Business communication in interactions between mainland Chinese and western firms through Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries

Purpose-The paper aims to analyse the nature of business communication and its influence on relationships development between Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries sourcing from Mainland Chinese sellers involved in manufacturing for sale to Western buyer firms. Design/methodology/approach-A case study-driven methodology with purposeful sampling is applied to yield maximum variation in the sampling to elicit underlying tendencies and generative mechanisms that exist within and across the multiple cases of relationships. Findings-The paper finds that Mainland Chinese sellers and Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries tend not to have the close ties that might be expected. Mainland Chinese sellers constrained their use of social information, requiring Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries to use commercial information transfers to evaluate the trustworthiness of their Mainland Chinese partners. An ingroup/outgroup bias exacerbates the modesty bias of the Mainland Chinese and also hinders learning through the transfer of technical information within these Chinese interactions. On the other hand, Western buyers tend not to prefer social information interactions with their Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries, requiring these intermediaries to emphasise commercial information interactions to evaluate the trustworthiness of their Western buyers. Research limitations/implications-This research uses a restricted sample of case study respondents. Representative sampling across multiple contexts will assist in testing the generality of the findings. Practical implications-For the West to source increasingly attractive manufactures from Mainland China, Hong Kong intermediaries will remain fundamentally important even though this creates further interactions. The aggregate of these multiple exchange arrangements is less problematic than would be the case if Western business were to deal directly with the Mainland Chinese. Originality/value-This article sheds light on the nature of business communication interactions in a group of relationships between Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries and Mainland sellers, and buyers from the West. Implications for relationships development among the Chinese and Western actors are identified with propositions framed to guide further investigation.

Introduction: Arguments for a more grounded approach in management education

The article mentions the aims and objectives of the "Academy of Management Learning & Education" and introduces four essays in this issue. Milton R. Blood focuses on the role of business schools in generating actionable knowledge. Peter Navarro asserts that macroeconomics is necessary in MBA programs. Scott Julian and Joseph C. Ofori-Dankwa comment on business school accreditation and competition status. Michael Harmon offers an argument that competition status is negatively affecting research, teaching, and social objectives.

Positioning hierarchy in enterprise system change

There is a widening gulf in change literature between theoretical notions of evolving organisational form and the emerging reality that old and new organisational structures coexist. This paper explores this dichotomy in Enterprise Resource Planning change. It develops a cellular hierarchy framework to explain how different types of hierarchy coexist within the same organisation during the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning. © 2006 The Author; Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Training emotional intelligence: Presenting the results of an experimental study

This presentation outlines the results of an eighteen month study examining the effect of an emotions focused training intervention on the emotional intelligence of employees from a large public sector organisation. Utilising an experimental methodology, 280 staff attended a two-day program focused on training emotional intelligence skills and abilities. These interventions were created around Mayer and Salovey’s four-branch model of emotional intelligence (awareness, understanding, facilitation and management of emotions). The experimental group’s emotional intelligence was tested pre and post training using the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile (WEIP). In addition, a control group from the same organisation also completed the same measure at three points during the same eighteen month period. Analysis of the control and experimental group data were conducted, and whilst no changes were found in the control group, the experimental group’s overall emotional intelligence significantly improved post training. To further strengthen these findings, a measure of effect size using Cohen’s d was also conducted to assess the magnitude of the training intervention’s overall effect. Full results will be presented during the presentation, with feedback on the study and methods utilised encouraged from participants.