Business culture in East Asia and implications for competition law

Abstract

This Article examines the business cultures prevalent in East Asian countries and regions (mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan), explores their intellectual origins, and identifies characteristics that may be usefully considered when designing and implementing competition law and policy in the East Asian region. The suggestion is not that tools and concepts developed largely on the foundations of rational-actor-oriented economic reasoning should be abandoned in favor of a culturally relativistic approach. Rather, it is submitted that the effectiveness of those tools and concepts might be enhanced if applied with a nuanced understanding of the cultural influences on business decisions in the countries and regions examined.