Exploration of regional variations in guanxi among Chinese managers Thesis

Exploration of regional variations in guanxi among Chinese managers - Thesis Example Guanxi networks are of great importance in business and financial transactions, and hence the relevance of guanxi to management and understanding of business in China is extreme. According to Ramasamy and Goh (2006, p.130) â€Å"guanxi is the lifeblood of Chinese business communities, and frequently acts as a lubricant of business activities†. Guanxi is also considered as being â€Å"a channel of knowledge transfer† and two specific aspects of guanxi are related with such a channel - â€Å"trust and communication† (Ramasamy and Goh, 2006, p.130). Guanxi has also been related to the human resources management of firms that operate across China. Law and Jones (2009, p.313) revealed that various aspects of guanxi need to be clearly understood by HR managers in both Chinese and foreign firms. Guanxi has been related to other parts of business activity in China. In a study by Lee and Humphreys (2007), guanxi was found to be a critical factor affecting a firm’s supply chain management: in aspects of strategic purchasing, outsourcing, and supplier development (Lee and Humphreys, 2007, p.45). Though guanxi influences the development of various business activities in China, a differentiation has been identified â€Å"in the way guanxi is utilised in state-owned and foreign-invested enterprises† (Wood, Whiteley and Zhang, 2002, p.263). The study by Wood et al. (2002) found that guanxi is considered to be an important criterion but it seems to be more appreciated in state-owned enterprises rather than enterprises based on foreign capital. The above view is in accordance with that of Liu and Roos (2006, p.432) who noted that â€Å"the guanxi-driven paradigm remains a crucial factor in planning and managing effective working relationships when the Chinese partner i s one officially classified as â€Å"restricted†. In other words, guanxi influences the business activities in China – affecting also the decisions of Chinese managers – but this influence seems to be

Smoking Tobacco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Smoking Tobacco - Essay Example Furthermore, the research paper intends to discuss on the adverse effects of tobacco smoking to the body and the various measures that would help on how to discourage smoking: information drive on the diseases that can be acquired from smoking tobacco, the government intervention to lower down the number of cases of teenage smoking, and policies that would help reduce the consumption of tobacco products among others. Teenage smoking in the UAE is constantly alarming the government with more teens engaging into tobacco smoking. A recent report divulges that one out of five teenage boys in UAE smokes (Bell n.p.). Basically, this number is high posing 20% rate on the teenage smoking case in the country. The researcher contemplates on the potential reasons that contribute to the easy access that allows teenage boys to smoke. If the level of accessibility can be lowered down to an extent that their consumption of tobacco products can be controlled, then the numbers would obviously go down. In a recent article written by Jennifer Bell for The National, she wrote that experts consider the cheap price of tobacco products and inadequate education about the health risks associated with tobacco smoking as main causes for the increasing number of teenagers engaging into tobacco smoking. This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion of this topic by posing questions that are significantly relevant to the causes of teenage smoking: can changes in policies concerning the distribution of tobacco products help in reducing the number of teenagers engaging in tobacco smoking? How do we ensure that teenage kids are well-educated about the adverse effects of tobacco smoking to their health? The target audiences of this research are the government and the teenage smokers. First, the government because they have to initiate ways on how to lower down cases of teenage smoking; second, teenagers