Guanxi’s Changing Nature: A Chinese Born Global’s Experience

This article aims to show that using guanxi initially fostered a Chinese born global’s internationalization but later, restricted its decision-making freedom and resulted in the firm’s partial deinternationalization. It concludes that because of guanxi’s reciprocal nature, owners and managers should use it with caution: they should not only focus on what (knowledge, financing, contacts) they can gain but also consider what (time, services, financial resources) they are expected to contribute and what (reputation, some customers, access to financing) they can lose if their partners decide to break the guanxi as a result of of receiving less than they expected.