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This paper aims to investigate the relationships between guanxi, supply chain innovation, and stakeholder's value in a value-added supply chain innovation model, taking the empirical data from New Zealand firms. Based on the resource-based view and stakeholder theory, it proposes a research model in which guanxi is an antecedent of supply chain innovation and stakeholder value. The value-added supply chain innovation model was established through the structural equation model (SEM), which was performed to validate the measurement models and test the research hypotheses. The empirical test results shed light on value-added supply chain innovation in association with guanxi. This knowledge can help to deliver more effective innovation outcomes and generate more effective value creation in supply chains, thus benefitting all stakeholders. The study contributes by providing both theoretical expansion and empirical evidence related to supply chain innovation and by establishing a value-added supply chain innovation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The willingness to support (or denigrate) high‐profile individuals online was examined across cultures using the Tall Poppy Scale. A sample of 106 Chinese and 164 New Zealand Europeans answered an online questionnaire addressing their preference for high achievers to be rewarded or fail. Participants were asked whether they would vote to support reality TV contestants, and offered further information (about success or failure) on a debrief page. The Favour Reward scale predicted willingness to vote and support others. The Favour Fall subscale tended to predict time spent viewing achievement‐related information on a debrief page. The Chinese sample did not prefer reward of high achievers, instead favoring their fall, but spent less time per click on the debrief page, suggesting they disliked recognizing individual achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically how managers establish ethical guanxi (interpersonal relationships) with their business partners to prevent potential ethical incidences in Chinese and Western business contexts. Design/methodology/approach: The present study is guided by a qualitative, abductive approach and draws on in-depth interviews with ten senior managers in five urban New Zealand organisations. Findings: The results point out that guanxi (interpersonal relationships) purely working through renqing (reciprocity) is not sustainable, because it perpetuates a never-ending cycle of favours, once exchanging favours stopped or disappeared, then business relationships dwindled. To establish an ethical guanxi model, the authors found that xinyong (trust) is the foundation, and its enlargement stimulates lijie (empathy) that transfers pure business relationships to a genuine friendship which enhances ethical decision-making. They also posit that once managers are embodied with lijie, then they will have the virtue of ren to behave like junzi (ideal Confucian ethical person) whose business actions tend to be intrinsically guided by a sense of obligation to do something right that will work for diverse stakeholders' interests, for the prosperity of organisations and society. Practical implications: This study suggests that managers should take Confucian virtues of xinyong (trust) and lijie (empathy), because they will trigger ren (humanity) as an intrinsic value. In this way, it is more likely for them to become junzi (ideal Confucian ethical person) whose business actions are intrinsically guided by a sense of obligation to do something right that benefits various stakeholders, organisations and society. Originality/value: This study contributes to the extant literature on preventing ethical incidents of guanxi (interpersonal relationships) by drawing a framework of ethical guanxi, which is built on Confucian virtues of xinyong (trust), lijie (empathy) and ren (humanity). Further, this paper strongly suggests that companies should educate their staff to become more humane to make moral decisions in daily management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of acculturation on ethnic consumers' relational bonding with their banking service provider. The study is set in the financial services sector and focuses on Chinese consumers living in New Zealand. In the collectivist Chinese culture, building personal relationships based on guanxi is of primary importance. Therefore, understanding the interplay between relational behavior and guanxi in this group's relationship commitment is fundamental. The study examines the drivers of relationships in the Chinese banking relationship in the host culture and applies western and Chinese relationship concepts to capture the influence of acculturation on Chinese consumers' behavior. Structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis reveal that Chinese consumers' acculturation levels positively influence structural and social bonding with the banking service provider (or target of commitment). The impact of structural and social bonding on the target of commitment varies under different consumer acculturation levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study which examines the core strategies of New Zealand small internationalizing firms (SIFs) in expanding their business operations in China. It defines small companies as those that do not have strong core competencies in their technology, marketing channels or brand names and those which have limited access to resources. It explores five issues including core competencies of New Zealand companies in China, mode of entry, challenges faced by the firms, Chinese consumer market and the role of government assistance in the business expansion. It discusses three aspects that should be considered by SIFs in their business engagement in China including attributes of the China-bound manager, the business focus of the enterprise, and the guanxi-building capabilities.