权利人理论和中国的家族企业
杨继永
【关键词】Stakeholder Theory, Chinese Family Firms
【全文】
Chinese Family Firms and Stakeholder Theory
(Mainly Mainland China)
1. Introduction
It is common observation that on returning to Mainland China after a short absence you will find yet another tall building which was not there before. The growth of the economies of Mainland China is a new phenomenon not just in the sense that it is happening in this region, but more significantly in the sense that the effects of local culture enhancing economic performance. There has been a dramatic economic development of the Chinese private sector, since China’s central government gradually released its central-planning policy. Among the private sectors, the vast majority of new private businesses are held by Chinese families. Under these circumstances, Chinese Family Firms (hereinafter CFFs) are playing a more and more important role at least in the economic sphere. Currently, when the reform of State owned Enterprises (SOEs) is encountering lots of difficulties and pressure, in fact family firms are an important element of the private sector engine enhancing Chinese economic growth.
In order to understand fully the economic success of CFFs, I believe it is necessary to illustrate the economic theories and local cultures related to CFFs management. Similar to other CFFs of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and East-South Asia (the classic Chinese diaspora) , CFFs in Mainland China could be essentially influenced by Confucianism, even though its influence is changing weaker. In China, the business is constructed and organized of morally binding relationships connecting all. Therefore, family unity, personal trust, and complex relations are important factors concerning CFFs management. According to that, CFFs may be understood as a visible and tangible junction or nexus of reciprocity.
Additionally, there is another fact worth considering, which is that the thinking of the Chinese Communist Party would affect people’s mind in this way or another, essentially since 1949. Regarding this, it is possible that method of running CFFs may partly follow the trends, practices and influence of the Party.
The search for an explanation of the relations between CFFs and stakeholder theory must come to terms with three major influences: CFFs development, Confucianism, and reciprocal theory. In the following sections, I will argue the close relationship between CFFs and stakeholder theory from these three aspects.
2. Stakeholder Theory
In general, stakeholder theory is defined that “the objectives of the firm should be derived of its balancing the conflicting claims of various stakeholders in the firm: managers, workers, stockholders, suppliers, vendors.” According to this theory, society is considered as a system of connections and the reality of management is a mixture of economic, political, and cultural influences. Therefore, a company’s success can be affected-negatively or positively-by its stakeholders. Stakeholder theory has been widely offered as a corrective to perceived defects of business and business ethics, and as an alternative model of corporate governance. Under stakeholder theory, it stresses this point that in the long run the interests of shareholders and other affected interests coincide. Stakeholder theory has often been argued from two aspects: corporate social responsibility and improving efficiency.
