Wellington K. K. Chan

The Organizational Structure of the Traditional Chinese Firm and its Modern Reform

Whatever economic growth and development took place in nineteenth-century China, it was by no means an expansion highlighted by a commercial and industrial revolution comparable to that which occurred in Great Britain, the United States, and Japan. While many factors accounted for these alternative paths of change, one element was clearly the differing organization of business enterprise. In this essay, Professor Chan examines the organizational structure of the traditional Chinese firm during the nineteenth century. Then he presents two case studies, one of which illustrates how an enterprise developed an innovative strategy of growth based upon traditional Chinese methods, and a second that illustrates how a company wedded western managerial practices to the Chinese model with spectacular results. While it would be dangerous to generalize about the entire Chinese managerial experience from such a limited number of firms, their successful, though divergent paths of development do indeed suggest the role that traditional Chinese organizational methods had in stifling modern development as well as the influence that western practices and techniques would have on Chinas growth in the early to middle years of the twentieth century.

Personal Styles, Cultural Values and Management: The Sincere and Wing on Companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong, 1900–1941

While retailing a great variety of goods under one roof and single management already existed in China by the late nineteenth century, modern style department stores on the China coast began only in 1900. Organized by Chinese entrepreneurs who had started their careers in Australia, they consciously borrowed managerial techniques from abroad. Sincere and Wing On, the two premier Chinese department stores, expanded rapidly during diese years and, in the process, developed new forms of organization and strategy based on western models as well as on traditional Chinese business practices and cultural values. When political and economic turmoil during the 1920s and 1930s slowed the growth of these companies, Wing On emerged more successfully tban Sincere. Wing Ons path diverged from that of its competitor because its stronger management team was better at blending individual personality, western organization and Chinese cultural values.

Chinese Business Networking and the Pacific Rim: The Family Firm's Roles Past and Present

It would be difficult to imagine a firm operating any business without some form of networking. Chinese businesses, however, are distin guished by the multifaceted and critical roles networking plays. Own ers, managers, and the firms themselves are intertwined in a complex of relationships. Why this is so bears on the nature of Chinese society and the evolution of the Chinese economy. Networking among Chi nese business has added poignancy for the Pacific Rim touching the Asian and North American shores, because the regions vast territo rial expanse, multiple political boundaries, and opposing economic systems make its successful performance more necessary, and be cause since the last decade, Chinese enterprises appear to be arriving on the scene with such force and speed. Yet, the current expansion of both Chinese migrants and their economic activities from their traditional homeland to the various

Unequal treaty, 1898-1997 : China, Great Britain, and Hong Kong's New Territories

This text describes the history and development of the Convention of Peking 1898 and the lease of the New Territories to Great Britain by China. This resulted in this area becoming part of the British colony of Hong Kong. The expiry date of the agreement was 1 July 1997, and now the date has passed, Hong Kong and the leased territories have returned to China. Since this date, various classified British government records and files have become available which shed new light on some aspects of the history of the Convention, and it is this information that has been incorporated into this edition. In addition, the author outlines the Joint Declaration and the events leading up to the expiry of the lease.