Guanxi and Business Strategy

"Guanxi and Business Strategy" elaborates upon a topic of paramount importance to both academic scholars and managers doing business with China: the impact of personal relationships (guanxi) on business affairs. In the Chinese cultural and socio-economic environment, how are the ubiquitous practices of guanxi to be considered in entrepreneurial strategies? Rather than explaining the emergence of guanxi and its persistence – in spite of the existence of a market economy – with Confucianism, the author applies the phenomenon to the methodology of New Economic Sociology. By integrating guanxi into a business context, he shows that the commercial utilization of guanxi with suppliers, customers, competitors and authorities yields significant sustainable competitive advantages. As guanxi practices, however, may pose risks to unsuspecting managers, guanxi-based business strategies are also assessed in terms of compliance with legal and ethical standards.