IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v71y2007i3p301-319.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enabling Guanxi Management in China: A Hierarchical Stakeholder Model of Effective Guanxi

Author

Listed:
  • Chenting Su
  • Ronald K. Mitchell
  • M. Joseph Sirgy

Abstract

Guanxi (literally interpersonal connections) is in essence a network of resource coalition-based stakeholders sharing resources for survival, and it plays a key role in achieving business success in China. However, the salience of guanxi stakeholders varies: not all guanxi relationships are necessary, and among the necessary guanxi participants, not all are equally important. A hierarchical stakeholder model of guanxi is developed drawing upon Mitchell et al.’s ( 1997 ) stakeholder salience theory and Anderson’s ( 1982 ) constituency theory. As an application of instrumental stakeholder theory, the model dimensionalizes the notion of stakeholder salience, and distinguishes between and among internal and external guanxi, core, major, and peripheral guanxi, and primary and secondary guanxi stakeholders. Guanxi management principles are developed based on a hierarchy of guanxi priorities and management specializations. The goal of this application of instrumental stakeholder theory is to construct, for Western business firms in China, a means to reliably identify guanxi partners by employing the principles of effective guanxi. These principles are described in the form of testable propositions that advance social scientific research in this area of international business ethics. Copyright Springer 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Chenting Su & Ronald K. Mitchell & M. Joseph Sirgy, 2007. "Enabling Guanxi Management in China: A Hierarchical Stakeholder Model of Effective Guanxi," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 301-319, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:71:y:2007:i:3:p:301-319
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9140-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-006-9140-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-006-9140-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shujie Yao, 1999. "Economic growth, income inequality and poverty in china under economic reforms," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 104-130.
    2. Freeman, R. Edward, 1994. "The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions1," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 409-421, October.
    3. Pearce, John II & Robinson, Richard Jr., 2000. "Cultivating Guanxi as a foreign investor strategy," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 31-38.
    4. Steve Lovett & Lee C Simmons & Raja Kali, 1999. "Guanxi Versus the Market: Ethics and Efficiency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 231-247, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kriz, Anton & Keating, Byron W., 2010. "Business relationships in China: Lessons about deep trust," MPRA Paper 40427, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Fan, Ying, 2002. "Questioning guanxi: definition, classification and implications," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 543-561, October.
    3. Chun-Hao Cheng & Chi-Jung Hsieh & Yen-Hui Ouyang, 2010. "The Study Of The Guanxi Transferring Process From Individual To The Organization By Genetic Algorithm," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 4(1), pages 85-95.
    4. Meiling Wong, 2010. "Guanxi Management as Complex Adaptive Systems: a Case Study of Taiwanese ODI in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(3), pages 419-432, February.
    5. Fang Huang & John Rice, 2012. "Firm Networking and Bribery in China: Assessing Some Potential Negative Consequences of Firm Openness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(4), pages 533-545, June.
    6. Meiling Wong, 2010. "Guanxi Management in Lean Production System—An Empirical Study of Taiwan‐Japanese Firms," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 1079-1106, July.
    7. Ruben Burga & Davar Rezania, 2016. "Stakeholder theory in social entrepreneurship: a descriptive case study," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    8. Wei Peng & Baogui Xin & Yekyung Kwon, 2019. "Optimal Strategies of Product Price, Quality, and Corporate Environmental Responsibility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-24, November.
    9. Fulong Wu, 2007. "The Poverty of Transition: From Industrial District to Poor Neighbourhood in the City of Nanjing, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(13), pages 2673-2694, December.
    10. Kazadi, Kande & Lievens, Annouk & Mahr, Dominik, 2016. "Stakeholder co-creation during the innovation process: Identifying capabilities for knowledge creation among multiple stakeholders," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 525-540.
    11. WANG Jifu & GUPTA Vipin & LYBOLT Liza & WANG Xiuli, 2022. "Corrected Game Model In Csr: Mnc Strategies And Chinese Practice," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 17(3), pages 269-287, December.
    12. Müllner, Jakob & Puck, Jonas, 2018. "Towards a holistic framework of MNE–state bargaining: A formal model and case-based analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 15-26.
    13. Chu, Zhaofang & Feng, Bo & Lai, Fujun, 2018. "Logistics service innovation by third party logistics providers in China: Aligning guanxi and organizational structure," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 291-307.
    14. Vincenzo Formisano & Bernardino Quattrociocchi & Maria Fedele & Mario Calabrese, 2018. "From Viability to Sustainability: The Contribution of the Viable Systems Approach (VSA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Michaela Haase & Emmanuel Raufflet, 2017. "Ideologies in Markets, Organizations, and Business Ethics: Drafting a Map: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(4), pages 629-639, June.
    16. Yuxuan Li & Xin Miao & Dequan Zheng & Yanhong Tang, 2019. "Corporate Public Transparency on Financial Performance: The Moderating Role of Political Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Jill Brown & William Forster, 2013. "CSR and Stakeholder Theory: A Tale of Adam Smith," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 301-312, January.
    18. Zhong Qin & Xin Deng, 2016. "Government and family Guanxi in Chinese private firms: perceptions and preference," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 35-60, January.
    19. Sandra Waddock, 2019. "Shaping the Shift: Shamanic Leadership, Memes, and Transformation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 931-939, April.
    20. Jesús Mauricio Flórez Parra, 2016. "El gobierno corporativo en el ámbito del sector público: un estudio bibliométrico en las revistas ubicadas en el área de Administración Pública," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, vol. 25(1), pages 161-175, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:71:y:2007:i:3:p:301-319. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.