Working for laowai: Chinese shopfloor workers perceptions of employment in a Western multinational

1
Working for laowaiChinese shopfloor workers
perceptions of employment in a Western
multinational

• Research Seminar 26 November 2003 at Royal
  Holloway
• Dr Jos Gamble
• School of Management
• Royal Holloway
• University of London

2
Abstract

• There is a growing body of research on human
  resource management practices in China.
  Overwhelmingly, these studies are based upon
  surveys or interviews with managers and
  professionals. Although recent studies portray
  Chinas labour-management system as being in a
  state of transition, relatively little attention
  has been paid to the perceptions and experiences
  of shopfloor employees. This neglect ignores the
  extent to which HRM practices transferred from
  Western countries, for instance, are refracted
  through host-country cultural and institutional
  lenses. We cannot read off from the UK context
  how Chinese employees might respond to any
  particular practice. The ethnographically
  inspired case study approach employed in this
  paper enabled the author to elicit employees
  reports of their own experiences of differing
  employment regimes in actual workplaces and to
  explore the ways in which practices on the
  shopfloor are interpreted and negotiated by
  actors. This paper explores a range of
  questions What motivates Chinese people to work
  in a foreign firm? What expectations do they have
  of such firms? How does their experience of
  employment in these firms compare with that in
  previous firms, especially state-owned
  enterprises? How do Chinese employees respond to
  these differences? The data for this paper are
  derived from research carried out in 1999, 2000,
  2002 and 2003 at stores owned by a British
  multinational retailer during which over 120
  semi-structured interviews were conducted with a
  cross-section of employees.

3
Introduction

• The spirit of unity here is very good, its like
  one big family, its very stable. Even though
  its a foreign company they respect us and listen
  to our opinions. We get the feeling that this
  company is our family and we all want it to do
  well. First names of expatriate managers
  cannot speak Chinese, but theyre very polite.
  Our foreigners (laowai) are very good, they
  respect us. Service desk supervisor

4
Introduction (2)

• HRM generally derives data from surveys (e.g.
  Rosenzweig and Nohria 1994) or interviews with
  managers (Monks 1996).
• Clark et al remark, it is important to focus on
  individuals as consumers of change (1998 7).
• Organisations suffused with competing interests
  (e.g. Turnbull and Wass 1998).
• Little phenomenological research in China.

5
Is China still a transitional economy?

• Ongoing structural changes in economy and nature
  of employees relationship to the workplace.
• Composition of economy changing significantly
• - 1980-2000, China utilised 336 bn in FDI.
• - 1978-2002 approved 427,720 FDI projects.
• - Foreign invested enterprises contribution to
  the
• economy, 1 of exports in 1985, 52 in 2002.
• Private sector - late 1970s under 1 of the
  economy. By early 2000, approximately 38 of
  services output.

6
Chinas transitional economy

• Shanghai, number of private companies rose from
  under 2,400 in 1991 to 109,974 by 2000.
• State-owned enterprises (SOE) role contracted -
  1980, 76 industrial output, 25.5 in 1997 (Smyth
  2000).
• SOEs face intensified competition from domestic
  and multinational firms (Nolan and Wang 1998).
• Number of SOEs in China fell from 102,300 in 1989
  to 42,900 by mid-2002.

7
The state SOEs are in

• Since mid-1980s, nature of enterprises roles in
  workers lives has changed considerably.
• In larger SOEs from mid-1950s-to mid-80s
  centrally planned job allocation, lifetime
  employment, egalitarian reward systems,
  cradle-to-grave welfare benefits (Shenkar 1996
  Lü and Perry 1997).
• SOEs workers tied into a system of organized
  dependency (Walder 1986).
• This model steadily eroded (Goodall and Warner
  1997 Benson and Zhu 1999 Warner 1999 Ding et
  al 2000).

8
Cracking rice-bowls

• - Reward systems being reformed.
• - Contributory medical schemes, schooling costs
  have risen substantially.
• - Since 1998, rapid commercialisation of property
  market, e.g. by 2000 over 400,000 Shanghai
  residents had used housing loans to buy their own
  homes (Shanghai Star 2000a).
• Minimal job mobility (Davis 1990) replaced by
  choice.
• Morris et al the results of the reforms to
  date are still very far from representing the
  emergence of a real labour market in China
  (2001 701).

9
Choice and insecurity

• Iron rice bowls replaced by threat of
  unemployment and income insecurity (Cook and
  Maurer-Fazio 1999 Gu 1999 Morris et al 2001).
• It is reported that 30 million SOE employees were
  laid off between 1998 and 2002.
• State planners intention is that FDI will bring
  updated products, equipment and technology,
  advanced management expertise and HRM systems
  (Pearson 1991 Child 1994 Hayter and Han 1998).

10
Transfer of HR practices

• Researchers observe limits to introduction of new
  HRM systems, for example
• Warner (1999) organizational inertia
  constrains foreign investors from implanting new
  human resource management systems and practices.
• Ding et al The degree to which foreign
  investment may implant new human resource
  management systems and techniques is constrained
  by the Chinese context, particularly the cultural
  and institutional heritage of the SOE (2000
  219).

11
Getting connected in China

• Guanxi, connections, extensively explored in
  sociological and business literature (Yang 1994
  Tsang 1998 Gold et al 2002).
• Guanxi dyadic, personal relations between
  people who can make demands on each other. The
  stronger the guanxi, the more demands can be
  imposed (Tung and Worm 2001 521).

12
Guanxi - making the wrong connection?

• Tung and Worm conclude guanxi is an integral
  component of doing business in China and guanxi
  is required at all stages in the companys
  operations in China (ibid 525).
• My findings contradict this assertion, and
  especially with regard to the recruitment and
  management of human resources in China.
• Firms that too readily adopt the Chinese way of
  doing things, may squander valuable resources
  that differentiate them as employers.

13
Methodology

• The journey as an analogy for research.
• HRM literatures focus largely on management.
• Anthropological accounts focus on workers in
  export-processing factories in S. China (e.g. Lee
  1998).
• Business and organizational studies that claim to
  focus on labour lack voices of local employees
  (e.g. Benson and Zhu 1999 Morris et al 2001).

14
Anthropology and HRM

• Anthropology has much to offer studies in HRM,
  but few organisational ethnographies (Rosen 1991
  Bate 1997 Linstead 1997).
• Factors behind this absence
• - Time-consuming and difficult nature of
  participant observation
• - Form of ethnographic writing
• - Language acquisition
• - Access dependent upon management cooperation
  (Clark et al 1998 6).

15
The texture of anthropological research (Bate
1997)

• Historical - interest in living history
• Contextual, individuals located in temporal,
  physical, and institutional contexts
• Process orientated
• Actor-centred a commitment to learning
  something about their world and what they make of
  it (ibid 1160).
• Inductive and grounded in the everyday reality
  of the people it studies (Linstead 1997 95).

16
Ethnographic research

• Problematic aspects of ethnographic research
• - The problem with reality
• - Insufficient data
• This paper informed by ethnographic methodology
• - Use of target language
• - Relatively long time frame
• - Inductive approach
• Research adopted what Marcus (1995) terms a
  multi-sited approach of mobile ethnography

17
Real types and ideal types

• Typically, analysts compare adoption of Western
  practices against ideal type model of SOE
  practices.
• FDI provides a means of comparison for those
  workers who can see both foreign and indigenous
  managers in their everyday work lives (Nicols et
  al 2002 740).
• DStore particularly suitable to comparisons
  since
• - Strategy to replicate parent country practices
  
• - Greenfield sites with no established
  workforce
• - UK side has full operational control
• - Preference to recruit those with work
  experience

18
Self criticism

• Reflexivity merely a rhetorical device?
• Seeking further interpretations from the
  audience.
• Conditions under which the knowledge contained
  within this paper was constructed
• Bias toward better-run firms.
• Human factors disinclination to take on board
  negative disconfirmatory evidence (cf. Popper).

19
The meaning of is

• Might informants gloss over negative features?
• Ethnographer and political struggles in
  workplaces.
• Retrospective accounts a re-membering of
  history (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983 Zonabend
  1984).
• How do we know what people really mean?
• ?? culture?
• no one is quite sure what culture is (Geertz
  2000).
• Steeling at Sainsburys?

20
Introduction to DStore

• June 1999, StoreCo opened Dstore in Shanghai.
• Second store, also in Shanghai, opened May 2000.
• 11 new stores up to September 2003.
• Intention to open 60 stores by end of 2007.
• Employees c. 2/3 male, 1/3 female, aged c. 27-28.
  
• Since 2000, day-to-day store management
  transferred to local managers.
• Research undertaken in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003.
• Over 120 semi-structured interviews with
  cross-section of employees in Shanghai and Suzhou.

21
Table 1 Grading structure in DStore

• Grade 2 Customer assistants, receiving desk
  staff, warehouse staff, clerical workers
• Grade 3 Customer advisors, deputy supervisors
• Grade 4 Supervisors
• Grade 5 Assistant store managers (ASM)
• Grade 6 Store managers (SM)

22
The view from the shopfloor employees
experiences of employment in a MNE

• Motives to join
• Ritzer (1993) sees a proliferation of de-skilled
  McJobs in service work.
• I applied here because I saw that it was an
  Anglo-Chinese joint venture with a management
  that was blazing new trails (chuanzxin de), so I
  came here to learn/study (xuexi). Showroom
  deputy supervisor

23
Work pace

• You have to walk a bit faster here. Deputy
  supervisor from local hardware store
• Here work time is work time, in my previous job
  we only worked 2-3 hours per day. Supervisor in
  paint and decoration, formerly in SOE store
• Communist Party management is comparatively
  relaxed. Customer assistant

24
Company rules and procedures

• Rules and procedures in SOEs relatively
  uncodified, discipline dependent on
  particularistic relationships.
• Extensive (jiquan) regularised procedures at
  DStore.
• Local employees sought more rigorous system of
  discipline than that introduced by British
  managers.

25
Discipline and punish

• The regulations here are very lax, foreign
  companies take more time to discipline people,
  its a bit too slow. Warehouse employee
• Management is not strict enough, if an employee
  drops something and breaks it they should be
  fined. Supervisor loss prevention
• Under pressure from local managers, expatriate
  managers discussed whether to introduce fines for
  breakages.

26
Relationships with co-workers

• Relations with co-workers generally good in SOEs
  and FIEs, but rivalries and disputes in some
  SOEs.
• The spirit of unity emanates from the top levels
  down and spreads outwards (huxiang chuanran),
  people help each other. Supervisor
• There is a spirit of unity with work colleagues
  for example, we go out for meals, and link up
  (goutong). At my last job each person looked out
  for themselves (ge ren guan ge ren), we just
  worked together and then each to her own. Deputy
  supervisor

27
Relationships with superiors

• In my previous job it was, "Im a leader, youre
  a worker - it was a very clear divide.
  Gardening customer assistant
• In SOEs the levels in the hierarchy are more
  clearly demarcated. Here people are more equal,
  everybody works together to help each person
  develop their potential. Here leaders help out,
  in a SOE they wouldnt do this. Employees can
  make recommendations via a suggestion box or tell
  first names of SM and ASM. Each level of the
  leadership is quite open. Clerk

28
Relationships with superiors (2)

• The strongest impression when I came here was
  that the differences between the high levels and
  the lower levels are not clearly demarcated, its
  easy to be close, its people-centred (yi ren wei
  ben). Everyone uses first names, we feel that
  were all in the same company, were all
  co-workers, we all have the same objective. Here
  the management dont issue orders, its very
  harmonious. Its like a large extended family.
  This is due to DStores culture it has entered
  the employees (yi ren lai chufa). Trade desk
  deputy supervisor

29
Relationships with superiors (3)

• Relations between upper and lower levels are
  very warm and polite. In the SOE, management
  didnt interact (da jiaohu) with the rest of the
  staff. Showroom customer assistant
• Theres an obvious difference to my former
  retail SOE. There the leaders ordered you to
  work in a department, here you can ask the
  supervisor if you want to move departments.
  Checkout deputy supervisor
• There is not a feeling of distance between
  workers and leaders, we feel close. Leaders have
  a feeling for us, this encourages workers, it
  makes people willing to work hard. Showroom
  customer advisor

30
Relationships with superiors (4)

• A warehouse worker described DStores management
  style Very tolerant and warm-hearted, the
  managers show concern for you. In the SOE store,
  even though I was there for one year, the
  managers didnt even know my name, here were
  very familiar with first names of expatriate
  managers. Here workers have a spirit of unity,
  at the old company it always felt that workers
  were workers and managers were managers, but
  here we feel that workers and managers are
  together, its harmonious.

31
Back to the 1950s?

• Shopfloor staff described workplace relations as
  - - fraternal (xiongdi guanxi)
• - the firm had a spirit of unity (tuanjie
  jingshen)
• - extended-family atmosphere (da jiating
  fengwei)
• - a family-like feel (qinqi ganjue).
• A supervisor with 30 years work experience,
  commented, Chinese leaders just issue orders,
  here relations between people are equal. I joke
  that DStores way of having no distance between
  people is like China in the 1950s. Then
  everybody tightened their belts and worked
  together.

32
Expatriates self-presentation

• Local employees impressed by example and
  self-presentation of the expatriate managers.
• Expatriate manager found that compared to the UK
  everyone here is very conscious of their level,
  they do not question those above them.
• The UK managers are very polite, we like working
  with them, theyre easy going and treat us as
  equals (pingyi jinren). Chinese managers in
  other companies are separated from the masses
  (tuoli qunzhong), and not willing to interact
  with workers. Deputy supervisor decorative
  materials section

33
Visible symbols of company culture

• DStores use of a common uniform a reversion to
  practice common during the Maoist era.
• Chinese companies use formal address - a
  military style approach.
• In this cultural and institutional context,
  introduction of first-name terms constituted a
  radical innovation.
• The absence of managerial signifiers extended to
  managers office space.

34
Managerial discontent

• An ASM expressed some discontent over absence of
  managerial perks
• Everybody here has the same uniform. In local
  firms managers wear a tie to make a difference.
  Here its confusing for local customers. If a
  customer looks for a manager and they see me
  dressed like this, they wont believe Im a
  manager and theyll think, youre lying, you
  dont look like a manager. Management would
  prefer to wear a more formal tie and suit, like
  they do at Carrefour. But its a company rule.
  I know the companys purpose is to show that
  everyone is equal and that we are all down to
  earth, but people have never had this experience.
  The image is not right, managers should be more
  formal for the customers, its more business
  like. Working with the employees on the
  shopfloor its okay.

35
Relationships with superiors (9)

• Morning briefings, company magazine and in-house
  consultation system Grass Roots.
• Grass Roots gives us a feeling of being on an
  equal level (tongdeng), the company wants to know
  what employees think. Trade desk customer
  assistant
• SOEs have tended to be secretive (Child and
  Markoczy 1993 613-4).
• An ASM agreed that the company culture is very
  open, but concerned that it can take a longer
  time to reach a decision.

36
Relationships with superiors (10)

• Experiences of other FIEs firms of different
  national origin placed in a hierarchy of
  desirability.
• Customer assistant recalled at his previous firm,
  a HK-owned store, there was a feeling, Im the
  one in charge (dangguan de), Im the boss (tou),
  youre the common people (laobaixing) so I look
  down on you.
• Timber supervisor recalled his former Japanese
  store had been ordering-style (mingling shi).
• Achieving Maos revolutionary goal in a
  capitalist firm?

37
Favouritism/particularistic ties

• The work environment here is relaxed
  relationships are just work-based. In SOEs there
  are lots of complicated guanxi here its all for
  work and the customer. Perhaps the reason for
  this is due to training. I followed the example
  of the supervisor. Hardware deputy supervisor
• At DStore, there are not the Chinese things of a
  guanxi net. With a guanxi net people try to
  bring in friends and relatives. DStore is new,
  people are sent to the jobs theyre good at.
  Loss prevention supervisor

38
Favouritism/particularistic ties (2)

• The management approach is completely different
  to my last work unit. There everything depended
  on guanxi and human feelings (renqing). Here it
  depends on your brain (kao naozi) and your own
  efforts. Showroom customer advisor
• Its a different approach here social
  connections (shehui guanxi) are most important in
  a SOE, here its what is inside one (neixin).
  Assistant store manager

39
Favouritism/particularistic ties (3)

• A new recruit to the checkout, direct from
  school, attracted to the firm since, I didnt
  want to rely upon guanxi and currying favour (pai
  mapi) British management is via competition and
  not guanxi.
• An ASM who had worked for a SOE department store
  In SOEs relationships are more complicated, but
  here the employees all come from different places
  so there are no conflicts like there are in SOEs.
  In FIEs guanxi is much less relevant, instead
  there is good management its a real nuisance to
  be concerned with who is whos cousin and so on.

40
Favouritism/particularistic ties (4)

• Employment relations homologous with relationship
  between customer assistants and customers.
• Tung and Worm (2001) stress need for FIEs to
  adapt to an environment where guanxi is all
  important.
• But comments from employees show a positive
  endorsement of bureaucratic and market based
  employment relations.
• Findings concur with Guthries (1999) assertion
  that foreign firms are fostering emergence of
  formal rational structures and systems in China.

41
Walking to market

• Comments reminiscent of Fei Xiaotongs
  observation that Chinese villagers would walk
  miles to a market where they could exchange goods
  and act without human feelings (1992 126-7).
• Chinese employees who move to a foreign firm
  place a metaphorical distance between themselves
  and wider Chinese society.

42
Opportunities for promotion and individual
development

• In a SOE it doesnt matter if you do more or
  less, here it makes a difference if you do well
  or badly. Administration supervisor
• The most important lesson that the employees
  should take away from the induction training is
  that DStore is performance orientated. You can
  develop (fahui) your ability and should not just
  wait for orders. Training manager

43
Opportunities (2)

• At this company you can develop your individual
  speciality (fahui geren techan). My former SOE
  was more inflexible they didnt want you to
  think too much. Assistant store manager
• DStore has a comparatively large space for
  individual development. At the SOE you would
  never feel, I havent finished my work yet, I
  should stay and get it finished. Here there is
  a higher demand on oneself. There were no
  expectations of you at the SOE. Here, when you
  expend more, you get something back. Decorative
  materials deputy supervisor

44
Opportunities (3)

• An ASM recruited from a rival state store
  described DStore as a study/learning enterprise
  (xuexi qiye), and his former workplace as an
  existence enterprise (shengcun qiye).
• A customer assistant, a former state restaurant
  kitchen worker In a SOE the master (lao shifu)
  is always the master. In a joint venture good
  people get promotion.

45
Opportunities (4)

• Aspects of corporate culture interfaced with a
  rising tide of individualism in Chinese society.
• Employees remarked that
• - There is a greater expectation of oneself
  (dui ziji
• yaoqiu yange yi dian)
• - There is space to develop oneself (ziji
  fahui de
• yudi)
• - Each person can develop their own use (fahui
• mei ge ren de zuoyong).

46
Security of employment

• The most common questions asked by new recruits
  are Will the welfare benefits improve?, Will
  DStore develop quickly?, and How long can I
  stay in DStore?. Training manager
• I applied to DStore because I knew it was a
  large international UK company and compared to
  other companies its strong (shili xionghou) and
  stable. Now, as many companies are going
  bankrupt and the employees are laid-off, older
  employees especially want stability. Decorative
  materials customer assistant with 15 years
  experience in a bicycle factory

47
Security of employment (2)

• Workers feel that if you dont make a big
  mistake you can stay for 3, 5, 8 years... But in
  some companies they throw you out with little
  notice, then workers lack a sense of security
  (anquan gan). People feel that if you have a
  one-year contract here, you can easily renew it.
  Also DStore employees can easily get jobs
  elsewhere as competition between supermarkets
  includes competition for staff. Assistant Store
  Manager

48
Security of employment (3)

• Factors workers consider when they decide whether
  to work for DStore tended to differ according to
  their age (gender being far less apparent).
• Younger employees attracted by training and rapid
  promotion opportunities.
• Older employees desire for stability and
  security extended to concern with improved
  welfare benefits.

49
Security of employment (4)

• Isomorphic pressures to recreate the relaxed,
  leisurely environment of SOEs with their
  attendant social welfare benefits (cf. Francis
  1996).
• Employees' benchmarked levels of their salary,
  bonuses and welfare benefits against their former
  workplaces.
• Employees comparisons had a persuasive force
  that could not easily be ignored (cf. Korczynski
  2002).

50
Conclusions

• Dangers in reading too much from micro-contexts
• Are findings dependent upon short time frame,
  specific culture and practices of this company,
  and particular expatriates involved?
• Rosenzweig and Nohria (1994) suggest when firms
  become more embedded in the local environment
  they increasingly take on practices that prevail
  locally.

51
Power distance revisited

• Divergence supports notion of substantial
  cultural distance between UK and China (Lockett
  1988 Easterby-Smith et al 1995).
• Employees representations of SOEs as suffused by
  entrenched hierarchies uphold perspective of high
  power-distance relationship (Hofstede 1984).
• But cultural distance not an insurmountable
  barrier to transfer of HRM practices from the UK.
  
• Firm transferred a management approach apparently
  antithetical to local practices and norms.

52
Cultural dimensions revisited

• Findings alert us to the processual nature of
  culture.
• From dialectic of global firms/local labour a
  synthesis emerges.
• An expatriate manager reflected on managers
  recruited from SOEs Even though people like
  xxx have not been out of China, they have
  adapted very well, they are closer to us in terms
  of how they run things.
• Stretching the organisation into a new shape.

53
Isomorphing and transforming

• Isomorphic pressures to recreate environment of
  SOEs most likely to come from older employees.
• Management practices developed in one cultural
  and institutional environment (Whitley 1992)
  transferred to alien environments do not enter a
  void.
• Process of consumption inherently dialectical
  transferred practices may both mean and become
  something rather different in a novel context.

54
Power-distance? - No thank you

• The ordinary and mundane became extraordinary and
  innovative.
• Hierarchy and Asian values - cultural
  dimensions are not indelible.
• Persistence of organisational and political
  structures that underpin and maintain high P-D
  relationships does not equate to a positive
  endorsement of such arrangements by those at the
  receiving end.

55
Bridging distances

• Expatriates with appropriate technical and
  personal skills can reduce the friction of
  cultural distance.
• Preparation for expatriate posting just get in
  and stop whinging.
• Scything through the mystique and mythology
  surrounding the complexity of dealing with human
  resources in China.
• Rather than struggle to develop complex
  adaptations to the Chinese environment, firms
  would be better advised to hone and refine their
  technical expertise.

56
Market-based employment relations how far have
they come in China?

• Tremendous flux with main props of organisational
  dependency jettisoned or eroded in SOEs.
• In this region at least, Morris et al.s (2001
  701) conclusion that China lacks a real labour
  market is already outdated.
• China growing closer to the US model than
  Japanese model of capitalism.

57
An inductive leap (Christmas time for turkeys?)

• As Guthrie (1999) comments, the diminishing role
  of connections in the labour market process might
  have wider consequences for Chinese society.
• Changes to workplace-based relationships might
  have mimetic reverberations for social relations
  generally.
• Ordering of foreign firms into a moral hierarchy
  - suggestive of political preferences?
• When does transition end and how will we
  recognise this time?

58
References

• Bate, S.P. (1997) Whatever happened to
  organizational anthropology? A review of the
  field of organizational ethnography and
  anthropological studies, Human Relations 50(9)
  1147-75.
• Benson, J. and Zhu, Y. (1999) Markets, firms and
  workers in Chinese state-owned enterprises,
  Human Resource Management Journal 9(4) 58-74.
• Björkman, I. and Lu, Y. (1999) The management of
  human resources in Chinese-Western joint
  ventures, Journal of World Business, 34(4)
  306-324.
• CED. (1988) A Chinese-English Dictionary.
  Beijing Shangwu Yinshuguan.
• Child, J. (1994) Management in China During the
  Age of Reform. Cambridge Cambridge University
  Press.
• Child, J. and Markoczy, L. (1993) Host-country
  managerial behaviour and learning in Chinese and
  Hungarian joint ventures, Journal of Management
  Studies 30(4) 611-631.
• Clark, T., Mabey, C. and Skinner, D. (1998)
  Experiencing HRM the importance of the inside
  story, p.1-13 in C. Mabey, D. Skinner and T.
  Clark (eds) Experiencing Human Resource
  Management. London Sage.
• Cook, S. and Maurer-Fazio, M. (1999)
  Introduction to special issue of The workers
  state meets the market labour in transition,
  Journal of Development Studies 35(3) 1-15.
• Davis, D.S. (1990) Urban job mobility, p.85-108
  in D. Davis and E.F. Vogel (eds) Chinese Society
  on the Eve of Tiananmen. Harvard University The
  Council on East Asian Studies.
• Ding, D., Fields, D. and Akhtar, S. (1997) An
  empirical study of human resource management
  policies and practices in foreign-invested
  enterprises in China the case of Shenzhen
  Special Economic Zone, International Journal of
  Human Resource Management 8(5) 595-613.

59
References

• Ding, D.Z., and Akhtar, S. (2001) The
  organizational choice of human resource
  management practices a study of Chinese
  enterprises in three cities in the PRC,
  International Journal of Human Resource
  Management 12(6) 946-964.
• Ding, D.Z., Goddall, K. and Warner, M. (2000)
  The end of the iron rice-bowl whither Chinese
  human resource management?, International
  Journal of Human Resource Management 11(2)
  217-236.
• Easterby-Smith, M., Malina, D. and Yuan, L.
  (1995) How culture-sensitive is HRM? A
  comparative analysis of practice in Chinese and
  UK companies, International Journal of Human
  Resource Management 6(1) 31-59.
• Economist, The (2001) Persuading the reluctant
  spenders, 25 August.
• Fei, X. (1992) From the Soil The Foundations of
  Chinese Society (translated by G.C. Hamilton and
  W. Zheng). Berkeley University of California
  Press.
• Francis, C-B. (1996) Reproduction of Danwei
  institutional features in the context of Chinas
  market economy the case of Haidian Districts
  high-tech sector, China Quarterly 147 839-859.
• Gamble, J. (2000) Localizing management in
  foreign-invested enterprises in China practical,
  cultural, and strategic perspectives,
  International Journal of Human Resource
  Management 11(5) 883-903.
• Gamble, J. (2003a) Shanghai in Transition
  Changing Perspectives and Social Contours of a
  Chinese Metropolis. London RoutledgeCurzon.
• Gamble, J. (2003b) Transferring business
  practices from the United Kingdom to China the
  limits and potential for convergence,
  International Journal of Human Resource
  Management 14(3) 369-387.

60
References

• Geertz, C. (2000) Available Light
  Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical
  Topics. Princeton Princeton University Press.
• Gold, T., Guthrie, D. and Wank, D. (eds) (2002)
  Social Connections in China Institutions,
  Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi.
  Cambridge Cambridge University Press.
• Goodall, K. and Warner, M. (1997) Human
  resources in Sino-foreign joint ventures
  selected case studies in Shanghai, compared with
  Beijing, International Journal of Human Resource
  Management 8(5) 569-594.
• Goodall, K. and Warner, M. (1998) HRM dilemmas
  in China the case of foreign-invested
  enterprises in Shanghai, Asia Pacific Business
  Review 4(4) 1-21.
• Gu, E. (1999) From permanent employment to
  massive lay-offs the political economy of
  transitional unemployment in urban China
  (1993-8), Economy and Society 28(2) 281-299.
• Guthrie, D. (1999) Dragon in a three-piece suit
  the emergence of capitalism in China. Princeton
  Princeton University Press.
• HKTDC. Hong Kong Trade Development Council
  website, www.tdc.org.hk (various years).
• Hammersley, M. and Atikinson, P. (1995)
  Ethnography Principles in Practice. London
  Routledge.
• Hayter, R. and Han, S.S. (1998) Reflections on
  Chinas open policy towards foreign direct
  investment, Regional Studies 32(1) 1-16.
• Henley, J., Kirkpatrick, C. and Wilde, G. (1999)
  Foreign direct investment in China recent
  trends and current policy issues, The World
  Economy 22(2) 223-243.

61
References

• Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, R. (eds) (1983) The
  Invention of Tradition. Cambridge Cambridge
  University Press.
• Hofstede, G. (1984) Cultures Consequences
  International Differences in Work-Related Values.
  London Sage.
• Ilari, S. and La Grange, A. (1999) Transferring
  ownership-specific advantages to a joint venture
  in China, Asia Pacific Business Review 5(3/4)
  119-146.
• King, A.Y. (1991) Kuan-hsi and network building
  a sociological interpretation, Daedalus 120(2)
  63-84.
• Korczynski, M. (2002) Human Resource Management
  in Service Work. Basingstoke Palgrave.
• Lee, C. K. (1998) Gender and the South China
  Miracle Two Worlds of Factory Women, Berkeley
  University of California Press.
• Linstead, S. (1997) The social anthropology of
  management, British Journal of Management 8
  85-98.
• Lockett, M. (1988) Culture and the problems of
  Chinese management, Organization Studies 9(4)
  475-96.
• Lü, X. and Perry, E.J. (eds) (1997) Danwei The
  Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical and
  Comparative Perspective. New York M.E. Sharpe.
• Lu, Y. and Björkman, I. (1997) HRM practices in
  China-Western joint ventures MNC standardization
  versus localization, International Journal of
  Human Resource Management, 8(5) 614-628.
• Marcus, G.E. (1995) Ethnography in/of the world
  system the emergence of multi-sited
  ethnography, Annual Review of Anthropology 24
  95-117.

62
References

• Monks, K. (1996) Global or local? HRM in the
  multinational company the Irish experience,
  International Journal of Human Resource
  Management, 7(3) 721-735.
• Morris, J., Sheehan, J. and Hassard, J. (2001)
  From dependency to defiance? Work-unit
  relationships in Chinas state enterprise
  reforms, Journal of Management Studies 38(5)
  697-717.
• Nicols, T., Sugur, N. and Demir, E. (2002)
  Globalised management and local labour the case
  of the white-goods industry in Turkey,
  Industrial Relations Journal 33(1) 68-85.
• Nolan, P. and Wang, X. (1998) Beyond
  privatisation institutional innovation and
  growth in Chinas large state-owned enterprises,
  World Development 27(1) 169-200.
• Parish, W.L. and Whyte, M.K. (1984) Urban Life in
  Contemporary China. Chicago University of
  Chicago Press.
• Pearson, M.M. (1991) Joint Ventures in the
  Peoples Republic of China The Control of
  Foreign Direct Investment Under Socialism.
  Princeton Princeton University Press.
• Ritzer, G. (1993) The McDonaldization of Society,
  London Pine Forge Press.
• Rosen, M. (1991) Coming to terms with the field
  understanding and doing organizational
  ethnography, Journal of Management Studies 28
  1-24.
• Rosenzweig, P.M. and Nohria, N. (1994)
  Influences on human resource management
  practices in multinational corporations, Journal
  of International Business Studies 25(2) 229-251.

63
References

• Shanghai Star. (1997) Private sector blossoms,
  22 July 1.
• (2000a) Better house loan outlook, 11
  January 10.
• (2000b) Entrepreneurs hit the big time, 15
  February 10.
• Shenkar, O. (1996) The firm as a total
  institution reflections on the Chinese state
  enterprise, Organization Studies 17(6) 885-907.
  
• Smyth, R. (2000) Should China be promoting
  large-scale enterprise groups?, World
  Development 28(4).
• Tsang, E.W.K. (1998) Can guanxi be a source of
  sustained competitive advantage for doing
  business in China?, The Academy of Management
  Executive 12(2) 64-73.
• Tung, R.L. and Worm, V. (2001) Network
  capitalism the role of human resources in
  penetrating the China market, International
  Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(4)
  517-534.
• Turnbull, P. and Wass, V. (1998) Marksist
  management sophisticated human relations in a
  high street retail store, Industrial Relations
  Journal, 29(2) 98-111.
• Walder, A.G. (1986) Communist Neo-Traditionalism
  Work and Authority in Chinese Industry. Berkeley
  University of California Press.
• Warner, M. (1997) China's HRM in transition
  towards relative convergence?, Asia Pacific
  Business Review 3(4) 19-33.

64
References

• Warner, M. (1999) Human resources and management
  in China's hi-tech revolution a study of
  selected computer hardware, software and related
  firms in the PRC, International Journal of Human
  Resource Management 10(1) 1-20.
• Whitley, R. (1992) Business Systems in East Asia
  Firms, Markets and Societies. London Sage.
• Yang, M.M. (1994) Gifts, Favors and Banquets The
  Art of Social Relationships in China. Ithaca
  Cornell University Press.
• Young, E. (1989) On the naming of the rose
  interests and multiple meanings as elements of
  organizational culture, Organization Studies
  10(2) 187-206.
• Zonabend, F. (1984) The Enduring Memory Time and
  History in a French Village. Manchester
  Manchester University Press.