How are businesses within the bamboo network structured?
Most, if not all managerial positions within a company in the bamboo network will be filled by family members. This means that there is a significant amount of trust at the top of the company, as well as loyalty and flexibility. It also means that the top business executives are more likely to sit and have a conversation to plan company strategy or discuss issues rather than handing each other paperwork or arranging formal meetings. Instead of meetings with expensive lawyers and accountants in formal settings, there are conversations between friends and relatives. Kinship, dialect and common origin provide the basis for mutual trust in business transactions in the network, even when conducted at great distances.
A common set of values exists in the bamboo network which includes hard work, conscientiousness, loyalty to superiors and trust among family and friends, which allow many of the bamboo network businesses to get around government-imposed barriers. The fact that minimal paperwork is involved also means that there is no paper trail, should there be any government investigations of the company.
The bureaucracy embedded within most businesses in Western culture is much less prevalent in Chinese businesses, as the personal relationships the management team have with each other are very strong, and there is less of a hierarchical structure given the relationships are a lot closer.
As mentioned before, the business will generally pass from one generation to the next, typically giving the sons preference over the daughters in terms of company leadership. The head of the family will be the chief decision maker, and any sensitive information will be on a strict need-to-know basis with regards to non-familiar subordinates. Trust is one of the most important factors in the bamboo network, and only employees who have worked with the employer for a long time will hold higher positions if they are not family members. Because the leader of the company is generally the head of the family, he has the power in the business sense and in the social sense, which can be effective in maintaining control, since he will have more experience than his children and the responsibility they have to respect him in all spheres of life.