The development of a Guanxi framework

Relationship marketing is currently an important topic in the marketing literature. The use of relationships in marketing and business generally varies around the world. In the Chinese‐based economies much is made of Guanxi which provides the relationship building for interpersonal relationships. In this paper the foundations of Guanxi are described in the form of a four‐stage model. As Guanxi is a particular form of relationship in the Chinese culture and underpins much of the business carried out in China‐based economies, it is compared to relationship building in Western cultures. The paper adds to the literature on relationships and how they are developed and is important to the literature on relationship marketing applied in the Chinese context. It also helps the practitioner, who wishes to develop relationships in Chinese‐based economics, by providing guidelines on how the Chinese like to do business.