Numerous popular business publications and academic literature have highlighted that the Chinese cultural phenomenon of guanxi has made noticeable impacts on the economic efficiency in China’s economic transition. Despite the pervasive belief of the significance of guanxi for facilitating Chinese business transaction, few empirical efforts have been dedicated to comprehensively investigate the dynamics of guanxi in the mainland Chinese business context. Specifically, there is a dearth of empirical evidence to support the anecdotal claims that the guanxi construct and the business strategy orientations are strategically collaborated with the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network, and these operations are influenced by the attributes of organizations and individuals. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to investigate the interactions between the guanxi construct and the business strategy orientation with the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network, as well as the moderating effects that the organizational properties and individual attributes have on the posited interactions. / A cross cultural study was conducted in six large coastal and inland cities of Guangzhou, Foshan, Xiamen, Kunming, Hefei and Dalian of mainland China. These six research cities are located in the five large provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan, Anhui and Liaoning, which are geographically dispersed from southeastern, southwestern, northeastern to southern China. The six research cities, which were purposely selected across the ‘early’ to ‘late’ open economic regions, are the major centers of the five provinces that have embarked on a modernization policy and market liberalization of the Chinese economy while maintaining traditional values. This study was undertaken with 1033 Chinese business executives who were positioned at the top five senior managerial levels of 480 Chinese organizations across four major industrial fields in the six study cities. The four major industrial fields that were selected in this study were 1) Trading, 2) Building/Construction, 3) Manufacturing, and 4) Service. Although there has been extensive attention on the relevance of guanxi in a relationship based society of China (Gold et al. 2002), few empirical studies that have been conducted in the industrial sectors and across several regional locations that are enmeshed in the revitalization of the Chinese economy. Hence, it is claimed that this study is the first project of its kind that was implemented to empirically investigate the dynamics of guanxi amongst four industrial fields across six cities of mainland China. / The study respondents were senior business executives who have overall successful business and managerial careers in directing and developing businesses in mainland China. Many of them have traveled to Western countries frequently, and they possess extensive experience and proven records in global business dealings. More than half of the business executives had at least five years experience in their current industrial fields while nearly half had no less than five years experience in senior managerial levels. One third of the study organizations had existed for five to 10 years, while more than 30 percent of the study organizations had a longer history of more than ten years. And almost one third of the study organizations employed 100 to 500 people, while nearly 20 percent of the organizations have cadres of more than 500 employees. All of the study business executives completed a complex questionnaire for examining a model of the dynamics of guanxi in the business context. The questionnaire was comprised a total of 83 items. Demographic information was sought from the first 12 items of the questionnaire, and a further 72 items that were comprised in three interval instruments that were used to capture the perceptual data of the study. / The three interval instruments that were employed in this study included the guanxi construct, the business strategy orientation, and the guanxi network. The instrument of the guanxi construct was developed by two of the guanxi leading scholars (Wong & Leung 2001), and the scale of the guanxi network was developed by several well known guanxi researchers (Davies, Leung, Luk & Wong 1995). These instruments were deliberately chosen because they have shown acceptable psychometric properties (i.e. validity and reliability) in similar assessments, and thus, they were considered appropriated to be adapted and modified for the present study. The modification of these two instruments were undertaken after a systematically study of numerous leading publications pertaining Chinese culture and Chinese Values (e.g., Hofstede 1988; Redding 1990; Luo 2000; Seng & Lim 2004; Xin & Pearce 1996), and thorough consultations with several Chinese Professors of Economics as well as some prominent business people in mainland China. The instrument, which was employed to assess the business strategy orientation in this study, was developed by the researcher. This approach was carried out after a careful study of reputable academic journals and relevant literature (e.g., Aaker 1992; Barnett & Wilsted 1988; Digman 1986; Miles & Snow 1978; Porter 1980; 1985; Pearce & Robinson 1991; Rajagopalan 1997). The development of the instrument involved two separate empirical studies engaging 314 indigenous Chinese managers, who were exclusive of the 1033 study business executives of the main study, in a number of industrial domains in seven large cities of mainland China. In general, the inaugural established instrument of the business strategy orientation and the two adapted scales of guanxi construct and guanxi network were found to have acceptable internal consistencies. / A comprehensive pluralist methodology was applied to evaluate the hypotheses of this study. Relevant literature pertaining to the examined variables was reviewed. In light of the literature review, a number of hypotheses and a conceptual model were developed. A quantitative methodology was employed to assess the postulations and qualitative methodology was sought to provide explanations and clarifications of the results. This pluralist methodology is gaining currency in contemporary cross country research. A number of commentators (De Ruyter Moorman & Lemmink 2001; Pearson & Entrekin 1998; Zotteri & Verganti 2001) have contended that a richer and more trustworthy result is likely to be gained by simultaneously pursuing both a quantitative and a qualitative methodology. In total of 1313 questionnaires, which were administrated for completion over six weeks, a total of 1071 questionnaires were returned. However, 38 questionnaires were discarded due to incomplete information provided. The remaining 1033 useful questionnaires generated an overall response rate of 78.67 percent for the six research cities. Comparatively, the response rate of this survey is considerably higher than most of the earlier studies in guanxi research area. More importantly, the high response rate avoids the non response bias in results. / Several statistical analyses were employed to evaluate the data. For instance, exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were used to assess the psychometric properties of the instruments. The results of psychometric assessments indicated that the scales had good validities and reliabilities, which had potential for robust results. In addition, correlation analysis was applied to evaluate the hypothesized bivariate correlations of the conceptual model. Path analysis was then utilized to test the hypotheses, which were postulated in Chapter Two. The results of path analysis demonstrated that certain facets of the guanxi construct had strong influence on the application of both of the vertical and the horizontal network, whereas particular business strategic approaches had intense interactions with the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network. Moreover, regression analysis was applied to further examine the hypothesized relationships of the conceptual model. The results of the regress analysis illustrated a substantial convergence with the results of path analysis. Furthermore, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was undertaken to determine the moderating effects that the organizational properties and personal attributes have on the hypothesized interactions between the guanxi construct and the business strategy orientation and the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network. The results of these analyses indicated that the attributes of organization and individual played significant moderating roles on a number of the tested correlations. Lastly, the analyses of T-test and ANOVA were employed to evaluate the extent of difference in the demographic elements and structure properties. / The results of these tests depicted that there was a considerable degree of consensus for all the tested variables of the study model across the demographic elements and structure properties. A salient feature of this study is the application of qualitative analysis to enhance the understanding of quantitative results. The researcher visited each of the six researched cities again to conduct focus group meetings, which were mainly held in the languages of Mandarin and Cantonese. Most of the meetings were approximately 90 to 120 minutes in duration. Focus group meetings that were conducted in the cities of Kunming, Foshan, Xiamen, Hefei and Dalian were videotaped and subsequently replicated into DVD plates, whilst feedback sections that were carried out in Guangzhou were completed recorded by written notes. A total of 90 business executives participated in 20 focus group meetings, which were recorded in Chinese and accredited English translations were subsequently arranged. The Chinese meeting record contains almost 160,000 words in 240 pages, and the English translation had 248 pages with approximately 100,000 words. General details of the focus group meetings are reported in Chapter Four. / The subjects that were discussed in the qualitative feedback sessions mainly encompassed six aspects. First, respondents’ comprehension of the instruments and the suitability of the scales employed in this study were discussed. Second, the results of factor and reliability analyses, particularly relating to some certain emerged patterns and the dimensionalities of instruments were elucidated. Third, extensive comments about the empirical findings in relation to the correlations that were predicted in the studied model and the unexpected relationships were sought, and clarifications to the phenomena caused were also documented. Fourth, the outputs of the analyses of T-test, ANOVA, path analysis, and regression for descriptive statistic and correlation were discussed. Finally, opinions on the discovery of the moderating effects that the moderating variables had on the tested relationships were attained and elucidation to the results were clarified. In general, the qualitative analytical results have broadly enriched the comprehension to the quantitative findings. With extensive reference to the contribution of the 90 business executives in the qualitative analytical sections, a lengthy discussion of the results of the study is elucidated. Following the discussion of results, an outline of the key findings of this research is presented in Chapter Five. / A number of theoretical and practical contributions have constructed in this study. The first theoretical contribution of this study is an advancement of the currently available knowledge relating to the operations amongst the guanxi construct with the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network, as well as the interactions between the business strategy orientation with the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network in the business context. A second theoretical contribution of the study is to evaluate Western based theoretical notions in a non Western context. Next, evaluation of the study model has the potential to make further theoretical contribution in terms of enhancing the understanding of Multi National Companies (MNCs) and overseas investors on the imperativeness of the cultural phenomenon of guanxi. The first practical contribution is the investigation of the moderating effects that the attributes of organizations and individuals have on the relationships between the guanxi construct and the business strategy orientation with the vertical and the horizontal guanxi network has significant potential to make contribution to international management in an Asian context. Moreover, the inaugural developed seven point Likert scale instrument for assessing the business strategy orientation in the Chinese business organization is likely to facilitate practical contribution to the development of an universal scale. A further practical contribution is to provide a greater comprehensive insight of the dynamics of guanxi in the business context, which would be beneficial to overseas investors and MNCs when they explore their possible Chinese business ventures. Implications of the findings for business practitioners and the theory developments are comprehensively documented in Chapter Six. / This research has merged two salient concluding observations. Firstly, it highlighted the importance of the application of a pluralist methodology in implementing cross cultural studies. The findings of this study suggested that the qualitative investigation technique is essential to capture information that was not attainable through the quantitative assessments and that the qualitative dimension complements the quantitative results. In addition, an extended remark in relation to sampling method was offered for further research in mainland China. Preferably, the guanxi ideology is more practical than the Western traditional ‘mail out’ system when conducting a comprehensive survey in China. Especially, guanxi plays a significant role in attaining genuine and liberated comments for qualitative analysis. Secondly, the results of this study suggested that the global environment has reshaped the quality and mindset of Chinese people and this has resulted in the substantial consensus in conceptualizing the theories of the present study. The salient observations and suggestions for future research are discussed in Chapter Six.

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Over the last three decades of the Chinese economic reform with a focus on the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) restructuring, one striking phenomenon is the rise of the mixed ownership enterprises (MOEs) in China. The objective of this thesis is to analyse the factors that can explain the emergence and the rise of the MOEs, to explore the corporate governance of the MOEs, and to assess the performance of the MOEs. The research finds that the unique experiments and practices of China’s SOEs reform in the past 30 years have formed the China Model of SOEs reform, China’s mixed ownership has its roots in the China Model. One major explanation to the rise of the MOEs is the synergy effect gained from the combination of the different advantages of both the private enterprises and the state enterprises. The private enterprises have better operational mechanisms and the state enterprises have better access to business resources and political support. The thesis has looked at 5 issues of the institutional arrangements of MOE’s corporate governance, named as the SCORE. It is found that the largest shareholder in most of the MOEs is still the state, but the control structure is not always corresponding to the shareholding structure, and the governmental intervention in the business of the MOEs has been reduced although the reduction is limited. The thesis shows that there is no noted relationship between corporate performance and mixed ownership, but the transfer of corporate controlling powers is very important for the ownership-transformed companies from whole ownership to mixed ownership to improve the performance. On this basis, the thesis argues that China needs to push forward the further commercialization of the corporate governance of the MOEs in the future

In recent decades, many rural, natural resource-dependent communities have experienced ubiquitous and oftentimes substantial economic decline due to downturns in their commodity-oriented industries. In spite of this, communities with access to varying forms of natural capital have experienced an upsurge in activities such as recreation,tourism, second home growth, and retirement in-migration. If managed properly, amenity-oriented development has potential to reverse economic decline by attracting tourists, entrepreneurs, younger and more educated workers, and retirees, and may ultimately generate economic diversification, local growth, and an improved quality of life for residents. While there are literally thousands of potential measures of well-being, this study aimed to identify potential indicators of amenity-transition by examining community social and economic capital. To examine such a complex social and economic transition, these indicators were coupled with indicators from the tourism and amenity-development literature, and linked to concepts from Resiliency Theory from the ecosystem science literature, in a longitudinal study of amenity transition communities in the Pacific Northwest. Results focus on measures of social organization and economic sustainability in three study communities: McCall, ID; Leavenworth, WA; and Prineville, OR. Key informant interviews and historical documents were used to develop adaptive curves for each community, and to help evaluate the concepts and indicator variables that contribute to community resilience and adaptability. Secondary indicator data serve as a quantitative linkage between Social Capital and Resiliency Theories and the adaptive phases communities may experience throughout this transition. The results identify key historical periods for each community as residents adapt to economic and social change. Using key informant interviews coupled with secondary data provided a clearer picture of how each community has transformed and redefined itself throughout transition.

Durant les dernières décennies, la globalisation de l’économie mondiale s’est non seulement développée à une vitesse accélérée et inattendue, mais elle s’est également complexifiée de manière inédite. Ce processus a induit des changements considérables dans l’organisation de la production industrielle au niveau mondial. Parallèlement au renforcement de la globalisation a émergé le phénomène de la régionalisation. Les firmes multinationales, organisées aujourd’hui en firmes réseaux, sont devenues les acteurs économiques principaux et semblent façonner l’économie mondiale au point d’en déterminer l’évolution future. Elles peuvent également être des moteurs puissants de rattrapage et de mise à niveau du secteur industriel dans une économie donnée. Pour démontrer le développement à la fois global et régional des firmes multinationales, nous avons choisi l’industrie automobile qui, par son étendue et son intensité technologique, permet d’illustrer plus concrètement les principales évolutions économiques de ces dernières années. L’analyse des principaux pays d’Europe Centrale et Orientale et de la Chine permet de montrer le rôle qu’ont joué les firmes multinationales de la construction automobile dans la transition d’une économie planifiée socialiste à un système d’économie de marché, ainsi que de mettre en évidence le processus d’intégration des territoires dans la stratégie globale et régionale des constructeurs. / During the last decades, the globalization of the world economy has not simply developed at an accelerated and unexpected pace, but it has also become more complex than ever before. This process led to significant changes in the organization of industrial production at the world level. Parallel to the globalization, the phenomenon of regionalization has emerged. Today multinational firms organized as network enterprises, became the principal actors of the world economy and they seem to shape the direction of its future evolution. They can also serve as the engine for industrial upgrading and catching up for a given economy. To demonstrate the global and regional development of multinational enterprises, we have chosen the automotive industry since it is a wide and technology-intensive sector and can highlight the main stages and changes of the last decades’ economic evolution. The analysis of the main Central and Eastern European Countries and of China enables to shed light on the role that multinational enterprises within the automobile manufacturing sector have played in the transition from a socialist planned economy to a market economy and on the process of integration of these territories in the global and regional strategy of the vehicle manufacturers.

The study aims to describe the external causes of death (ECD) mortality, specifically suicide and traffic death in Estonia 1970-2002 in relation to the political and economic development with a special focus on the unemployment and alcohol use impact. This analyse bases on the Statistical Office of Estonia and other governmental institutions published information. The highest mortality rates occurred for traffic accidents 1990-91 and for suicides 1994-95. Middle-age man excess ECD mortalityoccurred in early 1990s with the greatest politico-economic changes accompanied by high psychosocial stress before the population could acquire appropriate coping strategies. Impact of the first main reforms on the population health has been ascertained. Price liberalisation was followed by immense inflation and real wage fall in early 1990s. Privatisation and monetary reform influenced on the basic living security of the population. People faced unexpected living difficulties as work and dwelling insecurity, decreased real income, insufficiency to meetessential expenditures, declined living standard, social status loss, population stratification and inadequate social protection. Unemployment was just introduced and did not play a significant role for the high mortality. Traffic accidents’ fatal consequences decreased with growing GDP as cars and roads became safer however accidents’ number did not decrease. Western cars appearance euphoria could influence more than alcohol consumption. It could plausibly increase accidents but the reason and role of alcohol consumption in the intentional actions needs more information. Suicide could have been influenced mainly by social and traffic accidents mortality mainly by environmental factors. Earlier findings about the unemployment and alcohol consumption impact on the transition’s high injurymortality have not been confirmed by the current study. Current paper provides framework within population worsening health factors during politico-economic changes could be better understood. The strongest impact on Estonia’s population health could come from transition’s political and economic reforms influencing dwelling and incomesecurity. Low salary and low purchasing power could hurt a human dignity even more than possible unemployment / <p>ISBN 91-7997-094-X</p>

"Essays on Social Conflict and Reform" consists of four essays that study the political economy of policy reform. Social Conflict with Passive Groups examines conflicts over the distribution of income where groups that engage in appropriative activities as well as groups that are passive in this respect participate. Democratization, Rent Seeking, and Economic Transition uses a model of social conflict to determine the political and economic reform space and the economic performance in a society undergoing a transition from authoritarian rule to democracy and market economy. Constitutional Constraints and Redistributive Activities analyzes the effects of constitutional constraints against redistribution on the outcome of social conflicts. The Break-up of the Ruble Zone: Undertaking Monetary Reform while Building Democratic Institutions applies the theoretical findings of this dissertation to explain differences in monetary reform between countries in the former Soviet Union. / SITE, Stockholm Institute of Transition

In 2001, Syria opened its media outlets to private ownership for the first time in over forty years. This thesis conducts a critical discourse analysis of the economic coverage of the sole Syrian political daily newspaper al-Watan and asks how media liberalization in Syria is more so emblematic of pro-market economic reforms as opposed to media reform. In this sense, it is the economic content of al-Watan that signifies how a private media outlet – under the guiding force of “red lines” and other regulatory mechanisms, yet financially “liberated” via advertising revenue and wealthy regime-friendly backers – can demonstrate its utility to the regime by providing a reiteration of its social-market economic policies all the while existing as a public embodiment of the regime’s willingness to embrace a marketized Syrian society. Simply put, al-Watan is a perfect vehicle for propagating the regime’s gradualist pro-market reforms in the public sphere. / text

Depuis le début des années quatre-vingt, l’économie algérienne a connu un vaste mouvement de restructurations et de réformes. Curieusement, après plus de deux décennies de mise en œuvre de mesures censées ajuster l’économie du pays en la soumettant aux règles de concurrence et de rentabilité, la réalité des performances économiques algériennes demeurent pratiquement inchangée. En effet, mis à part le rétablissement des équilibres macro financiers grâce à l’augmentation des prix internationaux du pétrole, l’économie algérienne demeure loin des dynamiques d’accumulation. Visiblement, ni les contraintes internes, ni les conditionnalités du FMI et ses recommandations, n’ont résisté à la « réalité algérienne ». La présente thèse, qui se veut une contribution à la définition des conditions de succès de la transition économique vers le marché à la lumière de l’expérience algérienne des réformes, pose dans toutes ses dimensions la question des obstacles aux réformes dans les périodes de transition. L’analyse du système politique, de ses contraintes et ses contradictions est le point de départ de toute réflexion sur les problématiques des transitions. Le poids du passé, et son influence déterminante sur le déroulement du passage d’une organisation économique à une autre est, quant à lui, un facteur que nous questionnerons dans cette perspective. / Since the beginning of the 1980s, the Algerian economy has undergone a vast programme of restructuring and reform. Curiously, after three decades of implementing measures designed to bring the economy in line with the rules of competition and profitability, the reality of Algerian economic performance has changed very little. In fact, apart from the recovery of the macrofinancial balance, due to rising international oil prices, the Algerian economy is far from the dynamics of capital accumulation. Clearly, neither internal constraints nor the conditions or recommendations of the IMF have been able to fight against the current of ‘Algerian reality’. In this thesis, I aim to define the conditions for a successful transition to a market economy based on the Algerian experience of reform. I will also consider obstacles to reform in periods of transition. My starting point for reflection on the question of transition will be an analysis of the political system, its constraints and contradictions. My purpose is also to examine the importance of Algeria’s past in terms of its determining influence on the transition from one economic system to another.

1991年底蘇聯的解體，使得俄羅斯的政治體制由一黨專政走向多元民主，其經濟體制也從過去以社會主義所有制轉變為市場經濟體制。在俄羅斯進行政經轉型的初期，國際貨幣基金會（International Monetary Fund；以下均簡稱為IMF）以龐大的金援為後盾，介入俄羅斯的政經發展，對俄羅斯的制度抉擇有著深遠的影響。因此，本文旨在透過剖析IMF1992年至1999年間援俄計劃的形成過程、內容、俄羅斯決策當局對IMF援俄計劃的回應，以及影響俄羅斯決策當局的因素，探究IMF援俄計劃與俄羅斯政經發展的互動關係。 本論文主要採用「系統理論」(the Systems Theory)的研究途徑，探討IMF的援俄計劃與俄羅斯政經發展的互動關係。其中，以「議價模式」(the Bargaining Model)說明在IMF援俄計劃的形成過程中，IMF的組織成員，主導IMF政策走向的美國、英國等已開發國家，以及俄羅斯當局三者的角力過程。最後，再以「克里姆林宮政治研究途徑」(Kremlin Politics approach)敘探俄羅斯決策當局回應IMF要求時的考量因素。在此研究架構下，本論文第一章除說明研究動機與目的、研究架構與途徑、研究限制外，還介紹與研究題目相關的文獻，並指出過去文獻所未考量之處，以做為論文研究之基礎；第二章續述IMF的運作概況，探討影響IMF援俄計劃形成的可能因素；第三章闡述俄羅斯的初始條件、IMF援俄計劃的內容、俄羅斯當局的回應，以及IMF援俄計劃所帶來的成效與弊端；第四章則論述1992年至1999年俄羅斯的政經發展，並指出IMF的援俄計劃對俄羅斯政經發展的影響；第五章為結論。 本論文的結論是，雖然俄羅斯的政經發展會相互影響，但是對俄羅斯的決策當局而言，政治的穩固比經濟發展路線的選擇更為重要。IMF在1992年至1999年間許多關鍵時刻對葉爾欽表示支持，使葉爾欽在多次的政爭中仍得以保有政權；而葉爾欽為獲得IMF的金援，自然會推動其所要求的市場經濟體制。因此，儘管俄羅斯的經濟改革迭有波折，但是市場經濟體制在俄羅斯生根已是無庸置疑。 / The collapse of the Soviet Union has led Russia from one-party dictatorship to plural democracy in politics and from socialistic ownership to free-market system in economy. During the initial period of Russia’s political and economical transformation, International Monetary Fund, backed up by the huge-amount loans, interfered with Russia’s political and economical developments, giving impact upon the choice of institutions in Russia. Therefore, this thesis is aimed to understand the interacting relationships between IMF’s aid program and Russia’s political and economical developments, by analyzing the forming process and content of IMF’s aid program toward Russia from 1992-9, the response of the Russian authorities toward IMF’s aid program, and the factors that influenced the Russian authorities to make their policies. The thesis adopts the Systems Theory as its research approach to discuss the interacting relationships between the IMF’s aid program and Russia’s political and economical developments. Meanwhile, I use the “Bargaining Model” to explain the wrestling process among IMF’s staff and personnel, the countries dominating IMF’s direction of policies, like the US and the UK, and the Russian authorities. Finally, I further focus on the factors that the Russian authorities considered in response to IMF’s demands. The first chapter includes the research motives and objectives, the research frameworks and approaches, the research restrictions, and the relevant literature. The second one mentions the general situation of IMF and the factors that may influence the forming of the IMF’s aid program toward Russia. The third one specifies the initial conditions in Russia, the content of the IMF’s aid program, the Russian authorities’ responses, and the effect and the problems that the IMF’s aid program may bring out. The fourth one points out the impact that the IMF’s aid program put upon the Russia’s political and economical developments. The fifth one is the conclusion. The conclusion is that though politics and economy influence each other in Russia, the stable political situation is more important than the choice of economic developments for the Russian authorities. IMF’s support for Boris N. Yeltsin on many key occasions from 1992 to 1999, allowed him to retain his power. And Yeltsin naturally promoted the market economy that IMF required for getting its loan. Therefore, despite the continuing difficulties in Russia’s economic reform, it’s no doubt that the market economy has taken root in Russia.