Emerging themes in Chinese management

Citation

Yuan Wang, K. (2008), "Emerging themes in Chinese management", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 2 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cms.2008.32302daa.002

Emerging themes in Chinese management

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Chinese Management Studies, Volume 2, Issue 4

About the Guest Editor

Karen Yuan Wang Senior Lecturer in School of Management, University of Technology, Sydney and Visiting Professor at School of Business, the Renmin University of China. She received her PhD in management from the University of Wollongong. Her research interests focus on international management including trust, work values, leadership, social capital, human capital and knowledge management in enterprises in both China and cross-culture studies. In addition to her publications in academic journals, she is the first author of the books, business culture in China, Reed Academic Publishing Asia, which has been translated from English to other three languages including Japanese, Indonesian and Korean; China Business Culture: Strategies for Success, Talisman Publishing and Cultural Superiority: The Best Choice to Win Dominance in Competition, Press of Xinhua; Enterprises and Beauty, Shenyang, Press of Liaoning University. She is also an Editor for Cheltenham: Edward Elgar; Clegg, S.R., Wang, K.Y., and Berrell, B. (Eds) Business Networks and Strategic Alliances in China.

Given that China’s economy has become an increasingly prominent force in the continuous rise of the Asian economy, more researchers are turning their attention to Chinese management issues. Studies of Chinese management generate valuable, contextualized knowledge which adds to global knowledge and advances the field of management in general (Lau, 2006). The unique nature of Chinese management offers scholars the potential to gain a new perspective on current paradigms in management research, and a unique opportunity to explore the role of culture and other contextual variables (Lau, 2007; Bruton and Lau, 2008). This conference special issue aims to play positive role in bringing to light new thinking on such a significant area.

The five papers selected for this special issue are taken from an International Colloquium on Asian Business, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2008. They cover a variety of important aspects of Chinese management including: the changing role of guanxi in internet mediated B2B relationships on knowledge acquisition; the effect of intra-organizational cultural differences on knowledge transfer; family impacts on customer behavior; and culturally specific ways of thinking and learning derived from traditional Chinese sources, such as, Sun Tzu on strategic thinking. The papers were selected against the criteria of their relevance and quality to Chinese management. Owing to a short deadline, the Special Issue has only taken a month to be completed. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate every author’s effort to make it happen. The papers are each summarized briefly with special attention as to how they expand theoretical understanding of Chinese management locally and internationally.

The first paper, “Complaints and perceptions of failure recovery in buffet restaurants: a link to family communication for adolescent customers”, by Hsu and Chiu, focuses on the customer behavior of adolescent in Taiwan. Taking a cultural perspective, Hsu and Chiu argue that adolescent customers with high concept-orientation and high socio-orientation were prone to complain. They examined how financial support relationships and communication patterns of the Chinese family influence complaint and returning-service behaviors of the young generation. Taiwanese adolescents growing up in families which encourage independence more readily opted to express dissatisfaction. They preferred private actions, followed by using the internet or through actions of parents when making complaints.

The study also reports that immediate compensation for service failures, through measures such as discounts are positively related to Taiwanese adolescents’ willingness to return. The authors set out some useful marketing strategies for managers for handling the complaints of adolescent customers. Adolescent customers’ behavior is an under-investigated area in the literature, especially concerning young people growing up within a Chinese family. The findings of this study provide important insights into the Taiwanese adolescents’ consumer behavior and begin to fill in some of the gaps in the literature.

The second paper, “Cultural distance and subsidiary roles in knowledge transfer in MNCs in China” by Qin, Ramburuth and Wang, discusses issues about how multinational corporations (MNCs) manage transfer of knowledge between headquarters and subsidiaries within dissimilar cultural contexts. While the influence of culture in knowledge transfer has been increasingly acknowledged; however, how cultural distance (an external variable) and subsidiary roles (an internal variable) interact with the flow of knowledge in MNCs is under-explored. This paper presents an integrative model of the interaction between cultural distance and subsidiary roles in the knowledge transfer process in MNCs to address these gaps in the literature, particularly in relation to MNCs located in transitioning economies such as China.

They propose a model which intersects with the literature on cross-cultural management (including specific dimensions of Chinese management), MNCs and knowledge management. The model is further examined through an in-depth case study of a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company located in China. The exploration of the linkages amongst these dimensions significantly advances our understanding of knowledge management in MNCs and how different approaches are required in transitional economies.

The third paper, “Guanxi, knowledge and online intermediaries in China” by Davison and Ou, explores how the emergence of internet-based intermediaries leads to changes in the role of guanxi, both in tacit and explicit knowledge transfer. Business knowledge is critical in the global knowledge economy in general. Guanxi has long been recognized as a resource that can facilitate both the sharing of business knowledge and the lubricating of business relationships in China. Given the emergence of internet-based intermediaries such as Alibaba in China, business knowledge has progressively changed from a tacit form, which is transferred through guanxi networks, to a more explicit representation as embedded in the intermediary’s online platform.

Thus, the crucial role of guanxi in knowledge transfer in China is changing as business knowledge is explicitly represented through the increasingly transparent online media. This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by addressing the relationships between internet-based intermediaries, guanxi and knowledge within the China context. The results of this study have relevance for researchers and business people eager to explore the changing marketplace in contemporary China.

The fourth paper, “Managing dynamics of inter-partner co-operation of IJVs in China” by Liang, examines the relationship between key organizational factors and inter-partner cooperation of International Joint Venture (IJV) in China. IJVs have been used as a major strategic vehicle to enter foreign markets by many companies. However, the multi-partner involvement in management and operation of IJVs often causes tension and conflicts between partners. Previous research has largely ignored the dynamic nature of inter-partner relationships, focusing instead on hybrid governance structures between the market and integrated hierarchies to explore issues of conflict between local and foreign partners of IJVs. Taking an IJV inter-partner perspective, Liang’s study found that appropriate selection of the local partners is critical to the success of cooperative relationships between IJV partners in China. In particular, intrinsic capabilities of local partners were far more important than any advantages related to their external position. Technology transfer coupled with organisational learning by foreign partners also significantly facilitates IJVs’ successful cooperative inter-partner relationships. The findings of the study provide empirical evidence for these relationships. The paper contributes to the literature about how IJVs can create a cooperative inter-partner relationship when they operate in a complicated institutional environment, such as China.

The fifth paper, “The art of war: system of systems engineering perspectives” by Foo, applies the ancient Chinese strategic theory to a contemporary research situation in systems engineering. How to effectively conduct research and appropriately understand of knowledge around us and the world is always challenging. Systems thinking and an integrative approach across disciplines have gained significant recognition as an essential part of our accumulating knowledge of organizations in recent years (Lee and Choi, 2003). This study leads to the realization of how amazing it would be that the contemporary system of systems approach has parallels to “old” Sun Tzu’s strategic thinking which goes back 2,500 years ago. Making such link creatively provides us with a unique perspective on the pursuit of effectiveness through sharing, integrating and transferring knowledge.

Karen Yuan WangGuest editor