ABSTRACT
The concept of organizational culture is based upon the assumption that organizations exist largely as independent entities promoting the independent organization as the central unit of analysis.
In the context of Hong Kong this can be seen as a somewhat ethnocentric perspective as the principal industries are characterized by interlocked networks of small enterprises whose cultural strength lies in the trust-based relationships and linkages between rather than within firms. The basic proposition of this chapter is to submit that the industrial ‘recipes’ of Hong Kong networks are a reflection of broader Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist influences and a consonance between the macro and meso levels of culture is a contributory influence to the apparent economic success of Hong Kong. A supplementary proposition is that ‘mental programming’ at the cultural level in a ‘collective’ Gemeinschaft and ‘high power distance’ society like Hong Kong is relatively more important in influencing economic activity than mental programmes at the individual level.
