Bridging the Continents: The Roles of Los Angeles Chinese Producer Services in the Globalization of Chinese Business

Since the 1970s, ‘globalization’ has become a buzzword to describe and explain current world economic affairs. The overuse use of this term, however, often disguises the complex nature of globalization. Vast disparities exist in different parts of the world in technology, politics, economics and legal institutions, as well as in language, culture and social norms, all of which have to be overcome in the millions of small and large transactions that comprise the globalization process. Globalization has been made possible not only by the progress in transportation and communication technologies, but also by the growing presence of a sophisticated institutional infrastructure that provides services to bridge these international differences. Among these services, producer services — sometimes referred to as business services — stand out as the key components of this institutional infrastructure. Producer services are services mainly orientated towards organizations rather than individuals, including a large variety of service types. The broadest definition of producer services includes financial, legal, general management, innovation, development design, administration, personnel, production technology, maintenance, transportation, communication, wholesale distribution, advertising and selling (Marshall, 1988).