Guanxi is an important element in Chinese business life, but one should be very aware of possible conflicts of interest. Employees could be helping out competitors for personal gain. Therefore it is important to keep in mind some useful hints to prevent this from happening. Making sure that the employees' gains are equal to those of the company is one way to avoid so called "bad guanxi". In addition to this, teamwork in the sales guarantees a form of social control and by maintaining good relations with the employees and their familiesa strong base of company loyalty is founded. It is clear that by carefully monitoring the guanxi-relations in your company, bad guanxi can be reduced to a minimum.
When Western people set up a company in China, they must be aware of some ethical standards.Since China is becoming a key player in global industry, the Chinese demand respect and do not wish to be treated like children. In order to conceive their goal of worldwide success, they realize that it is necessary to decrease corruption, which is, according to university students, still present in many companies. In this case, when the company in China determines its ethical code, the Western founder should give this assignment to the Chinese people themselves. The Chinese have to develop the rules, which are based on Chinese philosophical views. There exist groups, f.e. "The Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership", that try to inform people more about these ethical standards. Starting from their 18 basic rules the organization even offers an opportunity to take classes in business ethics.
