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Focuses on business investments by Singaporean Chinese in Mainland China vis‐à‐vis the impact of the knowledge of the Chinese language, culture etc. on business success. The literature has shown four critical factors namely culture, guanxi, negotiation and communication as important facilitators for business investments in China. Chinese language, however, further moderates their influence on business investments. To explore the association between the Chinese language and the four critical factors, a sample t‐test was conducted. Additionally, the profile of Singaporean business investors in Mainland China was surveyed. The research provices insights for Singaporean and global business investors who are looking at Mainland China as a potential business opportunity.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative review and analysis of peer‐reviewed journal articles on overseas Chinese family businesses.

Journal articles were selected from relevant sources and broadly analyzed by research area, type of research (theoretical or empirical), geographical coverage, and method (quantitative or qualitative). The main themes of changes and continuity were identified and summarized.

The literature suggests that overseas Chinese family firms around the diaspora are beginning to differ from one nation to another. At the same time, the literature suggests the continuity of the challenge of the forces of globalization on overseas Chinese family firms and the need for these firms to learn to adapt and compete.

The findings suggest that future research would need to pay more attention to differences between overseas Chinese family businesses from one country to another.

This paper provides a novel comparative analytical review and summary of the literature on overseas Chinese family businesses in peer‐reviewed journals. It is useful for scholars who are new to the area.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the topic of the Chinese business model and provide a brief introduction to the papers in this special issue.

The paper explores the importance of studying business model in the Chinese market and summarises the eight papers in this issue.

The papers in this special issue address what the business model is in China, how it influences organizational outcomes, and how to build the business model in the Chinese market. These papers may be germane to both researchers and practitioners concerned with managing business model in China. For scholars, these papers broaden the understanding of business model and extend the theoretical boundaries of the business model from the Western to the Eastern context. For practitioners doing business in China, these papers give implications on how to build business models in China as well as what institutional and technological factors should be considered when designing their business models.

Further investigation is needed into the interaction among Chinese firms' activities on business model design and operation and the institutional, technological, and market environment.

Overall, these papers make remarkable contributions to our understanding of Chinese business model. The topics of these studies are various and the methods are also multiplex. Several interesting Chinese business models are addressed such as Bandit business model and “a company + farmers”.

Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed based on the knowledge and cultural context of the Western world. Several researchers note that national culture may have an impact on international industrial buyer-seller relationships. Including culture in the models is highly important, especially as the business environment is increasingly more global and different countries have different business cultures. The goal of this paper is to define the most suitable industrial buyer-seller relational process models for describing relationships in various contexts. The paper includes a through literature review and a single case study in order to reach this objective. A new state theory model evolved during the research. It consists of two beginning states: searching and starting; four purely middles states: constant/static, decline, growth, and troubled; and a purely end state: termination. The state of dormant/inert is both a middle state and an end state, that is, when the relational actors are not in contact does not mean that the relationship has ended, but instead, for example, new legislation may have been implemented, which requires the actors to evaluate their relationship and its future. A relationship goes through the two beginning states in the order mentioned above, but after that, any state may occur.

Guanxi has been well documented as being an essential part of doing business in China. Yet, as China continues with market liberalisation, there are indications that its strategic importance is set to decline. From a joint venture perspective, this study seeks to examine the strategic importance of guanxi when doing business in China.

First, the researchers reviewed articles on guanxi and established that although guanxi is still widely considered important, some experts are arguing that this importance is diminishing. Second, qualitative research was used to create a holistic picture of the importance attached to guanxi in UK‐Chinese joint ventures. This involved 25 semi‐structured interviews with those involved in establishing or managing such a joint venture.

Although guanxi remains important when doing business in China, a number of factors indicate that this importance may begin to decline. These include China's market liberalisation, outward investment, “guanxi learning” on the part of foreign companies and online intermediaries.

Since the paper is based on a review of existing research and 25 qualitative interviews, the findings are largely exploratory. Future research might focus on a larger sample, different industries or possibly Chinese firms engaged in outward investment.

The findings suggest that to simply describe guanxi as being “important” is too simplistic. Hence, by identifying issues that are likely to affect the strategic importance of guanxi we can help both parent company managers and those engaged in Chinese business practice.

Both the review of existing papers and empirical findings help academics to understand a “contemporary view” of guanxi. While managers that have an interest in China can gain a clear understanding of guanxi and its significance in modern day China.

The family business is one of the business entities that contribute to the economy of a country. Succession in the family business occupies a strategic position, especially in maintaining the company’s sustainability. The Chinese family business has unique characteristics in maintaining and growing its business with the cultural values that underlie how their business. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the cultural values of Chinese ethnic and their implications in the succession process in small family businesses in Bandung, Indonesia.

This research uses a qualitative method with the in-depth interview method as a data collection technique. The sampling technique uses purposive sampling, while to test the validity of research data using a triangulation technique. A total of four small Chinese-owned family businesses participated as informants in this study. The study will identify the stage of succession process in the Chinese family business.

There are several stages identified in the succession planning of small Chinese-owned family business in Bandung which include succession antecedents, succession activities and desired outcomes. The results showed that small Chinese-owned family business in Bandung has not applied the rules and procedures in the succession process. Most of the Chinese family business in this research still holds Confucianism culture; they prioritize boys as business successors, who have a greater responsibility rather than successor with other gender.

Several implications are discussed. One of them is the Chinese family business holding cultural values in the process of family business succession.

This research is expected to provide theoretical and practical implications for academics and family companies with similar cases.

Workplace well-being is key to improving health and therefore productivity. Although the Chinese population and their influence on business in the UK are growing rapidly, little is known about the attitudes of Chinese employers and employees towards workplace well-being. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The authors conducted a qualitative study to explore the views of Chinese employees and employers in London and interviewed occupational health and workplace well-being experts.

Employers’ understanding of workplace well-being was limited, their approach was reactive rather than proactive. Contextual factors hampered most efforts towards workplace well-being. Employees reported that working conditions were generally poor with likely implications for employees’ physical and mental health. Generational and migratory changes further complicate the scenario but potentially usher in positive change.

This study was conducted in a London area with a high density of Chinese businesses. The study nevertheless covered only a limited selection of business sectors. Caution may therefore be necessary in assuming the transferability of these findings to other parts of the UK.

Chinese businesses are agreeable to being informed about and considering the business case for workplace well-being. Chinese workers need better working conditions, easier access to health services preferably delivered through Chinese-based networks of community and business associations which are trusted by both employers and employees.

This study offers novel evidence on the attitude of Chinese employers and employees towards workplace well-being by comparing views from both groups. Chinese people face considerable health and mental health problems through their work environment, in contrast with conclusions from the Health Survey for England and Labour Force Survey.

This article aims to present a historical overview of the evolution of business ethics in China and highlights the ways in which its ethical structure lags behind its rapid economic expansion. Understanding Guanxi, the Chinese social network of reciprocal business relations common in Confucian cultures, has long been recognized as one of the major success factors when doing business in China (Hwang et al., 2009). Recognizing the significant impact of Guanxi and its influence on everyday dealings in China is, thus, crucial for Western firms. Whereas considerable research has dealt with the growth of Chinese industries in recent years, the key relationship between changes in its economy and shifts in Chinese business ethics has been neglected although it impacts the ways Westerners, in particular, both clinch deals and judge Chinese firms. The implications of this disparity for global business are discussed.

The discussion draws on the academic literature and the researchers’ experience in how business and business ethics are conducted between Western and Chinese firms. This paper presents a content analysis of theoretical articles and compares them to conceptual and empirical approaches, with an emphasis on a pragmatic approach to fostering a better understanding of the evolution of Chinese business ethics and its implications on business practices.

Maps the evolution of business ethics in China and need to adapt to an ever changing business environment.

This study offers a new insight to the evolution of Chinese business ethics and highlights its importance in business interactions. It illustrates the co-evolution of business ethics in parallel with the advancement of the Chinese economy. This paper is the first paper that addresses the issue of the evolution and formation of Chinese business ethics and links it to economic progress and opening up to the West.

The purpose of this paper is to identify fundamental business practice differences that resulted from cultural differences between China and the West and to examine if traditional Chinese values and modern values coexist in the business context.

In total, ten one‐on‐one and two focus group interviews with Chinese business people involved in transactions with the USA were conducted in China.

The findings largely confirmed the significant influence of core Chinese traditional values on business practices in China. Contemporary business practices in China were found to be adapting to Western cultures in the presence of dynamic economic and social transitions.

The findings of this study are based on a series of interviews conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen with selected Chinese businesses. While this initial data from the Chinese perspective provides valuable insights, inclusion of a diverse population would provide richer understanding.

Based on findings, this study concludes that approaching China only with its traditional values limits understanding of the country's reality. Detailed practical implications based on findings are suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the applicability of the stakeholder relationship marketing model, a new marketing model, to Chinese businesses.

Within the stakeholder relationship marketing model holistic marketing performance is reflected in the delivery of long‐term economic, social, and environmental value to customer, employee, supplier, community, and shareholder stakeholders of a business in order to enhance sustainable financial performance. Stakeholder relationship marketing performance is measured in a stakeholder performance appraisal. The applicability of the Western stakeholder relationship marketing model in the Chinese context is tested by undertaking stakeholder performance appraisals on two Chinese businesses.

Results show that the performance of the two Chinese businesses is in line with the 57 Western businesses in the Future Research Group stakeholder performance appraisal benchmark database, and that the stakeholder relationship marketing model is applicable to the Chinese context both philosophically and practically.

The results can be considered as an indicative evaluation of stakeholder relationship marketing in China as a foundation for definitive validation from planned research on more Chinese businesses.

The stakeholder performance appraisal provides Chinese businesses with a perceptual overview of holistic marketing performance and concomitant business financial performance from stakeholders. These data enable Chinese businesses, like their Western counterparts, to plan stakeholder relationship marketing strategies to enhance marketing performance and to predict future financial performance.

This study extends the newly developed stakeholder relationship marketing model from a Western context to the Chinese context and demonstrates the congruence between Western and Chinese holistic business philosophy.