Personal Styles, Cultural Values and Management: The Sincere and Wing on Companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong, 1900–1941

While retailing a great variety of goods under one roof and single management already existed in China by the late nineteenth century, modern style department stores on the China coast began only in 1900. Organized by Chinese entrepreneurs who had started their careers in Australia, they consciously borrowed managerial techniques from abroad. Sincere and Wing On, the two premier Chinese department stores, expanded rapidly during diese years and, in the process, developed new forms of organization and strategy based on western models as well as on traditional Chinese business practices and cultural values. When political and economic turmoil during the 1920s and 1930s slowed the growth of these companies, Wing On emerged more successfully tban Sincere. Wing On's path diverged from that of its competitor because its stronger management team was better at blending individual personality, western organization and Chinese cultural values.