'Business Networks and Strategic Alliances in China' addresses how knowledge transfer and innovation are interwoven within complex networks and how social capital contributes to the acquisition of crucial resources and business success in multi-type enterprises in China.

The degree to which the extensive business networks of ethnic Chinese in Asia succeed because of ethnic characteristics, or simply because of the sound application of good business practice, is a key question of great current concern to those interested in business, management and economic development in Asia. This book brings together a range of leading experts who present original new research findings and important new thinking on this vital subject. Based on rich empirical research data and a multidisciplinary explanatory framework, this book assesses the role, characteristics and challenges of Chinese entrepreneurship and business networks in various East and Southeast Asian countries: the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia. Chinese Entrepreneurship and Asian Business Networks demonstrates that Chinese network capitalism is contingent upon, for example, time, place, institutional frameworks, and that explanatory approaches of Chinese economic behaviour which stress culture and ethnicity are too simplistic.

The analysis is notable for its insistence that, for a corporate governance system to work, the principles and practicalities of that system must be derived from customary cultural norms. Experience shows that imported models, although they may be enshrined in law, lead to economic stagnation unless actual practice is monitored and reformed and the laws change to reflect these necessary adjustments. Thus the model proposed here begins with the Company Law of 1994, and proceeds to show how practical experience is already providing valuable data for the task of improving the law.

This book reports on foreign investments in transitional economies and the corporate governance of international strategic alliances in China. It throws new light on the relationship between ownership, corporate governance, international technology transfer, organizational learning and the performance of such alliances. The book reviews the problems encountered by these international strategic alliances, provides significant empirical evidence of foreign investment decisions and profiles corporate governance and organizational learning in strategic alliances. Based on research into 1000 firms in China, it draws important conclusions for theory and practice.

Chinese business firms and their networks of personal and business relationships, are becoming increasingly important players in the global economy. This book examines the global and regional operations of Chinese business firms and considers their implications for the management and organisation of these firms, aided by specific case studies. Written by leading researchers in this field, The Globalisation of Chinese Business Firms is a valuable and timely contribution to the study of Asian business systems.

In China Constructing Capitalism, the authors argue that it is not Western neo-liberalism that is constructing the Chinese economy, but instead that China is constructing its own version of capitalism. This book analyses China as a 'risk culture', examining among others Chinese firms and political ties, property development, migrant urbanisms and share trading rooms. It scrutinises the ever-present shadow of the risk-averse (yet uncertainty-creating) state. It is a must-read for social scientists, policy makers and investors.

This book investigates knowledge interactions in China’s foreign enterprises. It reveals that cultural differences strongly account for knowledge-related obstacles, namely knowledge leakage and insufficient knowledge sharing. Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, widespread cultural arguments such as Confucianism or collectivism hardly apply to Chinese employees’ handling of knowledge. In fact, more subtle cultural logics are relevant in daily work, which are connected to the perceived stability of the enterprise itself. But these usually go unnoticed. Thus, rather than being distracted by a national “Chinese culture”, managers can take real action to solve knowledge conflicts in their particular enterprise.

Networks ranging from village level to transnational level have always played a crucial role in Chinese society. The contributors to this volume aim to trace the interaction between various networks which have existed from the 19th century to the present day. The articles deal with theoretical concepts, historical examples, such as non-state responses to the North China Famine (1876 - 1879), the role of missionaries in the modernization of China and disaster management, including recent inter-ethnic business competition in Hong Kong, Han settlers in Xinjiang, temple festivals in Macau and urban migrants' social networks in today's China. By drawing on new material and theoretical frameworks, these studies shed fresh light on the ways in which various forms of networks have shaped Chinese society, while at the same time questioning traditional and rigid perspectives of Chinese society based solely on networks and guanxi.

Strategic Alliances for Innovation and R&D is a volume in the book series Research in Strategic Alliances that focuses on providing a robust and comprehensive forum for new scholarship in the field of strategic alliances. In particular, the books in the series cover new views of interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks and models, significant practical problems of alliance organization and management, and emerging areas of inquiry. The series also includes comprehensive empirical studies of selected segments of business, economic, industrial, government, and non-profit activities with wide prevalence of strategic alliances. Through the ongoing release of focused topical titles, this book series seeks to disseminate theoretical insights and practical management information that should enable interested professionals to gain a rigorous and comprehensive understanding of the field of strategic alliances. Strategic Alliances for Innovation and R&D contains contributions by leading scholars in the field of strategic alliance research. The 11 chapters in this volume cover a number of significant topics that encompass innovation and R&D through strategic alliances. The chapter topics cover both the broader issues, such as the governance of high-tech alliances, knowledge flows in innovation clusters, co-innovation, and incomplete contracting, and the more focused problems of inexperienced firms in R&D consortia, new product development, and managing alliance portfolio evolution in service innovation. The chapters include empirical as well as conceptual treatments of the selected topics, and collectively present a wide-ranging review of the noteworthy research perspectives on the role of strategic alliances in the pursuit of innovation and R&D.

This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach to the issue of “local liabilities”, drawing on close analysis of the case of Chinese migrants and the Italian industrial district of Prato in order to elucidate the problems, or liabilities, that derive from the separation between natives and immigrants in local systems of people and firms. Insights are offered from a variety of disciplines, including business and industrial economics, anthropology, and sociology, thereby providing a framework through which to view the problems and also identifying potential pathways for their evolution and resolution. The focus on local liabilities affords an original perspective on the nature of globalization and highlights salient aspects of native and immigrant entrepreneurship. Globalization not only creates "bridges" between distant places but also changes the face of businesses and socioeconomic systems at the local level, where local liabilities may emerge when two or more separate communities (of persons and firms) exist. The greater the separation between the communities, the greater the local liabilities. In offering diverse perspectives on this relatively neglected aspect of globalization, the book will be of interest to a wide readership.