Knowledge transfer, indigenization and human-development resources management in China

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Warner, Malcolm^a | Zhao, Shuming^{b; *}

Affiliations: [a] Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK | [b] School of Business, Nanjing University, Nanjing, PRC

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Shuming Zhao, School of Business, Nanjing University, 16 Jinyin Jie, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China. Tel.: +86 25 83592077; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: This article presents an overview of the specific roles that business knowledge transfer, indigenization and human-development resource management (HDRM) play in the People’s Republic of China. By comparing American, Japanese and Soviet business and management theory and practice, the article analyzes exogenous and indigenous influences through time on China’s HDRM, in terms of their historical roots, as well as by presenting possible explanations for national adaptations to cultural, institutional and legal norms. The study views the impact of business-knowledge transfer on Chinese HDRM theory and practice as a dynamic process, leading to the evolution of a ‘hybrid’, indigenized national HDRM framework, still unfolding. Despite the study’s qualifications, the article offers recommendations for future research.

Keywords: China, exogenous, human relations, human-development resource management, indigenisation, knowledge-transfer, scientific management

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-17246

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 151-160, 2018