EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Economics 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 202 The ideological influence on economic sphere almost disappeared in mid 90-ties when Chinese economy became normal, as it was mainly guided by similar economic policies as in the developed countries. From then on the Chinese economic development was increasingly determined by global situation. This influence was for the first time felt in 1997 when China was affected by Asian financial crisis. After China entered WTO in 2001, this was a significant stimulus for Chinese export enabling a new cycle of fast economic growth while its economy became increasingly dependent on the conditions of world markets. The outburst of the world financial and economic crisis in 2008 confirmed that global economic situation is the most decisive factor determining the dynamics and conditions of Chinese economic development. Because of its size, China had more possibilities for protection from foreign influences and harmful events and was less affected by the crisis then most other countries. After last world financial crisis China had to adapt to the new situation in which the role of domestic market should be increasingly important and in which China had to change its economic structure accord- ingly. As the process of restructuring in the following years was rather slow, China’s economy is at present facing structural discrepancies which are posing a danger of an economic slowdown of a new type: an economic crisis generated by the growing imbalances in a capitalist economy. Veselova Liudmila (KomTek Ltd.) The Role of Social and Business Networks for Companies’ Internalization Process in Emerging Markets: Comparative Analysis of Russia and China Key words: social networks, business networks, guanxi, China, Russia, business environment Nowadays China is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of its economic growth, it has one of the biggest and most attractive markets in the world. Many foreign companies which started to penetrate Chinese market faced with driving force of Chinese society — social and business networks. During the last couple of decades, these networks became an integral part of Chinese business environment and turned out to be one of the key determinants of company’s behavior in business. Very similar, but not the same processes take place on Russian market. Nowadays, Russia and China, which had long common history, strengthen the cooperation and, without doubts, became the most powerful actors in the region. The aim of the paper is to examine the nature of social and business networks and identify their role in companies’ internalization in emerging markets. Through a thorough comparative analysis the paper identi- fies major benefits and drawbacks of the use of social and business networks in Russia and China. The paper provides several illustrative cases of MNEs operating on Chinese and/or Russian markets that experienced the use of social and business networks during their internationalization into these markets. Institutional theory was chosen as a general theoretical framework for the research, and it was further supplemented by network theory which allowed proper positioning of research subject. The research combines methods of historical anthropology as well as common qualitative methods of management research. The paper makes both theoretical and practical contribution. It contributes to strategic management and international business literature on emerging markets providing better understanding of the role of social and business networks in Russia and China. In addition, it explains some specific aspects of Russian and Chinese markets, and could be helpful for foreign companies penetrating these markets. Whyte Martin K. (Harvard University) China’s Rural-Urban Health Gap: Paradoxes of Health Insurance Reforms Key words: Health Insurance, Urban — Rural gap, Reform One of the worrisome results of China’s post-1978 market reforms was that the village cooperative medical insurance plans established during the Mao era collapsed.As a consequence, by the early 2000s urban Chinese were much more likely to be covered by health insurance than were rural Chinese. During subsequent years, a major national effort led to dramatic increases in health insurance coverage for all Chinese and closed this gap, so that the rate of health insurance coverage for rural and urban Chinese is now virtually the same—both