Corporate Political Strategies of Private Chinese Firms - Tapa dura

This book is about how Chinese entrepreneurs deal with China’s most important institution-the government-in their struggle to survive and even prosper in China’s transitional economy. It takes an "inside look" at several private firms in China and provides a first-hand account, as well as the underlying rationale and decision considerations, of their corporate political strategy. The book is based firmly on solid academic research but actually written with both practitioners and scholars in mind. It offers candid and insightful quotes and observations from the owners and executives of China’s private firms with regards to their dealing with the government.

This book advances a typology of corporate political strategies based on the respective motivations of the business (the entrepreneurs and their firms) and the government (the government institutions and individual officials) as well as the modes of their interactions. Eight different types of political strategies by China’s private firms are identified and illustrated with real-life examples, ranging from one-night-stand, situational shopper, good ole friend, patronage seeker, model volunteer, institutional improviser, direct participator, to red hat insider. The book also dissects a living case and traces the development of one particular private firm, from its humble start-up to present day glory, which fittingly illustrates the evolution and dynamics of the various types of political strategies the firm employed at different stages of its growth.

For anyone who wants to understand China’s private firms and the Chinese government, thus be able to deal with them more effectively, this book is a must-read.

Hao Ma is Professor of management and academic director of Beijing International MBA Program (BiMBA), National School of Development, at Peking university. He earned his Ph.D. in Strategic Management from The University of Texas at Austin, and held faculty positions in the US, Japan, and China. He has published in leading English and Chinese outlets, authored about a dozen books, and lectured frequently to both academic and business audiences on a wide range of topics relating to the management of business firms in global competition.

Shu Lin is a research fellow at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). She received her Ph.D. from Peking University. Her research interests focus on corporate political strategy and business-government relationship in transitional China.

Neng Liang is Professor of management and Associate Dean (Faculty) at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). He obtained an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Ph.D. from Indiana University (Bloomington). He was on the tenured faculty of Loyola University of Maryland, and taught in the United States and Europe before returning to China. He is vise president-elect of International Association of Chinese Management Research (IACMR). Neng Liang and Shu Lin's research on erroneous learning from the West won the Carolyn Dexter Best International Paper Award at the 2005 annual meeting of the Academy of Management (Aom)