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Culture, Institutions and Business in East Asia
Abstract
The structures of business in the East Asian 'miracle' economies have been explained by culturists in relation to pre-modern belief systems, and more recently by institutionalists in relation to pre-modern traditions and emerging 'institutional environments'. Each school of thought draws selectively on the work of Max Weber. While the latter school's account carries a higher face validity than the former, it is argued that both are at best partial, are often misleading and, at worse, serve to legitimate, rather than critically analyze, the activities of East Asian business elites. In locating business structures firmly in society-wide belief systems or institutional environments, both approaches tend to give deterministic accounts which deny a role for human agency, and which neglect the importance of interests, power and ideology in the design and maintenance of business structures.
... Mencius enriched the Confucian core value into what he called four beginnings-Ren (humanity), Yi (righteousness), Li (propriety), and Zhi (wisdom). During the Han dynasty, the Confucian core moral codes were standardized and promoted as Five Constants-the same four as previously plus Xin (faithfulness; Wilkinson, 1996). Since then, the Five Constants have been internalized as Confucian individuals' cultural DNA and have directed people's mentality, moral sentiment, and conduct for more than 2 millennia. ...
... The Five Constants have shaped the moral codes that efficiently act as the normative system prevailing over personal conduct and social events (Ip, 2009). At a subtle level, the Five Constants are internalized knowledge and social practice for the Confucian population to form a harmonious, cohesive, and virtuous society (Wilkinson, 1996). There is no need for Chinese to learn the Five Constants from Confucian classics. ...
... "Confucian ethics can supply the basis through which people do, conduct business or make business decisions" (Low & Ang, 2013, p. 32). Scholars such as Wilkinson (1996) and A. Kim and Park (2003) perceived Confucian moral codes as effectual forces to endorse business success, as ruler-subject loyalty corresponds to company loyalty, father-son benevolence corresponds to Confucian leadership, fraternal piety corresponds to acceptance of hierarchy, friend-friend kindness corresponds to cooperation with coworkers, and self-cultivation corresponds to work diligence. ...
This exploratory study develops a Confucian hospitality business model through which Confucian hospitality practice is defined, implemented, interconnected, and interpreted. This study reviews the Confucian historical context to provide a holistic picture of the temporal and spatial evolution of Confucianism. Based on the five Confucian constants of humanity, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness, this study hermeneutically develops a Confucian hospitality business model that embraces business ethics, leadership, work ethics, service provision, and corporate social responsibility. This study is the first to present a holistic understanding of hospitality practice in the light of Confucianism and to propose a Confucian hospitality business model. The model can be adopted by hospitality practitioners who are based in Confucian areas, serve Confucian customers, hire Confucian employees, or establish Confucian partnerships. Based on the model, Confucian hospitality training programs can be developed to guide future hospitality education.
... To many of the culturist school, however, links between ethnic Chinese around the region and the success of Confucian-influenced societies seem obvious in that the economic dynamism of the system is based on cooperation, long-term contracts and reduced transaction costs (Gibney, 1992). The culture-skeptic school counters that although the DaVinci Code-like aura of the sprawling 'Confucian conglomerates' does make for stirring stories, the culturist view fails to distinguish important institutional forces and historical processes that could shed more light on the development of entrepreneurial capitalism in East Asia (Studwell, 2007;Wilkinson, 1996). ...
... If the firms in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong are rather diverse, this further calls into question the uniform culturist argument. With such localized identities come parochial and sometimes conflicting values and interests among Chinese businesses, which may bear closer resemblance to a global patchwork of many small enterprises that have little similarity with each other (Kao, 1993;Studwell, 2007;Wilkinson, 1996). East Asian firms and particularly overseas Chinese ones can be quite different and do not work together as the culturists predict (Studwell, 2007). ...
... 2. Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam also have sizeable Chinese minorities and have experienced solid economic growth. 3. The culturist explanation (in the East Asian context) stresses learned cultural values such as need for achievement, thrift and other values often linked to Confucianism in explaining the development of entrepreneurial capitalism and economic growth in East Asia (Wilkinson, 1996). 4. ...
... To many of the culturist school, however, links between ethnic Chinese around the region and the success of Confucian-influenced societies seem obvious in that the economic dynamism of the system is based on cooperation, long-term contracts and reduced transaction costs (Gibney, 1992). The culture-skeptic school counters that although the DaVinci Code-like aura of the sprawling 'Confucian conglomerates' does make for stirring stories, the culturist view fails to distinguish important institutional forces and historical processes that could shed more light on the development of entrepreneurial capitalism in East Asia (Studwell, 2007;Wilkinson, 1996). ...
... If the firms in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong are rather diverse, this further calls into question the uniform culturist argument. With such localized identities come parochial and sometimes conflicting values and interests among Chinese businesses, which may bear closer resemblance to a global patchwork of many small enterprises that have little similarity with each other (Kao, 1993;Studwell, 2007;Wilkinson, 1996). East Asian firms and particularly overseas Chinese ones can be quite different and do not work together as the culturists predict (Studwell, 2007). ...
... 2. Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam also have sizeable Chinese minorities and have experienced solid economic growth. 3. The culturist explanation (in the East Asian context) stresses learned cultural values such as need for achievement, thrift and other values often linked to Confucianism in explaining the development of entrepreneurial capitalism and economic growth in East Asia (Wilkinson, 1996). 4. ...
Has Chinese cultural influence, in general, and Confucianism, in particular, played a major, largely unambiguous role in the emergence of entrepreneurial capitalism and growth in these East Asian economies as its proponents suggest? This view is perhaps best summarized by economic historian David Landes (2000, p. 2) who wrote: ‘If we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that culture makes almost all the difference.’ Yet does culture really make almost all the difference? Or is culture’s role a lot more ambiguous and mixed in with institutions and various traditions that are more proximate contributors to entrepreneurial and economic development? This chapter explores the role of culture in entrepreneurship in East Asia and examines the history of that idea itself. The results suggest that the idea of Confucian capitalism is a recent construction and culture's role in entrepreneurial development is mixed at best.
... Institutionalists seek to incorporate a more historical explanation through reference to how societal norms inform the development of particular institutions. These approaches have been both criticized as overly determinist and lacking sufficient attention to the politics and historical context of the emergence of Japan's post-war institutional settlement (Wilkinson 1996). Recent work, which we label here as neo-institutionalist, has sought to combine attention to culture and institutions (Keizer 2010). ...
... In the assessment of the origins of these characteristics of Japanese HRM and the attitudes of Japanese employees, explanations that focus on cultural and/or institutional factors have been predominant. Culturists attribute the emergence of Japanese HRM to a widespread social mentality (Wilkinson 1996). Typically, Confucian values were regarded as the underpinning factor that contributed to the emergence of Japanese HRM (Dore 1973). ...
... Others (Kenney and Florida 1988;Gordon 1998) regard Japanese HRM as the result of class struggles in the aftermath of the Second World War. Wilkinson (1996), following Kinzley (1991), contends that the post-Second World War emergence of Japanese HRM was a result of the exercise of power and influence by business elites and the state to 'create industrial harmony' at a time when there were serious challenges to the established order through radical social movements and trade union opposition (see also Gordon 1985). Wilkinson (1996, p. 439) argues that 'Highly selective appeals to pre-modern values (including Confucianism) were made consciously and deliberately to help "invent a tradition" of employer -employee relations'. ...
This paper assesses developments in Japanese human resource management (HRM) practices and employment relations since the country's ‘post-bubble’ economic decline and in particular following the global financial downturn of 2008. Our research findings are broadly consistent with others that have provided a mixed picture of continuity, change and diversification but the most recent financial crisis has made the negotiated nature of workplace relations more apparent. These characteristics are not readily explained by conventional understandings of Japanese HRM as a culturally or institutionally determined phenomenon. We present new empirical evidence of developments in eight automotive plants and interpret these through the application of a conceptual framework that distinguishes between the actors' orientations to action and social relations in specific exchange relations. This framing allows a better assessment of the agency involved in the emergence of a more differentiated articulation and manifestation of ‘Japanese HRM’. We explain these dynamics through reference to strategic choice and the negotiations both between local and corporate managers, and between managers and trade unions.
... A second set of explanations regarding the emergence of business groups is formed indirectly by cultural explanations. This emerged due to attempts by scholars to establish a connection between the family, the inheritance system, values and belief systems and the emergence of business groups (Wilkinson 1996). Such a link is suggested in explanations of the emergence of the Korean business groups. ...
... Finally, the state is usually conceptualized in terms of the Western state. In addition, Wilkinson (1996) argues that a major deficiency of this perspective is that it neglects the dynamics of global capitalism: namely, business groups are also molded by international political and economic developments. Thus it can be seen that scholars have offered various explanations of the emergence of business groups. ...
... The Emergence of Business Groups in Israel and South Korea embedded, but they were also affected by world-wide capitalism. Wilkinson (1996), in criticizing the political economy perspective, argues that one of the deficiencies of this perspective is the neglect of the dynamics of global capitalism. Both Israel and South Korea, during the 1960s and 1970s, were characterized by the relative absence of involvement of multinational corporations. ...
This paper examines the emergence of business groups in Israel and South Korea. The paper questions how, in very different institutional contexts, similar economic organizations emerged. In contrast to the political, cultural and market perspectives, the comparative institutional analysis adopted in this research suggests that one factor alone could not explain the emergence of business groups. In Israel and South Korea, business groups emerged during the 1960s and 1970s, and there are common factors underlying their formation: state-society relations, the roles and beliefs of the elites, and the relative absence of multinational corporations in the economy. To a large extent, the chaebol are the result of an intended creation of the South Korean state, whereas the Israeli business groups are the outcome of state policies in the economic realm. In both countries, the state elite held a developmental ideology, did not rely on market forces for economic development, and had a desire for greater economic and military self-sufficiency. In addition, both states were recipients of large grants and loans from other countries, which made them less dependent on direct foreign investments. As a result, the emerging groups were protected from the intense competition of multinational corporations.
... Hamilton ve Biggart'a (1988) göre kültür, her alanı kapsayabilme becerisine sahip olduğu için hiçbir şeyi tam olarak açıklayamaz. Wilkinson (1996) ise bir olguyu mutlaka kültürle açıklamak istersek, bunun mümkün olduğunu ancak yeterli olmayacağını savunmaktadır. Aynı kültürel platformda olsa bile, kültürel bakış açısına göre yapılan açıklamalar sadece benzerlikleri açıklamaya yarar, farklılıklar konusunda yetersiz kalır (Maman, 2002). ...
... Diğer taraftan, kurumsal bakış açısının kültürel bakış açısına yönelttiği eleştiri, kültürel yaklaşımın farklı iş örgütleri oluşmasına neden olan tarihi ve politik yaklaşımları göz ardı ediyor olmasıdır (Wilkinson, 1996). Kurumsal yaklaşıma göre gerçek bir sosyal inşadır ve örgütler de bu sosyal inşanın bir parçasıdır. ...
Bireysel Emeklilik Sistemi ve Emeklilik Yatırım Fonları: Türkiye Uygulaması
... Stated another way, the above question asks whether organizations, such as schools, are cui~ tore bound or culture free (Trice & Beyer, 1993). The main debate in the literature on this question is between proponents of either convergence or divergence, or what Wilkinson (1996) labels institutionalists and culturalists. Proponents of convergence (institutionalists) believe that organizations are culture free and therefore similar across societal cultures because the processes of organizing and using technologies make certain universal requirements on organizations, thereby inducing the cultures themselves to become more similar over time. ...
... 'Colturalists', Wilkinson (1996) claims, have a tendency to attribute rather simplistically any residual unexplained phenomena to culture and ignore 'institutionalist' arguments that it is primarily historical and political conditions that shape organizations. This view is supported by a writer for The EcoMmist (1996, p.30), who states: 1be conclusion must be that while culture will continue to exercise an important influence on both countries and individuals, it has not suddenly become more important than, say, governments or impersonal economic forces. ...
This article summarizes the case for adopting a cross-cultural comparative approach to the study of educational administration and leadership. In the first section, we state the main arguments for strengthening a societal cultural approach to educational administration and leadership. The second and third sections outline why culture is a useful concept for analysis and comparison in educational administration, and briefly review the concept of culture itself. The fourth section outlines an influential approach for investigating the influence of culture, that of Hofstede, and suggests that his framework provides a worthwhile starting point for educational researchers. The final section notes a number of important issues which researchers need to consider when exploring the influence of societal culture on educational administration. In summary, we suggest that a cross-cultural comparative approach to educational administration and leadership can expose the value of theory and practice from different cultural perspectives which may then, in turn, inform and influence existing dominant paradigms.
... Companies in these particular economies tend to share Confucian cultural roots with the companies located in Mainland China (Carney et al., 2009;Hofstede and Bond, 1998;Wilkinson, 1996), and their employees are highly familiar with the Chinese cultural codes of conduct, such as mianzi (face-saving and respectful interactions; Kam and Bond, 2008;Pukthuanthong and Walker, 2007) (Bruton et al., 2018). Learning from the U.S. VCs, VC industries in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore emerged in the early 1980s and were wellestablished by the early 2000s (Kenney et al., 2002(Kenney et al., , 2003Lu and Hwang, 2010 In the third stage of this study, the interviews were focused on validating the observed relevance of WBL partnerships and illustrating their roles in knowledge transfer and learning among the WBL partners. ...
This study introduces the novel construct of bridge-economy partners, which can assist Western firms in learning how to collaborate with local partners when entering unfamiliar foreign countries that have substantially different socioeconomic characteristics. We offer initial empirical evidence regarding the relevance of establishing such interorganizational partnership triads among Western, bridge-economy, and local firms for the entries of Western venture capital firms (VCs) into Mainland China between 1997 and 2008. Venture age, regional legal maturity, and the Western VCs’ accumulated local experience are identified as relevant contingency factors for the likelihood of adopting this type of collaboration, which involves partners from three different types of economies. We supplement our quantitative analyses with anecdotal qualitative evidence from interviews with VC executives and fund managers.
Full article link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1hvfX38%7EUTt2Z2
... Given the evolution and complexity of societies, it is difficult to clearly describe the characteristics of a given society through a single lens (Wilkinson 1996). In this study, we attempt to describe Japanese society from the cultural and institutional perspective with a focus on pursuing the value of maintaining harmony and education system. ...
Kuuki-wo-yomu (KWY) holds particular importance in Japanese society. Literally meaning ‘reading the air,’ KWY refers to attitudinal and behavioral patterns that Japanese exhibit in social groups. Noting its conceptual importance, the study intends to theorize KWY. Adopting the contextualization approach, the study explains the emergence and its structure of KWY through a thorough investigation of Japanese society and organization. A three-stage survey was conducted on 158 Japanese employees and analysis of the results indicates that KWY is perceived as an important capability. Specifically, KWY is composed of three subdimensions: (1) perception, comprising the awareness of one’s surroundings, including people, norms and rules, and implicit social contexts; (2) attitude, comprising consideration, conformity, responsibility, and maintenance of harmony; and (3) behavior, comprising flexibility, cooperation, and proactivity. This study’s novel research approach has theoretical and practical implications, and we hope it will foster follow-up studies to develop Japan-grounded behavioral concepts and theories.
... Political science Comparative capitalism (Whitley, 1992(Whitley, , 1994) (Hung and Whittington, 1997;Wilkinson, 1996) (Scott, 2001) (Hamilton and Biggart, 1988;Orru et al., 1991) Notes: *"Strategy tripod" term includes "resource based, industry based and institution based" views. **If an article includes an additional theory besides its main institutional perspective, indicated at the column same time, the main theoretical issues were searched, and citation analysis was made based on the selected authors in Table 1. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate different strands of institutional theory within the internationalization process of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in developed and emerging economies. In the light of this purpose, the authors try to fill the gap in the literature through analysing the main institutional theories: neo-institutionalism, new institutional economics, comparative capitalism and the institution-based view. Therefore, the main concern is to determine the distribution of different strands of institutional theory in its subfields in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
This study provides a profound analysis of different strands of institutional theory within the period from 1990 to 2018 in a larger sample. With a qualitative content analysis, authors reviewed 150 articles using different strands of institutional theory at both theoretical and analytical level and accessed 25 journals published in Social Science Citations Index between 1990 and 2018. In this study, authors used the inductive approach and the qualitative content analysis (Duriau et al., 2007) and adopted a research method to investigate different strands of institutional theory within the internationalization process of MNEs in developed and emerging markets (EMs).
Findings
Coders have synthesized the strands of institutional theory in detail to analyse the theoretical contribution of the study. The strands of institutional theory have been analysed both by institutional perspective and citation analysis. Coders classify the analysis level into three main categories. These are country, headquarter and subsidiary level. Our findings are related to the basic determinants and assumptions of different strands of institutional theory. Because in new institutional economics, analysis levels are country and industry. On the other hand in institution-based view, analysis levels are country and firm. Finally in comparative capitalism, analysis levels are country and region and, in neo-institutionalism analysis level is organization itself. In this study, findings show that sociology-based institutional strands, especially neo-institutionalism, are more preferred than other theories.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s content analysis is limited to scope of selected journals. However, this study may suffer from publication bias. The authors examined only peer-reviewed articles from selected journals and did not include book chapters, book reviews, editor and special issue editor articles, research notes, conference papers and congress invitations. The important theoretical limitation of this study is to clarify the different strands of institutional theory in international business literature (Aguilera and Grøgaard, 2019). The firm size of MNEs is not included in this study, but it should be involved in coding categories in future studies.
Originality/value
This study provides the largest sample up to now and covers developed markets and EMs. Authors analysed this research from four perspectives: theoretical foundation, methodology, location and entry mode choices. On the other hand, this study shows that the institutional environment not only mitigates or mediates the effects but also directs the effects on foreign direct investment’s internationalization process of location choice and entry strategies.
... All of these behaviors that characterize an authoritarian leader reflects that such leader may not achieve desired performance outcomes due to multiple shortcomings (e.g., being insensitive and overly ambitious, unable to build and communicate with their team to get the job done). Authoritarian leadership tends to give rise to harmful emotions in team members, such as angst and distress (Farh et al., 2014;Wilkinson, 1996), since it is only the top leader's perspectives that are valid and considered. The lack of involvement of the team members and their opinions cause a lack of interest in their jobs, dissatisfaction, and destructive feelings from team members, which can have a detrimental impact on their mental health (Chu, 2014). ...
State-owned mega construction projects are greatly driven by the top-down authoritarian leadership that ironically restricts two-way communication and free flow of ideas. Prominent studies have highlighted various critical success factors of project success; however, the effects of authoritarian leadership and project team member’s silence have been completely overlooked, especially in mega construction projects. The present study makes a pioneering effort to address this critical research gap and investigate the effects of authoritarian leadership and project team member’s silence on the multi dimensional success (including project management success, project ownership success and project investment success) in a mega construction project. Drawing on data from 357 project professionals directly associated with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and covariance based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) with Mplus, the findings provide new empirical evidence that authoritarian leadership has a significant negative influence on the multi dimensional success in the CPEC mega construction project. The findings also establish that project team member’s silence negatively mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and the multi dimensional mega construction project success. The study implications offer new strategic insights for managing mega construction projects, especially in transition economies that still have deep roots of authoritarian cultures.
... Zdaniem zwolenników tego podejścia konwergencja struktur i praktyk zarządzania organizacjami pomiędzy kulturami spowodowana jest dwoma czynnikami: szybkim upowszechnianiem się praktyk zarządzania poprzez zestandaryzowane międzynarodowe szkolenia i edukację oraz działalność przedsiębiorstw międzynarodowych, a także "uniwersalnym językiem" technologii, który determinuje struktury organizacyjne i procesy pracy (Parker, 1998, s. 7-12). W drugim ekstremum przytaczanej debaty, w ramach nurtu dywergencji "zorientowanego na kulturę", różnice pomiędzy organizacjami działającymi w różnych kulturach wyjaśniane są zazwyczaj za pomocą jednej z dwóch perspektyw: perspektywy "kulturalistów" -koncentrującej się na różnicach w systemach wartości lub perspektywy "instytucjonalistów" -uwzględniającej przede wszystkim wpływ otoczenia instytucjonalnego, w którym funkcjonuje dana organizacja (French, 2015, s. 70;Wilkinson, 1996). ...
Kultura jest jednym z kluczowych czynników wpływających na funkcjonowanie organizacji. Problematyce roli, jaką odgrywają założenia kulturowe w aspekcie procesów organizacyjnych poświęcono niniejszą monografię. W rezultacie prowadzonych badań zidentyfikowano grupę działań, wartości i procesów organizacyjnych, które uwidaczniają wpływ czynników kulturowych na organizacje i ich działania. Zostały one zaprezentowane w siedmiu rozdziałach, z których każdy omawia oddziaływanie czynnika kultury na wybrany aspekt zarządzania.
W rozdziale pierwszym przedstawione zostały stanowiska na temat znaczenia kultury w zarządzaniu oraz implikacji kultur narodowych dla zarządzania organizacją. W rozdziale drugim podjęta została tematyka kultury organizacyjnej. Omówione zostało zagadnienie społecznej perspektywy kultury organizacyjnej oraz roli pełnionej przez religijną determinantę. W rozdziale trzecim omówiono kierunki wpływu wymiarów kulturowych na zarządzanie zasobami ludzkimi w organizacji oraz pośrednie i bezpośrednie oddziaływanie kultury na systemy finansowe. Rozważaniom na temat kulturowego uwarunkowania pojmowania zaufania i odpowiedzialności poświęcony został rozdział czwarty. W rozdziale piątym ukazano wpływ kultury na procesy organizacyjne na przykładzie procesu uczenia się i procesu wprowadzania innowacji. Odnośnie do procesu uczenia się skoncentrowano się na ukazaniu różnic kulturowych w stylach uczenia się natomiast w odniesieniu do procesu innowacji zaprezentowano kulturowe uwarunkowania innowacyjnych zmian w organizacji. Rozdział szósty poświęcony został omówieniu zagadnienia kulturowego uwarunkowania koncepcji rozwoju zrównoważonego. W pierwszej części tego rozdziału omówiono rolę kapitału kulturowego w procesie rozwoju zrównoważonego, w drugiej natomiast zaprezentowano znaczenie kulturowych wymiarów męskości i kobiecości oraz indywidualizmu i kolektywizmu w implementacji zasad rozwoju zrównoważonego. Siódmy rozdział monografii przedstawia koncepcję zarządzania różnorodnością kulturową, historię jej ewolucji oraz podstawowe definicje, a także korzyści z niej płynące dla organizacji oraz kulturowe uwarunkowania strategii przedsiębiorstw wraz z najczęściej przyjmowanymi podejściami do różnorodności.
Niniejsza monografia stawia sobie za cel przedstawienie wyników badań i studiów literaturowych prowadzonych w okresie wielu lat na temat kultury i kulturowych uwarunkowań zarządzania. Kultura została zoperacjonalizowana za pomocą czterech wymiarów kulturowych G. Hofstedego tj. wymiaru indywidualizmu/ kolektywizmu, unikania niepewności, dystansu władzy oraz męskości/kobiecości. To właśnie odwołanie się do tych wymiarów umożliwia ukazanie wielopłaszczyznowego oddziaływania kultury na organizacje i ich funkcjonowanie.
... Zdaniem zwolenników tego podejścia konwergencja struktur i praktyk zarządzania organizacjami pomiędzy kulturami spowodowana jest dwoma czynnikami: szybkim rozprzestrzenianiem się praktyk zarządzania poprzez międzynarodowe szkolenia i edukację oraz działalność przedsiębiorstw międzynarodowych, a także uniwersalnym językiem technologii, który determinuje struktury organizacyjne i procesy pracy (Parker, 1998; Hickson2002, s. 7-12, za: Sitko-Lutek, 2004, s. 16). W drugim ekstremum, w ramach nurtu dywergencji zorientowanego na kulturę, różnice pomiędzy organizacjami działającymi w różnych kulturach są zazwyczaj wyjaśniane dzięki jednej z dwóch perspektyw: perspektywy kulturalistów -koncentrującej się na różnicach w systemach wartości, lub perspektywy instytucjonalistów -uwzględniającej przede wszystkim wpływ otoczenia instytucjonalnego, w którym funkcjonuje dana organizacja (Wilkinson, 1996 Określenie naiwne dotyczy braku pełnego wyjaśnienia teorii lub braku jej klarowności, nie zaś oceny nurtu jako mało wartościowego, ponieważ niektóre z badań prowadzonych w ramach tej kategorii są bardzo wyszukane zarówno pod względem metodologicznym, jak i głębi merytorycznej. Podejście wolne od wpływów kulturowych wywodzi się z bezpiecznych podstaw teorii kontyngencji i umożliwia porównanie różnych typów organizacji w wielu wymiarach strukturalnych. ...
Introduction
CSR is a dynamic phenomenon and quite challenging to analyze. In the light of growing emphasis on multidimensional aspects of social partnerships, we consider stages and trends of Russian indicators of CSR development process in addition to the state–business–society triada. Practical implications of the article are to investigate Russian contribution to the global corporate citizenship and to compare Russian trends in corporate social responsibility with European
experience. This is a scope and key objective of our research and the next step to the following one. To the author’s mind, the essence of corporate interactions with any stakeholders called social investments that are forming around the image and reputation of modern business and directly involving social sphere issues. For the Russian business community it provides a unique opportunity to build partnerships with the equilibrium potential clients (customers, public authorities, media, experts, suppliers, compliance control bodies, NGOs, etc.)
... Business groups consist of firms that may be a distinct legal entity that publishes its own financial statements, has its own board of directors, and is responsible to its own shareholders. Business groups allow large family businesses with different affiliated companies being run by various family members or branches (Biggart & Hamilton, 1992;Wilkinson, 1996). Business group networks, together with family structure, are some of the key institutions identified by Hamilton (Hoskisson et al., 2000). ...
Corporate governance has advanced hugely in the last two decades and many governance best practices have emerged that focuses on measures companies should take in order to improve their governance. These suggested mechanisms are effective in developed markets because they are a remedy for problems that occur in those markets. But are these mechanisms also effective in emerging markets? By reviewing the literature, this paper critically discusses and compares the effectiveness of governance mechanisms (both internal and external) in emerging and developed markets and finds that while the classic mechanisms such as board structure and independence are not effective in emerging markets, there exist some alternative mechanisms such as external audit or dividend policy that are more effective.
... Zdaniem zwolenników tego podejścia konwergencja struktur i praktyk zarządzania organizacjami pomiędzy kulturami spowodowana jest dwoma czynnikami: szybkim rozprzestrzenianiem się praktyk zarządzania poprzez międzynarodowe szkolenia i edukację oraz działalność przedsiębiorstw międzynarodowych, a także uniwersalnym językiem technologii, który determinuje struktury organizacyjne i procesy pracy (Parker, 1998;Hickson 2002, s. 7-12, za: Sitko-Lutek, 2004). W drugim ekstremum, w ramach nurtu dywergencji zorientowanego na kulturę, różnice pomiędzy organizacjami działającymi w różnych kulturach są zazwyczaj wyjaśniane dzięki jednej z dwóch perspektyw: perspektywy kulturalistów -koncentrującej się na różnicach w systemach wartości, lub perspektywy instytucjonalistów -uwzględniającej przede wszystkim wpływ otoczenia instytucjonalnego, w którym funkcjonuje dana organizacja (Wilkinson, 1996, s. 421-447, za: Sitko-Lutek, 2004, s. 16-17). ...
... Their long-term orientation could also lead family leaders to make sacrifices for the sake of the family firm during institutional development that ultimately improves firm performance. The stronger performance of family-led firms could also be due to cultural norms that remain in an emerging market despite institutional changes (Wilkinson, 1996). That is, although institutional development brings progress to economic, political and social foundations, many of the cultural norms that guide business relationships and how business is conducted likely remain (Granovetter, 2005;Guillén, 2000). ...
Building on the institution-based view and agency theory, this paper studies the relationship between institutional development, family ownership, family leadership, and firm profitability in emerging markets. We propose that national institutional development reduces agency costs and improves the profitability of emerging market firms, but that this effect varies for family vs. nonfamily firms. We also consider the heterogeneity among family firms by comparing family-led vs. nonfamily-led family firms. Using data for 503 Indian firms from 2003 to 2012, we find that although institutional development tends to increase the profitability of domestic firms, the greatest beneficiaries are family firms. Furthermore, we find that family firms that are family-led tend to perform better than those that are nonfamily-led, even when institutional improvements are considered.
... Taking such a qualitative approach is crucial for studies on political and economic development in Asia, where interpersonal connections or guanxi play a crucial role in determining or influencing policy decisions (Leung et al. 1996, Wilkinson 1996, Ewing et al. 2000). The analysis of qualitative data allows for the formulation of 'thick' descriptions that are particularly useful for understanding such relations, which often border on the informal (Cheng and Womack 1996), and the derivation of 'causal inferences' on how such variables impact policy outcomes , Maguire and Ball 1994, Creswell and Miller 2000, Bennett and Elman 2006. ...
... Confucianism influence on Korean management practices. More recently, one sees this reinvention explained by institutionalists who reference pre-modern traditions and emerging 'institutional environments' (Bacharach, 1989, Wilkinson, 1996, Lowe, 2002. ...
Despite its ranking as an economic world power and with the implementation of gender legislation, gender gap in Korea has been worsening in recent years. From socioeconomic aspects, suppression of Korean working women continues due to the patriarchal management style and where Korean society accepts this as a norm ignoring gender legislation. Based on the survey data from HRM managers of 46 Korean firms, the impacts of formal equal opportunity policies (EOPs) were investigated to gain a better understanding of the employment figures especially on the gender gap across different firm and industry characteristics. Of the firms studied, only 35% stated that they have formal EOPs in place. About 70% of firms give the impression that they support the Affirmative Action, but the majority still appear to discriminate against females. The impacts of EOPs were different across firm and industry characteristics, and the adoption of formal EOPs is statistically significant even after controlling for other influencing factors. For gender equality to exist in reality within Korean firms, formal equal opportunity policies should be encouraged and actively pursued in order for women to be no longer suppressed within Korean organisations and to be part of the post-feminism era.
... Moreover, our theory rests on the premise of respect for hierarchy: MMs' higher social status-for example, the title of Regional Manager or Vice President, both in the organization and outside-affords them credibility to deal with government officials that frontline employees lack. Such a culture of respecting hierarchy is also seen in Singapore, Japan, and Korea (Tan, 1989;Wilkinson, 1996). ...
Research summary: Although the middle management literature has identified various bridging roles performed by middle managers in the market environment, it is relatively vague about whether and how they manage the political environment to achieve market‐related goals. In an inductive field study of four large state‐owned enterprises based in mainland C ommunist C hina, operational middle managers were found to take an active role in dealing with political actors to achieve market efficiency in their local environments, performing two distinct bridging strategies. Our field study suggests that middle managers are better equipped than their bosses (top executives) as well as their subordinates (frontline employees) to perform the bridging function between competing market and political imperatives in various local settings .
Managerial summary: For firms that operate in diverse geographies, it is challenging for a handful of top executives to deal with numerous political actors. This burden could be shared with operational middle managers, who play a bridging role by drawing on their operational knowledge and local networks. Our research on middle managers who work under the scrutiny of political actors in C hina found that they bridge market and political ideology by conveying common features that seem legitimate to both. They also bridge market goals and political actors with personal affect. Compared to top executives and frontline employees, middle managers have unique advantages in performing these bridging functions. Firms can enhance their strategy execution ability by training middle managers in dealing with political actors in diverse contexts . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... In contemporary business literature, the institutional view has gained great currency and is used extensively to examine a multitude of business practices such as networks, alliances, behaviours and governance,16 amongst others. In East Asia, this is approach is also being recognized (Wilkinson 1996;Hefner 1998)17 and analysts have suggested that the debate over development needs to move beyond the state or market nexus (Chan et al. 1998;Huang 2000). They point out that the involvement of the state 'is a given' and that the task rather is to focus on the efficacy and quality of these interventions (Evans 1995;see also Amsden 2001;Woo-Cummings 1999). ...
In international management, the study of culture has rapidly become critically salient. Business and management consultants, academics and practitioners alike all claim that the development of cross-cultural skills is crucial in the new era of globalization. This, they claim, will enable managers to better manage the risks within a globalized economy and consequently, add to greater productive growth and increased competitiveness. This 'turn to culture' has generated diverse competency skills training programmes, units and writings dealing with cross-cultural skills in management. Whilst the call for greater cultural literacy in international business and management is welcome, many of these 'new' analyses tend towards the simplistic. This paper posits that international management knowledge is actively constructed by these experts and that in their representations of culture, the issue of power is neglected and/or glossed over. The paper therefore argues that to understand these cultural representations, it is necessary to locate these views within a discourse of truth and power. Via a contrapuntal reading of key critical international management texts, the paper seeks to challenge and provide a counterpoint to these views. In so doing, it aims to foster a more critical, reflexive, engaged and open management practice.
... This is different from conglomerates in the USA, for example, where individual lines of business typically do not have any of these properties (Khanna and Rivkin, 2001, p. 48). Large family businesses often are organized around business groups, with different affiliated companies being run by various family members or branches (Biggart and Hamilton, 1992;Wilkinson, 1996). Business group networks, together with family structure, are some of the key institutions identified by Hamilton and Biggart (1988) as characterizing emerging economies. ...
A principal-agent perspective dominates corporate governance research. This perspective focuses primarily on the modern corporation in developed economies with widespread ownership and no controlling shareholders. We argue that a principal-agent perspective may have limited application in emerging economies, because most corporations in these countries are controlled by a family or the state with concentrated ownership. As a result, there is more potential for conflict between majority shareholders (principals) and minority shareholders (principals) than there is between shareholders (principals) and managers (agents). We term this variant of corporate governance problem the"principal-principal" problem, and draw on institutional theory, which focuses on the formal and informal constraints giving rise to this problem, to explore its underlying root causes. Overall, we suggest that a principal-principal perspective is a more fruitful approach to corporate governance in emerging economies, because prescriptions derived from the standard principal-agent model may be ineffective or may even exacerbate governance problems in these settings.
... Il y a un pragmatisme partagé par les deux modèles et que l'on retrouve moins dans les modèles précédents, plus soucieux de représenter la firme comme une structure formelle objectivable « en soi »; ainsi en est-il lorsque le modèle de la décision stylise le processus de prise de décision dans la personne du décideur et débat sur la plus ou moins grande validité des planifications; de même, bien que moins explicitement, dans le modèle des positions pour lequel la firme peut se distinguer selon les repères que se donnent les agents et qui perdurent en dehors de leurs comportements effectifs (par exemple dans Crozier 1963). 23 Pour une synthèse récente et un exemple d'application Wilkinson 1996 Le MCO, comme le modèle des relations, doit intégrer la construction effective de la convention d'effort par les comportements au quotidien : une convention est un processus permanent, stable mais dynamique Il est possible de discriminer clairement les cinq modèles présentés selon la place que tient la rationalisation dans chacun d'eux. Nous avons en effet décalé les analyses qui portent classiquement sur la rationalité des acteurs pour mettre en évidence comment chaque modèle repère la façon dont l'organisation permet de rationaliser les comportements. ...
... Despite these developments and its dominance, institutional theory has been subject to criticism (Wilkinson, 1996). Firstly, broader power dynamics are underplayed or taken for granted (Smith and Meiksins, 1995). ...
The adoption of new management ideas and practices has become an important and substantial area of study and debate within organizational studies, often under the label of management fads. However, there has been little critical reflection on the range of theoretical approaches used and their problems and possibilities. Moreover, while there has been some overlap with broader issues of management knowledge and learning, debates and literatures remain largely distinct. By way of an overview and as a way of furthering the existing multi-disciplinarity of debates on learning, this article selectively constructs and assesses six broad perspectives on the adoption of management ideas. Rational views are initially contrasted with various psychodynamic, dramaturgical, political, cultural and institutional approaches. However, it is argued that existing perspectives and classifications tend to be dualistic and either idealize or marginalize managerial rationality. This leads to empirical neglect and the possibility for approaches where rational management is acknowledged as necessarily bounded and emotional.
Popular literature online is often misconstrued as being cliché-ridden and formulaic, and has thus not attained as much critical attention as 'serious' literature. I propound that popular literature published in China's cyberspace deserves more attention and hermeneutic scrutiny, and I place an emphasis on danmei (耽美) fiction that features male-male romantic and/or erotic relationships and is predominantly published on a female-oriented website called Jinjiang Literature City. In this research, I investigate an online danmei novel entitled Tianguan ci fu (天官赐福) that concerns a homosexual romance against a background of 'immortality cultivation' (xiuxian 修仙 or xiuzhen 修真), which had been maintaining the highest ranking on readers' voting list since its release on Jinjiang Literature City in 2017. I postulate that Tianguan ci fu does not deploy clichéd plots pertaining to quasi-heterosexual relationships, which frequently occur in danmei fiction. Apart from conveying the theme of love, the narrative concerns the complexity of human nature via an array of characters possessing multifaceted personality traits. More significantly, with a setting of mortal and immortal realms, the narrative entails religious ideologies, especially the indigenous Daoist ascension, mortality-immorality polarity and yin-yang integration. Furthermore, ethic-religious Confucian precepts such as benevolence and filial piety are also demonstrated, along with the Sinicised Buddhist creeds of reincarnation and retribution, which embodies the amalgamation of (sub)religions as a preponderant ideal of 'the unity of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism' (san jiao he yi 三教合一). Therefore, analysing this exemplary online novel can shed light on (a)theistic attitudes adopted by creators and consumers of Internet danmei literature.
Popular literature online is often misconstrued as being cliché-ridden and formulaic, and has thus not attained as much critical attention as ‘serious’ literature. I propound that popular literature published in China’s cyberspace deserves more attention and hermeneutic scrutiny, and I place an emphasis on danmei (耽美) fiction that features male-male romantic and/or erotic relationships and is predominantly published on a female-oriented website called Jinjiang Literature City. In this research, I investigate an online danmei novel entitled Tianguan ci fu (天官赐福) that concerns a homosexual romance against a background of ‘immortality cultivation’ (xiuxian 修仙 or xiuzhen 修真), which had been maintaining the highest ranking on readers’ voting list since its release on Jinjiang Literature City in 2017. I postulate that Tianguan ci fu does not deploy clichéd plots pertaining to quasi-heterosexual relationships, which frequently occur in danmei fiction. Apart from conveying the theme of love, the narrative concerns the complexity of human nature via an array of characters possessing multifaceted personality traits. More significantly, with a setting of mortal and immortal realms, the narrative entails religious ideologies, especially the indigenous Daoist ascension, mortality-immorality polarity and yin-yang integration. Furthermore, ethic-religious Confucian precepts such as benevolence and filial piety are also demonstrated, along with the Sinicised Buddhist creeds of reincarnation and retribution, which embodies the amalgamation of (sub)religions as a preponderant ideal of ‘the unity of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism’ (san jiao he yi 三教合一). Therefore, analysing this exemplary online novel can shed light on (a)theistic attitudes adopted by creators and consumers of Internet danmei literature.
The research is focused on determining the factors influencing the formation of the types of financial behavior of economic entities. Determining the types of economic entities’ financial behavior is necessary for implementing state economic policy measures. The subject of the study is the types of financial behavior reflecting the propensity of an economic entity to perform economic operations. Entities may exhibit active, adaptive, and reactive financial behaviors. The purpose of the work is to determine the key factors that influence the formation of types of financial behavior of economic entities. The study suggests that the formation of financial behavior types is caused by the influence of human, social and financial capital. The formation of financial behavior types is influenced by the basic characteristics associated with age, perception of the external environment, etc. The significance of certain factors is assessed using statistical analysis . The combination of these factors has a different impact on the formation of the type of financial behavior of an economic entity, but they can be significant under certain external conditions related to the economic situation. Because of the significance of individual factors, all economic entities form ‘yadernye’ (core) groups demonstrating a certain type of financial behavior, as well as groups of entities that change the type of financial behavior depending on the influence of the external environment. The change in financial behavior types is associated with a change in the strength of the impact of various factors that need to be considered in the dynamics. Entities with an active type of financial behavior, whose actions transform the external environment and stimulate other categories of entities to commit economic actions, are of significant interest for the analysis. The latter is especially actual for the financial market when entities with a reactive type of behavior under the influence of the information background commit rash actions leading them to financial losses. Based on the available sociological data, the study examines the main factors that lead to the formation of an active type of financial behavior. As a result of the construction of the econometric model, the authors conclude that the amount of available funds, the age of the respondent, the level of professional competence have a significant impact on the formation of an active type of financial behavior.
Liáozhāi Zhìyì is one of the representative compilations in the genre of zhìguài 'strange writing' during the Qing (1644-1912) era, and it conveys filial piety through narration and authorial commentary. This research scrutinizes narratives regarding the preponderant construal of filial piety, so as to explore the harmonious contemporaneous of religious thinking and behavior in Qing China. This research conducts interpretative and hermeneutic research on four narratives in Liáozhāi Zhìyì, namely, X í Fāngpíng, Lè Zhòng, Sìshí Qiān, and Qiánbǔ Wū, and also refers to classic treatises regarding filial piety. Given the fact that narratives in Liáozhāi Zhìyì themed by or appertaining to filial piety entail elements of three religions simultaneously. This study propounds that it illuminates amalgamation of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, i.e. sānjiàohéyī, in seventeenth-century China. Abstrak Liáozhāi Zhìyì adalah salah satu kompilasi representatif dalam genre zhìguài 'tulisan aneh' selama era Qing (1644-1912), dan menyampaikan kesalehan anak melalui narasi dan komentar penulis. Penelitian ini, menelaah narasi-narasi tentang penafsiran yang lebih besar tentang bakti, untuk mengeksplorasi keserasian pemikiran dan perilaku keagamaan di Qing Cina. Penelitian interpretatif dan hermeneutik ini dipusatkan pada empat narasi dalam Liáozh āi Zhìyì, yaitu, Xí Fāngpíng, Lè Zhòng, Sìshí Qiān, dan Qiánbǔ Wū, dan kajian ini juga merujuk pada risalah klasik tentang berbakti. Mengingat fakta bahwa narasi dalam Liáozhāi Zhìyì bertema atau berkaitan dengan berbakti mengandung unsur-unsur dari tiga agama secara bersamaan, kajian ini mengusulkan penggabungan Konfusianisme, Buddhisme dan Taoisme, yaitu sānjiàohéyī, di Cina abad ketujuh belas.
Çalışmada, kültürel ve kurumsal yaklaşımların Türkiye’deki örgütlerde örgütsel ve yönetsel olguları açıklama yetenekleri açısından karşılaştırmasını yapan bir literatür taraması sunulmaktadır. Bu bağlamda öncelikle kültürel bakış açısı ve kurumsal bakış açısını açıklayan literatür sunulmuş ve devamında Türkiye’deki örgüt yapısına ilişkin temel özellikler sunularak örgütlerde “neden merkeziyetçi yapının hâkim olduğu” her iki bakış açısına göre açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır.
Foreign managers often perceive cultural practices, such as gift giving and guanxi, as being unethical. This can leave them at a disadvantage when negotiating in China. This study describes a concept for the benefit of MNEs so they can leverage performance through acquiring insider status. The study suggests that foreign managers should aim to build a solid reputation to facilitate reciprocal exchange when doing business in China. Such reciprocity can help to establish affective ties to cement a relationship. Establishing affection can also lead to greater interpersonal trust and, subsequently, some degree of loyalty can then emerge as a mechanism for generating ethical cronyism and performance advantages.
This chapter draws empirical findings from a larger study that compared principals' leadership across three different international cultural contexts (Hong Kong, Singapore and Perth, Australia) and explored the influence of culture on leadership. Data were collected using interviews and structured vignettes from a purposive sample of 21 principals across three different cultures and were analyzed to arrive at a set of site-specific and cross-cultural comparative propositions. One set of these propositions is reported in the chapter. Societal culture was found to act as a filter and mediator to create substantial differences in leadership behaviors relevant to collaboration. The paper suggests re-thinking in the preparation, training, hiring and selection, of principals, all of which - given multi-ethnic, diverse societies - require more culturally aware and sensitive policies and practices.
Dick Foster was a worried man. As Vice President — Production of Image Inc., the sixth-largest sports shoe manufacturer in the world, his cup of sorrow (not water!) was overflowing. His primary producing markets were in shambles. The Asian currency crisis had hit them hard, particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Their major sports endorsee, the first pick in last year’s US National Basketball Association (NBA) draft, a rookie already of superstar status, died of a heroin overdose eight months after signing a $70 million endorsement deal with the company. They had signed him up for everything: running shoes, casual shoes, socks, shirts, shorts, wristbands, thighbands, earrings, nose-rings, watches, lotions, and whatever else their new product development people could think of. As Dan Flintstone, their R&D director frequently reminded his colleagues, ‘we literally own his ass: he’s got our logo tattooed right there, or so I’ve been told’. Labour costs all over were increasing and so was labour unrest: last month there were four demonstrations outside their Korean plant. The last one was particularly bad, one worker was killed by the police and several others injured. The local activist, Jae Sae Kim, a highly respected lawyer and a thorn in the side for transnational corporations, was jailed for her part in the demonstrations. Within hours, the international media had descended on the plains of Pusan. Both 48 hours and 60 Minutes did a story, and neither was remotely flattering to the company. After the story broke in the US and European markets, there was bad press everywhere. It was easing off a bit now, but for a while it had seemed like there was a reference to their company, mostly negative, every day.
We examine the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee silence behaviour with 324 employees in 16 state-owned manufacturing enterprises in China. We draw from theories of motivation and person–environment fit to explain the mediating roles of psychological safety and organization-based self-esteem, and the moderating effects of power distance orientation. Regression analyses show that authoritarian leadership has a positive relationship with employee silence behaviour. Mediation analyses show that both psychological safety and organization-based self-esteem partially mediate the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee silence. Moderation analysis revealed that the direct relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee silence behaviour is stronger for employees with high (as opposed to low) power distance orientation. Additionally, moderated-mediation analyses show that the mediating effects of both psychological safety and organization-based self-esteem are stronger for employees with low (as opposed to high) power distance orientation. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
This chapter discusses the limitations of traditional approaches in comparative research—cultural and institutional—in explaining dynamically changing environments. Cultural dilemmas and paradoxes are especially pronounced in organizations that operate in the context of wider social transformations. Such a context can hardly be explained by static cultural dimensions, which do not reflect its inherent complexity and contradictions. Observations are drawn from an extensive empirical research study that covered a broad sample of over 5000 respondents, and integrated surveys from two mainstream cultural methodologies—Hofstede and Trompenaars. It looks deeper into the internal tensions within the cultural dimensions of a specific transformation environment (the case of Lithuania). Various points of cultural tension are revealed, such as the inconsistency of individual and system-level preferences of the respondents, the pronounced gap in work-related values between the “traditional” and “innovative” parts of society, discrepancies between de jure and de facto situations in the dynamically changing context. Successful management of cultural complexity is regarded as a potential source of competitive advantage, but it calls for adjusting the mental and theoretical models, which are often dominated by simplistic linear thinking. The newly emerging cultural methodologies should embrace the approach to culture as a complex dynamic system.
Recently guanxi, or personal networks, has emerged as a significant factor in explaining business success in Chinese societies. This paper examines the celebrated "instrumental thesis of guanxi" by challenging the term's culturalist fallacy. The argument is that the structure of rent-seeking behavior is what has generated and reinforced the economic instrumentality of personal networks. Therefore, structural and institutional factors such as state policy and China's place in the world economy should be duly? emphasized, Guanxi works as a convenient tool for investors to work out a cooperation protocol (or conspiracy pact) with local officials. However: when relevant state policies are altered and the space for renting-seeking is trenched the incentives for actors will change in response, thereby affecting existing guanxi webs and making them unproductive or even deleterious for investors. The study is based on field work conducted in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan during 1994-96.
Using new product announcement events made by group member firms in Taiwan, this study examines whether the firms’ multiple network ties within business groups benefit member firms or whether they provide a channel for controlling shareholders to tunnel. We find that the announcement of new products by group member firms has a positive effect on the market value of other, non-announcing group peers. This evidence is consistent with the value-added hypothesis. More importantly, this effect is stronger when member firms are connected via equity ties. Furthermore, we also offer an original analysis of how family control in business groups affects the impact of network ties on value creation. Our results suggest that the controlling family may discount the market value of member firms.
Aimed at globalising companies, institutional investors, business researchers, students and practitioners. Guerilla Capitalism analyses the nature of the business system and behaviour of state owned enterprises in Vietnam. Written by an expert author, the book is based on first hand case studies containing full and frank interviews with local managers on the country's business culture. It thus provides those seeking to do business in Vietnam with an unparalleled insight into how and why its businesses in general, and state owned enterprises in particular, are structured and managed, a topic about which little has been previously written. The book also presents researchers and students with a comprehensive, societal approach to the study of organisational behaviour, and offers a distinctive interpretation of the common problems of state owned enterprises in transitional economies that goes beyond the traditional economic explanation.
Contemporary organizations have realized the importance of creating work environments that energize and sustain collaborative capacity. Nowhere is the need for collaborative capacity more apparent than when business interactions and collaborative work efforts cross country boundaries. Collaborative capacity is the foundation to an organization's key resource, the collaborative capital. Creating a work environment or climate that supports, enhances, and maintains collaborative capacity is essential for achieving high levels of collaborative capital. In this chapter, we review an exploratory, cross-cultural investigation of the work environments that guide organizations (public and private universities) in the United States and in several Asian countries. One hundred and ninety-four staff from a university in the United States and a combined total of 976 individuals from eight universities throughout Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) were asked to assess their organizations' work environments using the Performance Environmental Perception Scale (PEPS; David Ripley (1998) The development of the performance environment perception scale and its underlying theoretical model. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville). We describe what work environment factors were viewed the same across Eastern and Western cultures, and what factors were viewed differently. Additionally, we present a model of work environment factors that can be used to enhance and sustain collaborative capacity across Eastern and Western cultures.
This chapter draws empirical findings from a larger study that compared principals' leadership across three different international cultural contexts (Hong Kong, Singapore and Perth, Australia) and explored the influence of culture on leadership. Data were collected using interviews and structured vignettes from a purposive sample of 21 principals across three different cultures and were analyzed to arrive at a set of site-specific and cross-cultural comparative propositions. One set of these propositions is reported in the chapter. Societal culture was found to act as a filter and mediator to create substantial differences in leadership behaviors relevant to collaboration. The paper suggests re-thinking in the preparation, training, hiring and selection, of principals, all of which - given multi-ethnic, diverse societies - require more culturally aware and sensitive policies and practices.
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Considerable emphasis has often been placed on cultural factors in explaining the peculiarities of East Asian employment relations. By comparison with workplace relations in the West, East Asian employment relations are characterized by low rates of unionization and collective bargaining, and a relative absence of industrial disputation. A critique of notions of culture found in employment-relations scholarship is presented which draws on long-established conceptualizations developed in historical, post-colonial, anthropological and cultural studies. Most of the peculiarities of East Asian workplace relations can be adequately accounted for through manners other than invoking a grand theory of culture.
The link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Global Talent Management (GTM) is conspicuously absent from existing research on CSR. Our comparative study of CSR and GTM in the UK and Korea is one of the few empirical studies to examine the link between CSR and GTM strategy and how this relationship may vary in different national contexts. Our data revealed that CSR's link with GTM strategy is taken more seriously in the UK than in Korea. The reason for this is not primarily a matter of the management competences required to connect it with strategy. Rather, it is more closely related to the country's institutional and cultural contexts which lead businesses to demonstrate CSR in certain ways and influence people's views on responsible business. Implications of this cross-national research for both researchers and practitioners are discussed in the conclusion.
Around one third of the world’s population has been affected in recent years by the transformation of former planned economies, but the transition process has been neither easy nor similar for the various countries involved. Even the term 'transition' has been called into question for legitimizing the underlying idea of an obligatory trajectory between two clearly defined points (Csaba, 1995). Researchers have pointed to the important role played by various inertial factors that have interrupted the economic development of socialist countries (Nuti, 1996; Andreff, 1996). The heterogeneity of emergent transition outcomes has its echoes in the transition economic literature, with concepts of the mutant economy (Hanson and Teagre, 1992), the mixed economy (Lavigne, 1995) and the dual system (Kornaï, 1992). Vietnam is typical of a dual economic system. While most communist countries were collapsing in the late 1980s, Vietnam engaged in a new economic policy of Doi Moi or the Open Door (Vu Tran Anh, 1994; Venard, 1998). However, far from the changeover from a planned economy to a market economy generating political change, the 1992 Vietnamese Constitution actually reaffirmed the essential role of the Communist Party as 'the vanguard of the working class'. As Schultz (1994, p. 46) pointed out, 'many conservative Vietnamese condemn the concept of free enterprise, the consumption mentality and materialism that drive it.' Communism is still the cornerstone of the Vietnamese political and economic edifice (Lim and Guo, 1994; Herland, 1999), with the government and the bureaucracy both subordinate to the Party. The political bureau (Politburo), composed of high-ranking communists elected by the Central Committee of the Party, decide government policy. The Party Secretariat issues directives to Party members and directs government policy; and within the present government, the most important Ministries are in the hands of members of the Party Central Bureau: the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defense and the Interior Minister. In the same way, the National Assembly comprises 450 deputies, of whom more than 90 percent are Party members, and one third of these are not elected but 'chosen' by the government (the last elections were organized in July 1997). On a regional level, the Party either administers directly or has a very strong influence over the provinces, towns, economic zones and local administrations. Additionally, the Party has a very large say in the granting of investment licenses and in judicial matters. The Party communicates its ideology principally through its two million members. However, other major disseminators include the State, the education system, the Army, the Police, large organizations, systems of social affiliation and direct control by the Party (e.g., the National Front) and the press, which is subject to censorship and a certain degree of journalistic self-control (Herland, 1999). After nearly 15 years of economic transition, therefore, the Communist Party remains a very important factor in Vietnamese society, and communist ideology is present throughout economic life and organizational existence. For example, in each public company, there is a communist trade union and a Communist Party secretary. Highlighting this structural presence is not the whole story, because the use of ideology is an everyday fact that affects the nature and process of management. In other words, employees use or are confronted with communist ideology in the daily round of organizational life. The purpose of this article is to show how ideology is used in organizations. Drawing on a particular case study, the article demonstrates specifically the various ways in which Vietnamese partners in an alliance with Western foreigners were able to use political ideology to exercise influence over the alliance. I develop a conceptual framework for examining ideology as a practical means of controlling sense-making within the case organization, as a resource, that is, for 'sense-forcing.' The article distinguishes two forms of sense-forcing, namely sense-giving and sense-manipulating, which are demonstrated with evidence from the organization under study. The first section examines the nature of ideology as a system of ideas with a political purpose and proposes that the key issue of how ideology becomes enacted in everyday situations can be resolved by adapting concepts from the sense-making perspective. The second section briefly addresses the location of the empirical research and questions of methodology. The article then progresses to examination of the case study materials within the adopted sense-forcing framework. This illustrates first how Vietnamese managers communicate meanings for others in the alliance, and second the ways in which they shaped the social conditions of the organization in order to predispose subordinates to certain ideological understandings. These analyses lead to a conclusion.
Although scholars of educational administration and leadership persistently recognize the place and influence of organizational
culture and its relationship with leadership and school life, the field lags behind other disciplines in understanding the
influence of societal culture on leadership and organizational behavior. The field is also constrained by an over reliance
on theories and practices predominantly developed by a relatively culturally homogeneous cadre of scholars from English-speaking
backgrounds. Our salient argument in this chapter is that societal culture is a significant influence on school organization
and leadership in different societies because it helps shape school leader’s thoughts about concepts such as leadership, followership,
communication and learning and teaching. We suggest that the field of educational administration and leadership should look
to societal culture for at least partial explanations of school leaders’ behaviors and actions. We further submit that cross-cultural
understanding may be usefully pursued through a comparative approach — one that allows administrative and leadership practices
in different societies and cultures to be seen in relation to each other.
Although educational administration has experienced impressive development over the past three decades, the fact that a robust comparative branch of the field has failed to emerge is equally conspicuous. This article acknowledges and highlights the need for comparative educational administration and argues that the development of conceptual frameworks is imperative in building a comparative dimension. A conceptual framework is described and justified based on a cultural and cross-cultural approach focusing on the school level as the baseline unit for analysis. Specifically, the proposed framework is architectured around the interrelationship between the core concepts of culture, organizational structures, leadership and management processes, curriculum, and teaching and learning. Finally, implicatitons of the model are discussed, including the need for the framework to be operationalized by the development of appropriate research instruments.
From the publication of Braverman's Labor and Monopoly Capital there has been a continued debate on the labour process in Britain. What relevance does this polemic have for the contemporary global restructuring of work? This article reviews the main developments within the broad labour process debate, including changes in the division of labour, control structures and cultural management. In addition, it links labour process enquiry to wider structural trends and the relationship between the idea of a specifically capitalist labour process and divergent national ways of organizing work. The authors argue that the tools and concepts of labour process theory remain equally important for analysing today's workplace.
This paper distinguishes between 'tight' and 'loose' perspectives on national business systems. These two systems perspectives are compared in the light of new and existing European data on corporate strategies and structures, on the one hand, and national institutions of business finance, management control and top management development on the other. Despite broadly stable and distinctive institutional backgrounds, European corporations are found to have been transforming their strategies and structures steadily and in very similar ways during the whole post-war period. The paper concludes in favour of loose, rather than tight systems perspectives in contemporary Europe and considers implications for comparative research and economic restructuring.
Using a data set on 107 large Chinese firms, I examine inter-firm connectedness in Singapore. The analysis shows that firms in Singapore exhibit different levels of networking activities. Chinese firms that are owned by family have huge assets, good financial standing and are at the centre of business networks in Singapore. Big Chinese firms interlock with one another under the influence of Chinese business culture that stresses the importance of reputation and family ownership in networking activities. Personalism is useful framework for gaining a good understanding of inter-firm relations in East and Southeast Asia.
The 'new institutionalism' had led to increasing emphasis on the 'embeddedness' of organizations in local social systems. In this journal, Sorge (1991) and Whitley (1994) have shown, in particular, how the dominant forms of organization within countries or sectors are shaped by distinct national systems. The liability of these institutionalist approaches, however, is a focus on broad comparisons that gives little access to the diversity that is often observable on the ground. Examining nine Taiwanese computer firms during the 1980s and early 1990s, this paper demonstrates that their strategies followed no singular system logic, displaying instead a wide scope for strategic diversity. The paper argues that this kind of diversity can be explained not by rejecting institutionalism, but by recognizing the plural systems - business, technology and political - in which the dis-embedded actors of modernity now engage. Such a pluralistic approach has the potential to extend institutionalist analysis beyond the broadly comparative to the strategies of individual firms.
Underlying the current process of industrial restructuring in Korea is the weakening of the social and political comerstones of Korea's “miracle” economy: low wages maintained through labor market segmentation and suppression of labor movements, state leverage over the chaebol and labor, the containment of the middle class through a state-of-war mentality, and the decentralization of industry away from the capital city through the creation of countermagnets and growth poles. Korea's success in generating its own version of a post-fordist regime of accumulation will depend as much on changes in social and political institutions as it will on pursuing an industrial path of flexible specialization.
Through the case of Poongsan, a metals manufacturer, the author attempts to show how Korean values, ethics and other cultural traits such as kinship networks are transformed into organizational structure and economic life. The first chapter traces the managerial worldview of the Corporation's founder, including his business ethic and morality. The next chapter focuses on the workforce - who they are, and how they were recruited and employed. Chapter three describes the rewards system, while the following section is concerned with career planning. Social interaction among employees, labour and management relations are analysed next. The final chapter summarizes the culture of Korean industry as evidenced by Poongsan in terms of the coexistence of tradition and modernity. The epilogue offers remarks on Korea's new challenges resulting from the 'penalty of taking the lead'. This book was first published in hardback in 1992 (ISBN 8 8165 1309 0).
To compare and contrast institutional theories used in organizational analysis, the theoretical frameworks and arguments of leading contributors to institutional theory are reviewed and recent empirical studies using institutional arguments are examined. Both approaches reveal considerable variation in the types of concepts and arguments employed, and it is argued that further improvement and growth in institutional theory is dependent upon analysts dealing more explicitly with these differences. In addition, the relation between institutions and interests is explored to show that institutional features of organizational environments shape both the goals and means of actors. Attention is called to the two primary types of actors shaping institutional environments in modern societies- the state and professional bodies-and to the way in which their interests and mode of action shape institutional patterns and mechanisms.
Japanese management philosophies emerge both out of ancient traditions of thought in Japan and from the post-World War II thinking of business elites. Much of what the non-Japanese reading public has encountered about these theories has been either too narrowly focused or downright wrong. In fact, Japanese ideas about organizations and managing run the gamut from the vacuous to the brilliant. The vacuous body of work is part of the nihonjinron, a collection of writings rooted in religious teachings, samurai codes, and European fascist thought. Fortunately, it appears not to be as influential as a brilliant series of related ideas about work, the nature of a company, the use of power by managers, the uses of failure, and the function of work groups. In sum, Japanese management is as much a rational as a cultural phenomenon.
This book aims to promote the idea of the firm as a micro-political system in which internal distribution of power is crucial in decision-making. The book is divided into two main parts - general theory of determinants of distribution of power and examination of general theory in terms of implementation of industrial democracy (first in general and then in the case of Sweden - using a database of 455 Swedish companies).
PrefaceTheoretical ConsiderationsSoldiers, Bankers, and the Zaibatsu in Colonial Korea: Prologue to the FutureA Method to His Madness: The Political Economy of Import-Substitution Industrialization in Rhee's KoreaIn the East Asian Cauldron: Korea Takes OffThe Search for Autonomy: The Big PushThe Political Economy of Korea, Inc.: The State, Finance, and the ChaebolSlouching Toward the Market: Financial Liberalization in the 1980sNotesBibliographyIndex
This essay assesses the usefulness of Max Weber's sociology, particularly his writings on China, for the analysis of East Asian industrialisation. Many scholars writing about modern Asia criticise Weber's views on the relation between Confucian values and the development of capitalism. This essay suggests that many of these critics misinterpret Weber's writing on China Acknowledging that Weber made errors in interpreting China, the authors, nonetheless, argue that Weber's perspective is most valuable in analysing Asian economic development because of the institutional approach he developed Weber's institutional approach is outlined and briefly applied in a comparison of Japanese and Chinese industrialisation.
Deinstitutionalization refers here to thc erosion or discontinuity of an institutionalized organizational activity or practice. This paper identifies a set of organizational and environmental factors that are hypothesized to determine the likelihood that institutionalized organizational behaviours will be vulnerable to erosion or rejection over time. Contrary to the emphasis in institutional theory on the cultural persistence and endurance of institutionalized organizational behaviours, it is suggested that, under a variety of conditions, these behaviours will be highly susceptible to dissipation, rejection or replacement.
The identification of distinctive and effective forms of economic organization in East Asia has emphasized the close connections between dominant social institutions and ways of co-ordinating economic activities as well as the interrelations between firm and market characteristics in separate business systems. Differences in major institutions thus generate significant variations in how firms and markets are structured and operate. These variations suggest that an important element in the analysis of market economies is the comparison of firm-market relations across institutional contexts. This requires their key characteristics to be identified. These can be summarized under three main headings which constitute the components of business systems: the nature of firms as economic actors, the nature of inter-firm relations in markets and the nature of authoritative co-ordination and control systems within firms. Thirteen major characteristics form the basic dimensions of business systems, which vary as the result of differences in state structures, financial systems, cultural conventions and other key institutional features. Interdependences between these characteristics restrict the variety of business systems that become established in market economies and suggest that five major kinds can be identified on the basis of institutionalized patterns of risk-sharing and firm self-sufficiency: centrifugal, partitioned, collaborative, co-ordinated and state-dependent. These types of business system highlight the different patterns of economic organization, and some of their institutional connections, which have developed in Europe and other industrialized societies.
There is a continuing debate regarding the extent to which organizations are culture-free or culture bound. A recent article suggests that while cultural factors are important in the growth of organizations, they are less important in terms of structural characteristics. This same article also suggests that Japanese and Chinese organizations share the same basic Confucian culture. We argue here that the Chinese and Japanese cultural traditions have major differences and that these play out in terms of important differences in organizational structure and operations.
This paper proposes a contract model of employment relations that integrates insights from economic and sociological perspectives on labor market transactions. The utility of the contract model is illustrated empirically using a large data set on organizations and their employees in U.S. and Japanese manufacturing industries. The results are consistent with many transaction cost and agency theory predictions, though they also indicate the need to supplement these economic theories with sociological explanations based on political, cultural, and other institutional differences.
This paper examines the "new institutional economics" approach to organizational analysis. Whilst acknowledging the benefits of the approach, especially in micro analysis, the paper discusses five areas of difficulty: the fundamental concepts of transaction and bounded rationality; the inadequate treatment of power relations; the over-simplified treatment of norms and values; the ahistorical treatment of organizational context; and the problematic status of functional explanations. The paper argues instead for an interest-interdependence approach, building upon the work of Blau and more recently Coleman.
The success story of Japanese firms, both in their home country and their overseas subsidiaries, has been the focus of comparative management research in the 1970s and early 1980s. Several scholars attributed the impressive productivity gains in Japanese industries to the basic principles of Japanese management. Further, they advocated the adoption of these principles by American and European businesses to solve employee morale and productivity problems.
However, in recent years, the validity of the “happy worker” hypothesis in explaining the effectiveness of Japanese management has been seriously questioned. In fact, the results of several empirical studies indicate that Japanese firms are facing manpower management problems both at home and in their overseas subsidiaries.
The main purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the Japanese management problems of overseas subsidiaries, based on several empirical studies of Japanese overseas subsidiaries undertaken by the authors of this article and other scholars during the last 17 years (1968 to 1985). These studies are:
Localisation Problems of Japanese Subsidiaries Overseas: A Comparative Study in Southeast-Asian Countries.
A comparative study of American, Japanese and local firms in Taiwan.
A comparative study of American, European and Japanese multinationals' subsidiaries in Brazil, Peru, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
A comparative study of American, German, and Japanese multinations in the United States, Western European countries, Australia, and Japan.
A comparative study of upper-level Japanese and American managers of subsidiaries of Japanese firms in the United States.
A comparative study of subsidiaries of American and Japanese multinationals in Singapore.
An intensive case study of a Japanese subsidiary in Australia.
Despite the present focus on manufacturing industries for development in the Pacific Rim, coordinated service industries development is more likely to provide the key for continued economic growth. Historical analysis, plus current economic data, show that there is an ongoing relationship between service sector activity and the high growth in the Pacific Basin.
This is the story of how a change in corporate culture affected corporate strategy and led to the turnaround of Nissan Motor. Nissan's domestic sales had slumped and there was discord between top management and the labour unions creating company malaise. A change in top management and a different union leader led to the inauguration of a new organization which transformed every area of the company.
In this new and brilliantly organized book of essays, Anthony Giddens discusses three main theoretical traditions in social science that cut across the division between Marxist and non-Marxist sociology: interpretive sociology, functionalism, and structuralism.
Beginning with a critical examination of the importance of structuralism for contemporary sociology, the author develops a comprehensive account of what he calls "the theory of structuration." One of the main themes is that social theory must recognize, as it has not done hitherto, that all social actors are knowledgeable about the social systems they produce and reproduce in their conduct. In order to grasp the significance of this, he argues, we have to reconsider some of the most basic concepts in sociology.
In particular, Giddens argues, it is essential to recognize the significance of time-space relations in social theory. He rejects the distinction between synchrony and diachrony, or statics and dynamics, involved in both structuralism and functionalism, and offers extensive critical commentary on the latter as an approach to sociology.
The book, which can be described as a "non-functionalist manifesto," breaks with the three main theoretical traditions in the social sciences today while retaining the significant contributions each contains. In so doing Giddens discusses a range of fundamental problem areas in the social sciences: power and domination, conflict and contradiction, and social transformation. He concludes with an overall appraisal of the key problems in social theory today.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it analyzes those factors which worked together in prompting the KMT government to loosen its tight control over political participation. Secondly, it illustrates how the hasty 1984 LSL legislation which the government initially hoped would win over the labour rank and file became the determinant factor in post-1980 Taiwanese labour radicalism, facilitating numerous LSL-related employer-employee confrontations.
Three frameworks purport to explain industrial arrangements and practices: a market approach that emphasizes economic characteristics, a cultural approach that sees organization as the expression of patterned values, and an authority approach that explains organization as a historically developed structure of domination. The efficacy of each approach is tested in explaining the organizational structures of three rapidly growing East Asian economies: Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The paper argues through comparative analysis that organizational growth is best explained by market and cultural factors but that authority patterns and legitimation strategies best explain organizational structure.