Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, December 29, 2008

Want examples to explain guanxi?

Dan Harris, writing on his "China Law Blog," offers these examples from businesses operating in China, Korea, and Russia.

You Want China Guanxi? You Can't Handle China Guanxi.


"Apologies to Jack Nicholson.

"Having grown up in a small Midwestern city, I have an inherent (and what I see as a healthy) distrust of government. Every government. Anywhere.

"I was yet again reminded why when I read this excellent Wall Street Journal article on British Petroleum's recent problems in Russia, entitled, "Misreading the Kremlin Costs BP Control in Russia Venture." BP thought its getting close with key Kremlin players would protect them in Russia. Most unfortunately, for BP, however, when its key Kremlin players fell out of favor, it too fell out of favor. Russia can be particularly problematic, but other countries certainly are not immune. I have seen up close and personal how allying with government can be like playing with fire...

"3. Many years ago, we had a client who ran a business on Chinese military bases. The whole practice was of questionable legality, but his closeness to a high ranking military official seemed to isolate the enterprise. Then the high ranking official retired and within less than a year, our client was off all the bases and a new company was there in its place..."

There are three other examples in the posting.

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home