Relationship marketing in China: Guanxi, favouritism and adaptation

One of the hot research topics today is relationship marketing. However, li ttle research has been carried out in understanding the complex concepts of Guanxi (relationship) in a Chinese society. This research describes a stud y to operate the constructs of guanxi and explores the importance of guanxi in relationship development in order to present a new Guanxi framework. A study of both Western and Chinese literature provides foundations of the Gu anxi perspectives. The constructs of adaptation, trust, opportunism and fav our are identified. Adaptation and trust are found to be positively correla ted with sales stability and quality. Whilst, adaptation is negatively corr elated with relationship termination costs. Both theoretical framework (a n ew perceptual map) and managerial implications are given. In addition, reco mmendations for future research are made.