background and provoking insightful thoughts. Especially, in this case, the authors have chances to integrate others' views into their paper after discussion during the conference and make their points more convincing. It is worth mentioning that the final part provides an application of the book's analytical frameworks by detailed cases in key industries in China, including natural resources, telecommunications, electronics, and the automotive industry, which are not easily found in other writings on the Chinese economy that are limited to the research areas of the manufacturing industry.

This volume provides insightful perspectives to understand the Chinese economy and the patterns of behavior of the Chinese multinational companies (MNCs) with real cases. Several of the chapters argued that the Chinese domestic political system and institutional environment have yielded key influence on the internationalization of Chinese MNCs, especially state‐owned enterprises, the flow of foreign direct investment, and outward direct investment. For example, Gloria Ge and Daniel Ding agreed that “[…] institutional theory is the most useful perspective […]” in interpreting corporate strategy in emerging economies. Institutional factors have their roots in the Chinese cultural traditions and in the nature of ambitions held by MNCs that are expanding globally. This volume makes a feature of China with its institutional characteristics different from those in the western world. It tells that China is modernizing, but not westernizing. Readers taking economical, societal and cultural approaches will appreciate the provision of insights in this book.

In short, the book is recommended to readers who are interested in China's political economy and policies. Readers need to keep in mind that the policies are general, not specific ones. Scholars and policy makers who intend to have comprehensive analyses of the institutional framework for trade and investment in and out China will find this book very beneficial.