IN CHINA, BETWEEN GUANXI AND THE CELESTIAL BUREAUCRACY

摘要

In analysing the reaction of the local workforce to the management style introduced by Lafarge in its cement division subsidiary in China, we came up against a general question that puzzles companies rooted in the West but with subsidiaries in that country. These firms seem to face a key dilemma: should they adapt themselves to "Chinese" management? Or should they - and can they - practise management in conformity with the orientations taken by the parent company? Or yet again, should they look to implement some sort of synthesis taking into account both Chinese and "Western" practises (with all the ambiguity implied by the latter)?