Guanxi Capitalism in China: the role of private enterprises and networks for economic development

  • This dissertation sets out to analyze the socio-economic structures behind a variety of capitalism that relies heavily on traditional (and insofar out-dated) institutions, especially networks, for its success. The specifics and advantages of business networks for small firms are well established in the literature but it rarely refers to China. It is argued that although similarities exist, Chinese networks are different to their European counterparts and therefore play a more prominent role for the Chinese economic system than networks elsewhere do. Here, personal relations are not separated into a private and a business sphere or exchanged by contractual, and in Western thinking more rational, means of doing business. Personal relations expose comparative efficiency as they are chosen as the most capable instrument for the private sector in China which makes the system as successful as we can observe today. Therefore, this dissertation will scrutinize the specific socio-economic environment of private firms and their networks in China, thereby dissecting a new form of Capitalism that extrapolates traditional institutions for its economic success and survival instead of supplanting and overwriting traditional socio-economic structures. This challenges Weber’s distinction between rational and traditional behavior and redefines the boundaries of economy, society and culture in a new way.

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Metadaten
Author:Susanne Rühle
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-230024
Referee:Tamas Bauer, Bertram SchefoldORCiDGND
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:German
Date of Publication (online):2011/10/21
Year of first Publication:2011
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Granting Institution:Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität
Date of final exam:2011/07/13
Release Date:2011/10/21
Page Number:393
HeBIS-PPN:278651992
Institutes:Wirtschaftswissenschaften / Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht