An Identification and Evaluation of the Various Types and Forms of Personal Relationships Within a Sino Foreign University Strategic Alliance Context

Abstract

This article identifies a range of personal relationships observable in Sino foreign strategic alliances. Guanxi relationships remained the key to a successful alliance; and encompassed various levels, stages, and dimensions—making them complex and changeable forms of human behavior. Other types of relationships identified included “basic friends,” “working colleagues,” “neutral relationships,” and three types of operational behavior: formal, informal, and hidden relationships, which tended to form what is termed the operational fabric of an alliance. Guanxi relationships could be arranged in a variety of structures between two or more people, often forming quite multifaceted networks of people which often straddled the Chinese side of an alliance. The value of this article is that it identifies a range of personal relationships within an alliance context, discusses their value and role in an alliance context, and provides some guidance for companies wishing to understand the various dimensions of human relationships within a Sino foreign business context.