Experiencing International Business and Management Exercises, Projects, and Cases

This book reports the findings of two field studies conducted between 1993 and 2001 in seven townships and six provinces in China. The authors describe the process of rural urbanization and its related economic, social, and political changes by focusing mainly on the zhen (town), in addition to administrative offices and companies involved in the local economy, and village committees. The authors show that the social changes resulting from China's economic reforms are occurring mainly from below, and that this process is also resulting in a weakening of the economic and political dominance of the central government. Other changes discussed in this study include the development of new ownership structures and the increasing dominance of the private sector; a shift in the functions of administrative offices as the bureaucracy becomes increasingly business oriented; the rise of a new local elite; a rebirth of traditional social structures (clans, local associations); and the emergence of new interest groups and institutions to represent their needs.

Biography

Betty Jane Punnett, a native of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, is professor of international business at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies. She taught at the University of Windsor for fifteen years and has lived and worked in the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Her major research interest is culture and management, and she is working on leadership and motivation in Africa and the African diaspora. She has published several books and over seventy-five academic papers in a wide array of international journals. She holds a PhD in international business from New York University, an MBA from Marist College, and a BA from McGill University. Her latest book, International Perspectives on Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, 2d ed., was published by M.E. Sharpe in 2009.