Based on over 300 in-depth interviews with company executives, business association representatives, and government officials, this study identifies a wide range of national economic policies influenced by lobbying, including taxes, technical standards, and intellectual property rights. These findings have significant implications for how we think about Chinese politics and economics, as well as government-business relations in general.

This book brings together conceptual and empirical analyses of the causes and consequences of changing business–government relations in China since the 1990s, against the backdrop of the country’s increased integration with the global political economy. More specifically, it provides an interdisciplinary account of how the dominant patterns of interactions between state actors, firms and business organizations have changed across regions and industries, and how the changing varieties of these patterns have interacted with the evolution of key market institutions in China. The contributors to this edited volume posit that business–government relations comprise a key linchpin that defines the Chinese political economy and calibrates the character of its constitutive institutional arrangements.

This book offers a series of original arguments on the relationships that Western interest groups have with the Chinese state. It details their lobbying strategies and the leverage it gives them in policy-making in China's political system. Analysis is provided in a comparative context. The author offers inside knowledge on Western business and analyses the nature of business-government relations on domestic Chinese innovation policies. Identifying and analysing the conceptual difference between Chinese and Western actors in their relationship to the state, this book demonstrates how China's existing mechanisms for monitoring activities of Chinese interest groups are ill-suited to exerting a similar degree of control over Western actors.

China has attracted the attention of numerous companies as the second largest market in the world. With an authoritarian political system and socialist market economy, the Chinese government practices strong intervention on business operations. At the same time, China's ongoing structural transformation that fosters its economic reforms places increasing influence of business, both domestic and foreign, on national policy. These both force firms to pay greater attention to their relationships with the Chinese government - at all levels. In this timely work, Yi-Ru Regina Chen examines how 25 multinational corporations (MNCs) in China implement government affairs activities as a managerial strategy for achieving competitive advantage from an integrated perspective of public relations and political economy. The work documents the MNCs' strategies, tools, and organizing for government affairs activities, roles of government affairs managers, and factors shaping their management. These findings have significant implications for the conceptualization of corporate lobbying/public affairs and government relations in China's political economy. This book is addressed to students and academics in public relations, business and management, communication, public affairs, and policy, as well as CEOs, association executives, lobbyists, business managers, and government officials.

Many researchers and China observers would agree that understanding how China pursues global communication is critical for assessing its growing soft power. While soft power as a concept has, in many ways, become almost inextricably linked with the PRC's (People's Republic of China) international diplomacy of the twenty-first century, the specific role of global media within soft power diplomacy and the corresponding influence of Western mediated public diplomacy within China is a lacuna that has remained largely unexplored. Moreover, the different Chinese and Western perspectives on the influence of global media and public diplomacy on Sino-Western relations, and the changing role of global media on this crucial aspect of international politics, have not yet been critically examined. This volume presents a broad social science audience with recent innovative scholarship and research findings on global media and public diplomacy concerning Sino-Western relations. It focuses on the implicit nexus between global media and public diplomacy, and their actual utilisation in and impact on the shifting relationships between China and the West. Special attention is given to the changing nature of globalised media in both China and Western nations, and how globalised media is influencing, shaping and changing international politics. The contributions delve deeply into both theory and practice, and focus especially upon the analysis of several key aspects of the issue from both Chinese and Western perspectives. This combination of approaches distinguishes the volume from most other published works on the topic, and greatly enriches our knowledge base in this important contemporary field.

Introduction : why we wrote this book. 1. Understanding and managing China-specific issues. 2. China holds lessons for a globalized world -- ch. 1. Chinese business climate. 1.1. Land of golden opportunity or corporate quagmire? 1.2. From manufacturing base to competitive market. 1.3. More demanding head offices. 1.4. A welcoming business climate ... 1.5. ... Or the heavy hand of the state? 1.6. The wild east. 1.7. What you as a manager can influence -- ch. 2. Differences and similarities. 2.1. Sources of some differences from other markets. 2.2. Some "China" factors with global relevance. 2.3. Common myths about China. 2.4. A diverse and heterogeneous market. 2.5. Do You really need to be in China? 2.6. Common sense solutions -- ch. 3. Key concepts of Chinese business culture. 3.1. Face - making other people look good. 3.2. Giving, and saving, face. 3.3. Guanxi - business relationships. 3.4. Government relations. 3.5. Business etiquette. 3.6. Negotiating in China -- ch. 4. The language challenge. 4.1. Language is and will remain an issue. 4.2. Make sure your interpreter understands the business. 4.3. Beware of the "confidant trap". 4.4. Checklist for non-Chinese speakers -- ch. 5. Qualities of the right expatriate manager. 5.1. Send your best people. 5.2. Professional qualities. 5.3. Personal qualities. 5.4. Long-term commitment -- ch. 6. Company setup. 6.1. Geographic considerations. 6.2. Development zones. 6.3. Legal structure. 6.4. Finding and managing business partner relationships. 6.5. Due diligence. 6.6. Consultants -- ch. 7. A winning local team. 7.1. A human resource-scare enviroment. 7.2. Characteristics of the Chinese workforce. 7.3. Find the best candidates, trust them, train them, and promote them -- ch. 8. The right corporate culture. 8.1. You cannot fake it. 8.2. Culture is especially important in China. 8.3. Invest heavily upfront. 8.4. Actively develop the culture. 8.5. Do not rush localization. 8.6. Guard against corruption. 8.7. Culture and corporate brand. 8.8. Security. 8.9. IPR protection -- ch. 9. Right business focus. 9.1. Clear business focus drives a strong corporate culture. 9.2. Market size and maturity. 9.3. Speed of change - Peter's story. 9.4. Distribution is a major bottleneck -- ch. 10. Support your frontline sales organization. 10.1. Production with or without local sales? 10.2. Establishing a sales organization. 10.3. Recruiting frontline sales people. 10.4. Training, developing, and retaining sales people. 10.5. Point-of-sales promoters. 10.6. Motivating the sales organization. 10.7. Getting paid. 10.8. Checklist for collecting payments -- ch. 11. Marketing to China. 11.1. The ear to the ground - understanding Chinese customers. 11.2. Product portfolio. 11.3. "Very cheap, very cheap"--Pricing strategies. 11.4. Why brand is so important. 11.5. PR and advertising. 11.6. Public relations. 11.7. Guanxi and marketing in China. 11.8. Branding with Chinese characters. 11.9. Brand names make a difference. 11.10. Chinese is unique. 11.11. Mainland China, Taiwan, and HK. 11.12. A few steps to successful marketing in China -- ch. 12. Successful execution demands top management attention. 12.1. Execution requires high-level, hands-on senior management attention, and follow-up. 12.2. You need to create a trusting and accepting culture. 12.3. Attaining hands-off. 12.4. Managing in downturns -- ch. 13. Dealing with head office. 13.1. Managing expectations. 13.2. Ensuring support. 13.3. Communicating and educating

Originally published in 2005, this book offers an outlook on relations between national governments and multinational companies that provides broad coverage of the key issues likely to determine that relationship during the twenty-first century. From the perspective of the company decision maker concerned with national regulation and incentive policies, to the host government policymaker in an emerging market, to the home government policymaker in a Triad country, each dimension is considered and analysed in light of the others. As well, additional stakeholders such as labour groups, shareholders, non-governmental organisations, local governments, and regional organisations are discussed and their impacts on the relationship are evaluated.

In this pithy yet compact book, David Wolf, provides business owners and PR practitioners with a roadmap to corporate credibility in China. Laced with thoughtful advice and braced with illustrative cases, Public Relations in China strips out the jargon and offers something rare: a practical handbook for building and defending a brand in China.