Revision with unchanged content. China has attracted the attention of numerous companies as the second largest market in the world. With an authoritarian political system and socialist market economy, the Chinese government practices strong intervention on business operations. At the same time, Chinas ongoing structural transformation that fosters its economic reforms places increasing influence of business, both domestic and foreign, on national policy. These both force firms to pay greater attention to their relationships with the Chinese government - at all levels. In this timely work, Yi-Ru Regina Chen examines how 25 multinational corporations (MNCs) in China implement government affairs activities as a managerial strategy for achieving competitive advantage from an integrated perspective of public relations and political economy. The work documents the MNCs strategies, tools, and organizing for government affairs activities, roles of government affairs managers, and factors shaping their management. These findings have significant implications for the conceptualization of corporate lobbying/public affairs and government relations in Chinas political economy. This book is addressed to students and academics in public relations, business and management, communication, public affairs, and policy, as well as CEOs, association executives, lobbyists, business managers, and government officials.

The author is Assistant Professor in Communication Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her publications focus on strategic government affairs management in China and global public relations. She is a member of International Association of Business Communicators the Hong Kong Chapter and HK Public Relations Professionals' Association.