Intercorporate ties in Singapore

Sociological literature on corporate networks in the West has relied heavil y on a resource dependency perspective. Research on inter-firm relations am ong Chinese firms in East and Southeast Asia has been guided by a Chinese n etwork approach. Relying on a 1992 data set of 107 big Chinese firms in Sin gapore, I show that firm behavior of large Chinese companies is influenced by both Chinese business tradition and Western corporate culture. Exclusive attention to either the Chinese network approach or the resource dependenc y perspective may not produce an accurate estimate of the factors of interl ocking in East and Southeast Asia. The best approach to take in studying Ch inese business networks is a combination of the two theoretical frameworks, sensitive both to 'impersonal' market forces and the 'personal' nature of business conduct in Chinese culture.