Lost in Guanxi : How a Western company should use Relationship Marketing and/or Guanxi in China

• Main Author: Nystrand, Hannah
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linnéuniversitetet, Ekonomihögskolan, ELNU 2012
• Subjects: Guanxi; Relationship Marketing; Relationship Marketing practices; Relationship Marketing targets; Service industry; B2B; Relationship building; Trust; Culture; China; Business studies; Företagsekonomi
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-19732

Purpose: To describe the Relationship Marketing and Guanxi practices of a western company in China, and to create an understanding regarding the interconnection of Guanxi and Relationship Marketing as the foundation of such practices. Method: The research is qualitative with an inductive relation between theory and the empirical findings. With the research design of a case study of the western business-to-business service company ChinaNetCloud. The empirical material was collected through five semi-structured interviews done in China, with influencing persons of the case study organization ChinaNetCloud. Conclusion: Guanxi should be used to facilitate things and should not be established with anyone. To establish relationships are taking more time and will require many activities to maintain them. Relationship Marketing should be used to target other targets than the bases for Guanxi. The relationship are in China based on already existing connections and it is important that the western company is aware of that the relationship are in some cases of more importance than the product or service.  Face-to-face meeting should be used in order to establish relationships in the best way. Trust and commitment are also important dimensions in the relationships. A western company should use Guanxi and Relationship Marketing since it is important for both survival and success in China.