The Chinese Transformation of Corporate Culture

Book excerpt: In recent years, Chinese policymakers and corporate leaders have focused enormous attention on the concept of corporate culture. Despite its widespread influence among Chinese corporate leaders and policymakers, the corporate culture phenomenon has not been studied in detail by non-Chinese scholars. This book will reveal the political, social and economic factors behind the enormous current interest in corporate culture in China and provide a wide range of case studies that focus on how large corporations like Haier, Huaweiand Mengniu have attempted to transform their cultures, and how they represent themselves as complying with the Chinese government’s interpretation of "positive" corporate culture. Hawes demonstrates how the foreign concept of corporate culture has been re-defined in China to fit the Chinese political, social and cultural context. He examines how this re-definition of corporate culture reflects a uniquely Chinese conception of the purposes and social functions of the capitalist business corporation and how the Chinese Communist Party’s active promotion of "socialist" corporate culture evidences a shift in the Party’s identity towards a business-friendly champion of corporate and economic development. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Business and Management and Chinese studies.