Government-Oriented Corporate Public Relation Strategies in Transitional China

He, Yuanqiong; Tian, Zhilong

doi:10.1111/j.1740-8784.2008.00119.x

Cited by 51 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…We expand the research to a broader context, observing that, on the one hand, government bodies are very strong and control many economic opportunities, including "industry access control, new investment ratification, value-added tax differentiation, control of pace and pattern of privatization or decentralization, and government involvement in business activities such as material sourcing, distribution, and marketing" (Luo 2003(Luo , p. 1319. On the other hand, because the rule of law is absent and there is, in general, an underdeveloped institutional infrastructure and weak enforcement of existing rules, it can be hard for firms to know how to interpret and respond to the government (He and Tian 2008, Peng and Heath 1996. We argue that in such situations, responding to government signals and building legitimacy with governmental actors is critical.…”

Section: Csr Reporting As a Political Strategy In Chinamentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The central government and governments at other levels can still allocate such important business resources as licenses and permits, subsidies, and project approval ). However, a critical issue in such contexts is that the lack of a rule of law and the lack of government transparency can obscure the government's priorities and decision-making processes (He andTian 2008, Young et al 2008). Thus, as we argue below, firms face greater ambiguity in how to interact with the government.…”

Section: China's Political Economy and Csr Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas much prior research has focused on the important mechanisms of corporate political strategy in Western contexts (e.g., Hillman 2003), researchers are now focusing more on comparing and contrasting that corporate political strategy with those in emerging markets such as China (He andTian 2008, Tian et al 2009). Corporate political strategy is "not only important to better understanding firms' competitive strategies in more transparent developed nations but is particularly important to understanding the relationship-based strategies needed in developing countries" (Pearce et al 2008, p. 494).…”

Section: Contributions To Research On Corporate Political Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

Marquis¹,

Qian

2014

Organization Science

1,142

1,203

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T his study focuses on how and why firms strategically respond to government signals on appropriate corporate activity.We integrate institutional theory with research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains (a) how different types of dependency on the government lead firms to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and (b) how the risk of governmental monitoring affects the extent to which CSR reports are symbolic or substantive. First, we examine how firm characteristics reflecting dependence on the government-including private versus state ownership, executives serving on political councils, political legacy, and financial resources-affect the likelihood of firms issuing CSR reports. Second, we focus on the symbolic nature of CSR reporting and how variance in the risk of government monitoring through channels such as bureaucratic embeddedness and regional government institutional development influences the extent to which CSR communications are symbolically decoupled from substantive CSR activities. Our database includes all CSR reports issued by the approximately 1,600 publicly listed Chinese firms between 2006 and 2009. Our hypotheses are generally supported. The political perspective we develop contributes to organizational theory by showing that (a) government signaling is an important mechanism of political influence, (b) different types of dependency on the government expose firms to different types of legitimacy pressure, and (c) firms face a decoupling risk that makes them more likely to enact substantive CSR actions in situations in which they are likely to be monitored.

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Section: Csr Reporting As a Political Strategy In Chinamentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: China's Political Economy and Csr Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contributions To Research On Corporate Political Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

Marquis¹,

Qian

2014

Organization Science

1,142

1,203

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“…Employing a grounded theory approach, He and Tian (2008) identified RGOV as one major form of non-market actions taken by firms in China. Though they urged scholars to examine the performance implications of such non-market actions, to our knowledge no research to date has been done to empirically investigate the effectiveness of RGOV as a means of enhancing firm performance.…”

Section: Rgov As a Form Of Non-market Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's Not Just a Visit: Receiving Government Officials’ Visits and Firm Performance in China

Tsang²,

Luo

et al. 2016

Manag. Organ. Rev.

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Drawing upon signaling theory, we propose that a specific form of non-market action, receiving government officials' visits, reduces transaction costs between firms and their potential exchange partners and thus contributes to firms' competitive advantage in China. We also contend that severity of information asymmetry and availability of alternative ways of reducing transaction costs moderate the relationship between receiving government officials' visits and company financial performance in opposite directions. The former factor increases the ex ante value of receiving government officials' visits and strengthens its positive impact on financial performance, while the latter factor decreases the ex post value of receiving government officials' visits and reduces its positive impact. Our conceptual framework is supported by analyses that draw on a sample of listed manufacturing firms in China. Our study contributes to a more in-depth understanding of non-market actions in emerging economies, their contingencies, and their performance implications.

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“…For example, the Chinese government has continuously controlled both valuable tangible resources, such as capital and land, and intangible resources such as approval mechanisms and preferential policies (Li & Peng, 2008;Peng, 2003). As a result, firms in China must not only deal with their competitors but also expend resources to affect government to gain the needed resources (He & Tian, 2008). A corporate political strategy perspective suggests that firms can formulate effective political strategies, such as influencing government or government officials, when they realize that government has significant effects on the competitive environment (Hillman & Hitt, 1999;Oliver, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%