Bringing it all back home? A Chinese bank going global
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This thesis examines the role of trust in the global expansion and activities of
Chinabank over the past eight, and especially the past two, decades and the
associated transformative effects of this emergent geography. Three specific
moments of change involving questions of trust are investigated: i) attempts to
project the Bank as a legitimate presence in the City of London; ii) the reconciliation
of expatriate and local practices of work in the Bank in London; and iii) the
transformation of relations of governance within the Bank and between the Bank and
its headquarters and the Chinese State in Beijing.
The underlying argument of the thesis is that global economic geographies are
enabled, in part at least, through social geographies - here social geographies of trust
- which are a prerequisite in bridging the differences involved in the processes and
relations of globalisation. But, of course, concepts and practices of trust are
themselves geographically variable and so globalisation in turn involves negotiations
over, and transformations of, trust. Thus the thesis argues that trust is relationally
constructed as different conceptualisations and practices of trust interact with, and
shape, each other. In this sense, globalisation is a process of hybridisation rather than
of flattening.
The main contributions of the thesis are i) to explore globalisation from ‘periphery’
to ‘core’; ii) to consider some of the implications of bringing together two very
different sets of political economic relations (communist state and market-based
capitalist financial relations); and iii) by exploring the nature and significance of trust
as a socio-spatial relation, to contribute to the literature on the social conditions of
existence (the social geographies) of economic globalisation. In addition, the thesis
draws attention to the impact of different orientations/attitudes towards personal trust
and regulatory trust in forming financial relations and their complementary role in
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the making of financial space. Thus the research explores the implications of the
working practices of the Bank in London not only for relations between it and its
headquarters and the Chinese state in Beijing but for working practices in London in
coming to terms with the rapid growth and globalisation of finance in China.
Qualitative methods predominate but findings are triangulated across a range of data.
Methods employed include semi-structured interviews (within the Bank in London;
in its head office and the offices of its supervisory authorities and other state bodies,
in Beijing; and with UK clients of the Bank and other leading financial institutions in
London); participant observation and textual analyses; and the analysis of published
data from a variety of sources.
Authors
Li, YajingCollections
- Theses [4089]