Choices of Essay Questions
1. “It has often been claimed that guanxi is a fundamental of Chinese society springing from
the teachings of Confucius. Yet nowhere in the works of Confucius can we find any
reference to, foundations for, or validation of, the practice of guanxi as it is experienced in
China today.” Critically discuss this statement (remember you do not have to agree with
it).
A crucial issue, because the business and economic success of the Asian economies is often
attributed to cultural foundations – if that is true, we have to understand what these are. This
essay question is obviously related to Question 2 below, but is a much more explicit
challenge to those who argue that guanxi is culturally-based. Based on past experience with
Japan, as China grows towards becoming the world’s largest economy, concepts such as
guanxi will become as familiar in the West as ie, wa, and amae were in the 1980s. And from
past experience, most of you will be trying to prove the statement in the question about
guanxi to be wrong. The question encourages you to do this but if you disagree with the
statement, make sure you have evidence. Simply saying that you do not agree, doesn’t
make your disagreement valid. In the Japan as Number One period in the 1980s, many
scholars (and students) found it very hard to be objective; it seemed such an attractive idea
that lifetime employment and other Japanese employment practices were cultural in origin,
and explained Japan’s economic success, that there was too little discussion of the fact that
the evidence was actually very weak, especially for the first part of the argument. Similarly
now, much of the literature on China takes it for granted that guanxi is cultural (tracing its
roots back to Confucius) and provides a competitive advantage. It is often taken for granted
that both assertions are true, even by those who claim to be objectively investigating whether
they are true. They argue the case, by simply stating the case, and take it as a matter of fact
that since they just wrote it on a piece of paper, it must be right. This is a very harsh criticism
of the academic literature; if you disagree, then include that disagreement in your essay. And
remember, as important as they are, investigating these ideas is not the sole point of the
exercise – being able to construct a logical, cogent argument is a valuable business skill, as
well as an academic one, and as with all the essay topics, logic and cogency is what you are
aiming for here.
Warning!!: A question like this is always a little dangerous, because people have so many
preconceptions about the answer, including in the academic literature to which you’ll be
referring. It will be more dangerous if you don’t read the question! Note that this question is
asking you to do something that is too rarely done in the literature itself; it’s asking you to
look at the recorded works of Confucius, and secondary sources directly discussing those
philosophical works, to seek evidence as to the origins of guanxi. Don’t rely on the standard
guanxi literature to do this, although in the course of the essay you will probably refer to it.
Your focus is on the works of Confucius himself, and on the scholarly works which analyse
his ideas in depth (whereas the guanxi literature tends to mention Confucius in passing, with
no real analysis, and are absolutely convinced that his writings are the source of guanxi
behaviour without ever substantiating the claim). That task of looking at his original works
makes this a genuine research exercise and, as always, honest attempts at that difficult task
will be rewarded even if the attempt is not fully successful. Just keep in mind that assertion is
not proof. Once you get past that, this can be a fun and rewarding topic to attempt.
OR
2. Japanese cultural traits such as an emphasis on harmony (wa) and teamwork, have been
widely seen as a source of competitive advantage for Japanese firms. To what extent
does the literature on the current Chinese economy see guanxi as a source of
competitive advantage?