ABSTRACT
Western firms entering the Chinese market face various types of problems because business systems there do not necessarily operate in the same manner as they do in the West. These differences stem in part from the way the Chinese business has evolved from a centrally planned system to a more market directed one in which central and regional governments still play a powerful role and from the effects of cultural differences. Much has been written about the nature of Chinese business and its implications for foreign firms entering the market and other chapters review and discuss this literature in this book. Our focus here is on the nature and function of inter-firm buyer-seller relations in China, the extent to which they operate in similar or different ways to such business relations in the West and what this means for firms entering the Chinese market.
