Essay - Guanxi Proposal Title: 'Can Guanxi be a Source of Sustained...

Guanxi

***** Title: "Can Guanxi be a Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage for Doing Business in China?"

***** of Problem/Proposal Introduction:

Organizational leadership in the western tradition is said to ***** significantly different than ***** eastern cultures, such as China. ***** employs and organizational system that does not translate ***** Engl*****h well, but in short demonstrates the pr*****ciples of an interrelation style based on previous relationships. (Kipnis, 1997, p. 17) This principle or st*****dard for social and business interactions is termed, Guanxi. This work will propose to demonstrate a much needed study on the utilization of Guanxi, and or its resistance in a global economy. As ***** economy diversifies, through global *****ternational multi-national corporate structure the need for a better understanding of how Guanxi interplays with the business traditions in other cultures, namely Western cultures.

Guanxi Defined:

According to Park and Luo, "Guanxi [pronounced guan-shee] is a cultural characteristic that has strong implications ***** interpersonal and inter***** dynamics in Chinese society. It refers to the concept of drawing on a web of connections ***** secure favors in personal and organizational relations." (2001, p. 455) The descriptions ***** Guanxi, ar often difficult for the ***** mind to understand, but the term is best described by Kipnis in his extensive ***** on ***** ***** the rural traditi***** of China.

A every time one asked ***** or granted a f*****v*****, expressed sympathy, or called on a friend -- ***** is, every ***** *****e invoked guanxi to achieve something in the world -- one metonymically 1 re-created that *****. Thus, ***** addition to the elaborate organization ***** guanxi production on ritual occasi*****s, Fengjia residents (re)produced ***** in *****ir daily lives. Indeed, many of the techniques of ritual guanxi production -- labor exchange, ***** use of kinship names, the embodiment of ganqing ***** came from *****day activity. (Kipnis, 1997, p. 25)

This concept is *****n reflected into ***** utilizing similar tactics, and *****ten the same connects, specifically in specialized production, areas and close knit small *****s. As the organizations get larger the utilization of Guanxi becomes less or simply gets very complicated, making it a mystery to the outsider.

***** View:

According to Wood, Whiteley & Zhang the concept of *****, best translates in the western tradition ***** "who you know not what you know." In the same article the authors point out ***** the differences in Western vs. the Guanxi pattern of organization include, "differences in motives for *****, the nature ***** reciprocation, ***** time orientation of the *****s, ***** ***** of power differentiation, the nature or source of power, and the nature of sanction employed as a result ***** different concepts." (2002, p.263) M*****ny, spin negativity on the concept of getting somewhere based upon ***** you ***** as fierce independence and the rejection of traditional hierarchical systems, idealized in the western tradition restrict the allowance of birthright or privilege as a legitimate manner of ***** ahead. Many would call it nepotism ***** reject it out of hand, despite the fact that it or