Trust in German-Chinese Business Cooperation


Book Description

What makes international joint ventures successful? Among other key success factors such as strategic fit, material and political-relational incentives, and the cultural compatibility of the joint venture partners, the role of one factor in the successful establishment and management of joint ventures is critical: the mutual trust among the managers involved. This book explores how to establish, develop, and continue to nurture mutual trust between the managers of German and Chinese joint ventures. A series of guided interviews conducted by the authors reveals assessments of Chinese and European executives about their mutual trust in the context of the cultural differences between the two countries, the worldviews characterizing China and Germany, and their impact on the behavior of their executives. The authors then use these judgements from the interviews to make recommendations for action to build more successful cooperation in German-Chinese business cooperation in future joint enterprises. Trust in German-Chinese Business Cooperation is essential reading for managers of international companies and students of business management, business psychology and intercultural management.




The Governance Structures of Chinese Firms


Book Description

China’s extraordinary economic growth is inspiring research from a wide spectrum of fields to explain the phenomenon: What are the primary drivers of China’s economic growth? Can it be sustained? Can the Chinese business model be emulated by other countries? What long-term effects will China’s economic growth have on the global economy? In this volume, Chun Liao explores these issues in the context of firms’ governance structures, arguing that China’s dual business system of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises is uniquely suited to the challenges of economic development in the twenty-first century. On the one hand, China’s state-owned enterprises are characterized by state coordination, bank financing, insulation from the stock market fluctuations, and incremental productivity-enhancing innovations, which are similar to the firms in the business systems of coordinated market economies (like Germany and Japan). On the other hand, China’s private enterprises are characterized by private (often family) ownership, hard budget constraints, profit maximization, and more risky radical innovation, which are similar to the firms in the business systems of liberal market economies (like the US and the UK). Based on the state controlling shareholding in the state sector, the boundary between the state sector business system and private sector business system is clear. This dual type system is contrasted with those in liberal market economies and those in coordinated market economies, where only one type system dominates. Drawing from empirical data and industry analysis over the past 15 years, Liao provides unparalleled access to the dynamics of the Chinese economy, including ownership structure, management design, labor-management relations, business infrastructure, capitalization (including role of banks and financial institutions, private investment, and FDI) in both the public and private sectors. In the process, she analyzes both opportunities and challenges that result from China’s dual business system, particularly in regard to innovation, core competitiveness, and sustainable growth in both state strategic technology-based industries and private high technology industries . The result is an approach that sheds new light on China’s economic performance and its rise as a player on the international stage.




Successfully managing challenges in German-Chinese logistics networks


Book Description

The present study has been developed by the Kuehne Competence Center for International Logistics Networks at the Department of Logistics, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. It is a report on intermediate results of a project funded by the Kuehne Foundation, Switzerland and conducted in cooperation with the Chair of International Logistics Networks and Services at the Tongji University, Shanghai, China. The study presents results from several years of work looking into successful Western firms’ operations in the Chinese market. It lists current and emerging logistical challenges in German-Chinese logistics networks and proposes a set of mitigation strategies. The study also gives in-depth insights into three case studies from the automotive, electronics and consumer goods industries. The China-specific nature of this study is exemplary for many culturally distinct bilateral trade relationships around the world. The entire study is enriched with up-to-date macro- and micro-economic data, as well as a study of seminal literature in the field; applied research methodologies include two group exercises with forty-two practitioners, several online questionnaires with over fifty respondents and three in-depth case studies. Die vorliegende Studie wurde vom Kompetenzzentrum für Internationale Logistiknetze am Fachgebiet Logistik der Technischen Universität Berlin, Deutschland, erstellt. Sie enthält die bisherigen Projektergebnisse eine Forschungsprojekts, welches von der Kühne-Stiftung, Schweiz gefördert und in Kooperation mit der Tongi Universität Shanghai, China durchgeführt wird. Die Studie präsentiert die Ergebnisse einer langjährigen Analyse erfolgreicher westlicher Unternehmen im chinesischen Markt. Sie stellt aktuelle und zukünftige logistische Herausforderungen in Deutsch-Chinesischen Logistiknetzen dar und erarbeitet Gegenmaßnahmen. Die Studie bietet außerdem Einblick in drei umfangreiche Fallstudien aus der Automotive-, Elektronik- und Konsumgüterindustrie. Der Fokus auf den Chinesischen Markt ist hierbei exemplarisch für viele kulturell unterschiedliche Geschäftsbeziehungen in internationalen Netzen. Die Studie enthält zudem aktuelle mikro- und makroökonomische Daten, sowie eine Analyse relevanter Literatur. Es werden verschiedene wissenschafliche Methoden angewand, dazu gehören Gruppenarbeiten mit 42 Praktikern, mehere Onlineumfragen und drei umfangreiche Fallstudien.




German-Chinese M&A Transactions in the SME Sector


Book Description

M&A transactions are significantly more complex processes than the mere purchase and sale of goods - SMEs can quickly find themselves in unfamiliar territory - especially when it comes to multi-layered activities with players from completely different cultures, especially from China, as Germany's largest foreign trade partner. The need for knowledge in practice is correspondingly great. This edited volume therefore brings together, on a theoretical basis, the practical knowledge needed for the successful planning, implementation and integration of German-Chinese corporate takeovers in the SME sector. After a compact presentation of the economic background, cultural aspects of negotiation and regulatory framework conditions, the course of corporate transactions and their German-Chinese peculiarities are dealt with in detail. The book concludes with a guide to the core aspects of such transactions and an exemplary presentation of case studies. In generally understandable language and well illustrated, the success factors as well as possible stumbling blocks are revealed. A clearly structured and cleverly formulated handbook that every player should have at hand.




Conflict and Innovation: Joint Ventures in China


Book Description

This book features China’s newly emergent transnational management culture. It uses established and new methodologies to analyze how different types of Sino-foreign joint enterprises manage cultural differences and negotiate strategies that contain conflicts and frustrations. In doing so, the book suggests alternative pathways toward innovative business management in China.




The Chinese Business Environment


Book Description

This unique annotated bibliography contains the most important studies of the Chinese business environment, comprising almost 1000 references to articles published in English-language journals in the past fifteen years or so. The editors have sought to focus on those writings that deal fairly directly with the impact of the Chinese business environment on foreign firms doing business in China. Each work is fully referenced in a standard format, has a brief description of its subject matter and has been given a classification code ensuring quick and easy identification of all articles on any given subject. This book will serve as a reference book for scholars and researchers of Asian studies - China most particularly - and international business. Senior executives and middle level managers of multinational corporations who have been operating in, or who wish to business in and with China would also find this a useful and rich source of information.




Area Studies, Business and Culture


Book Description

As the level of globalization in business relationships rises, the importance of questions and problems pertaining to intercultural communication increases more and more. This gives rise to new tasks for the social sciences, which can only be successfully performed through interdisciplinary cooperation in the sense of area-studies. Between 1995 and 2002 for area, the Bavarian research network for area-studies, drew together numerous members of the scientific community who are specialized in the social sciences to pursue previously unresearched topics in areas of overlap of business and culture as exemplified in non-European regions. The most important results are collated here.




Strategies of German Car Companies in China


Book Description

In 2009, the PRC overtook the USA as the biggest automotive market in the world in production as well as in sales. With economic problems like stagnating real income, rising raw material prices and credit-driven consumerism in the industrial countries the importance of the Chinese market for car companies will even grow. Saturated passenger car markets in the USA and Western Europe and low rates of motorization in new automotive markets like China focus the attention of the market participants on these new, growing markets. The focus of this study is on the passenger vehicle market and lines out why the Chinese market is profitable and attractive for international manufacturers. Moreover, it shows how to deal with the problems and how to use the opportunities regarding the dimensions of internationalization. Firstly, the PEST-Analysis of the Chinese automobile market lines out the political-legal, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors. In such a rapidly changing and growing as well as culturally completely different country like the PRC, the framework conditions and circumstances are of big importance for foreign enterprises willing to do business there. The third chapter deals with possible internationalization strategies for China by showing possibilities of timing and market development strategies plus options for locating business markets. This is also further established in the fourth chapter, in which the internationalization strategies of two German enterprises are analyzed. Furthermore the fourth chapter analyses the internationalization strategies of VW and BMW. At the end of this thesis, the results are summarized in two SWOT-analyses of both firms including measures on how to deal with threats in the PRC and on how to benefit from strengths and opportunities.




Chinese M&As in Germany


Book Description

Chinese companies have been increasingly active in outbound investment in recent years, with Germany the third largest destination in Europe. Adopting an analytical approach and utilizing case studies and expert interviews, this book examines Chinese mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Germany, with a focus on the companies’ business growth, particularly the integration process and subsequent growth after acquisition. The authors contend that Chinese investors take a different approach than their western counterparts, by fostering a long-term orientation toward their investments and placing greater emphasis on co-evolution with the acquired firms rather than transfer of knowledge back to China. This book offers readers a behind-the-scenes story of three separate M&A cases, shedding light on the growth models that ensue from mergers and acquisitions, and the endeavors of Chinese and German managers to grow the businesses together.




The Changing Nature of Management in China


Book Description

Examines the changes in management in Chinese industry, analyzes the requirements and methods suggested for managerial development, related to the overall organizational structure of industry, and presents case studies of trade and co-operation between China and various European countries.