Jane Nolan – författare

Business Networks in East Asian Capitalisms: Enduring Trends, Emerging Patterns builds on the foundational studies conducted in the 1990s by gathering contemporary empirical and theoretical chapters which explore these themes in a comparative perspective.

The book includes contributions from authors working on the relationship between personal and business networks in countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Authors emphasize enduring trends in social and business networks and/or track new emerging patterns, both within East Asian nations or between East Asia and other regions such as Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

When China’s economic reforms were beginning, there was an expectation in the west that China’s financial markets would be opened to western banks and that China’s banks would be reformed along western lines. Joint ventures between Chinese banks and western banks, minority shareholding by western banks and the involvement of western banking personnel in assisting Chinese banks with their reforms were all seen as moves towards reform along western lines. This book analyses the role which western bankers have played in China’s economic reforms, focusing on their influence on institutional change and corporate governance. Based on extensive original research, the book shows that while components of western models of corporate governance have been widely adopted, the motivation for these changes seems to have been legitimacy-seeking by Chinese banks, and that whilst there has been relatively rapid change in the formal legislative environment, informal organisational practices are changing at a much slower pace. Alliances between Chinese and western banks are woven with contradictions and power games and so many actors in the Chinese banking sector seek to resist manipulation by their western counterparts. The financial crisis weakened the idea that western banks are a universally correct model and strengthened China’s resolve to keep control of its banking sector and manage it along Chinese lines.

When China’s economic reforms were beginning, there was an expectation in the west that China’s financial markets would be opened to western banks and that China’s banks would be reformed along western lines. Joint ventures between Chinese banks and western banks, minority shareholding by western banks and the involvement of western banking personnel in assisting Chinese banks with their reforms were all seen as moves towards reform along western lines. This book analyses the role which western bankers have played in China’s economic reforms, focusing on their influence on institutional change and corporate governance. Based on extensive original research, the book shows that while components of western models of corporate governance have been widely adopted, the motivation for these changes seems to have been legitimacy-seeking by Chinese banks, and that whilst there has been relatively rapid change in the formal legislative environment, informal organisational practices are changing at a much slower pace. Alliances between Chinese and western banks are woven with contradictions and power games and so many actors in the Chinese banking sector seek to resist manipulation by their western counterparts. The financial crisis weakened the idea that western banks are a universally correct model and strengthened China’s resolve to keep control of its banking sector and manage it along Chinese lines.

This handbook, representing the collaboration of 36 scholars, provides a multi-faceted exploration of Chinese business and management.

The volume represents an ‘inside-out’ perspective, offering local knowledge and experience, in conjunction with an ‘outside-in’ approach, presenting measured and sensitive observations from an outsider’s perspective. The handbook’s approach is organised around five key themes:

Revealing major recent developments in Chinese business and management alongside an appreciation of the unique historical, institutional, and cultural context of Chinese business and management, this book is a must-read for scholars, students, and educators of Chinese business and theory, and business in Asia.

This handbook, representing the collaboration of 36 scholars, provides a multi-faceted exploration of Chinese business and management.

The volume represents an ‘inside-out’ perspective, offering local knowledge and experience, in conjunction with an ‘outside-in’ approach, presenting measured and sensitive observations from an outsider’s perspective. The handbook’s approach is organised around five key themes:

Revealing major recent developments in Chinese business and management alongside an appreciation of the unique historical, institutional, and cultural context of Chinese business and management, this book is a must-read for scholars, students, and educators of Chinese business and theory, and business in Asia.

Does guanxi still matter in 21st century Chinese business and management? Is it really still a culturally distinct form of social interaction, impenetrable by outsiders? Or does it simply resemble the countless other elite networks embedded in business and political spheres across the globe?

This book answers these questions through a combination of new empirical insight and nuanced conceptual development. Research examples include investigations of multinational enterprise corporate performance, governance structures in Chinese private firms, organisational justice in Chinese banks, entrepreneurial learning and knowledge acquisition, and the gendered and sexualized nature of guanxi in the workplace. In terms of firm performance, there is still much to be gained by MNE and Chinese firms through cultivating guanxi in different domains, including the political sphere at both the local and national level. However, in terms of employee performance, there is evidence that some younger employees have a strong desire to move towards more merit-based systems and resent being judged on guanxi connections. Similarly, some women may find themselves shut out when attempting to navigate conventional guanxi relationships based on Confucian paternalism. In brief, these practices may also exclude a large pool of emerging talent. This book clearly shows that guanxi is a complex concept that holds a persistent power in Chinese societies. To understand it fully we must acknowledge the dynamic nature of both its dark and light sides.

The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review.

Does guanxi still matter in 21st century Chinese business and management? Is it really still a culturally distinct form of social interaction, impenetrable by outsiders? Or does it simply resemble the countless other elite networks embedded in business and political spheres across the globe?

This book answers these questions through a combination of new empirical insight and nuanced conceptual development. Research examples include investigations of multinational enterprise corporate performance, governance structures in Chinese private firms, organisational justice in Chinese banks, entrepreneurial learning and knowledge acquisition, and the gendered and sexualized nature of guanxi in the workplace. In terms of firm performance, there is still much to be gained by MNE and Chinese firms through cultivating guanxi in different domains, including the political sphere at both the local and national level. However, in terms of employee performance, there is evidence that some younger employees have a strong desire to move towards more merit-based systems and resent being judged on guanxi connections. Similarly, some women may find themselves shut out when attempting to navigate conventional guanxi relationships based on Confucian paternalism. In brief, these practices may also exclude a large pool of emerging talent. This book clearly shows that guanxi is a complex concept that holds a persistent power in Chinese societies. To understand it fully we must acknowledge the dynamic nature of both its dark and light sides.

The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review.