Guanxi in Relationship Marketing of China’s Foreign Banks: A Marketing Research to Echo Business Anthropology

Abstract

This research studies the significance of guanxi in the relationship marketing (“RM”) activities of the relationship managers (“Relationship Managers”) in China’s foreign banks (“CFBs”), in an attempt to help them improve their business performance in China. It is a qualitative research adopting a traditional ethnographic method to collect data through in-depth interviews with ten Relationship Managers of ten CFBs in Shanghai. Non-probability and purposive sampling techniques were applied. The findings confirm, either fully or partially, the research propositions. Such confirmations have led to development of a platform/foundation for further research, particularly in the relationships between marketing research and business anthropology.