Re-assessing Chinese management: the influence of indigenous versus exogenous models

Abstract

This article sets out to analyse the evolution of management in the People’s Republic of China, particularly in terms of indigenous versus exogenous models. It looks the development of management concepts, terminology and practices in their organizational context. It sets out the historical background of these economic and management developments in the period when foreign capital dominated industry and trade up to 1949, then the ebbs and flows of Soviet influence on management under Mao Zedong after this date, the impact of the Cultural Revolution, followed by recent and contemporary aspects of the Deng Xiaoping’s mainly Western-inspired market reforms after 1979 and up to the present day, with a look at where future trends may go. In this overview, aimed at enhancing the understanding of Chinese organizational life, we attempt to see how far such concepts, and practices in Chinese management took over Western (and Japanese) usage and how far a distinctly Chinese model emerged. It concludes that given there were cross-cultural filters, external management models were influential but were adapted to local realities to become indigenous management models with what have been officially dubbed ‘with Chinese characteristics’.