Senior managers will often have close relations to the Communist Party and many business decisions are likely to be scrutinised by the party which is often the unseen force behind many situations.
It is often said that China has a lack of good-quality, experienced managers - this is typical of a rapidly growing and modernising economy - and that the good managers who are available are very expensive (even by Western standards.) This places enormous emphasis on any company's recruitment and retention policies - you have to be able to recruit the best and then keep them.