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Management in China: Cultural, institutional roots and pragmatism. An inquiry in Shanghai

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  • Gregory Wegmann

    (CREGO - Centre de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations (EA 7317) - UB - Université de Bourgogne - UFC - Université de Franche-Comté - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE], IAE Dijon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Dijon - UB - Université de Bourgogne)

  • Ivan Ruviditch

    (SHNU - Shanghai Normal University)

Abstract

We base our work on interviews of Chinese managers living in and around Shanghai. We use the neo-institutional theoretical stream, which considers that a country's economy is influenced by cultural and institutional phenomena. In a first part, we describe the theoretical background to the research and our method. Then, in a second part, we present the significant cultural and institutional features of China that enable us to justify several hypotheses about our topic. In a third part, we analyze eight in-depth interviews, trying to answer our research question. Our basic research question focuses on what "Performance" means for Chinese managers. Behind the word, we analyze the cultural and institutional backgrounds of their business activities, examining their behaviors and business relations. We end by drawing several conclusions, some of them quite non-intuitive.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregory Wegmann & Ivan Ruviditch, 2015. "Management in China: Cultural, institutional roots and pragmatism. An inquiry in Shanghai," Working Papers hal-01104551, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01104551
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01104551
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    culture; performance; Chinese managers; institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M16 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - International Business Administration

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