control, culture and ethnicity in a Chinese Indonesian company

What is it about?

This ethnographic study of an Indonesian-Chinese owned company traces how control was influenced by the owners' traditional Chinese cultural values socialised during childhood. However, ethnicity was also an issue given the fear of discrimination given previous regimes' suppression of Chinese cultural values, and also the cultural values of most pribumi Muslim employees. However, the two cultures often overlapped and the owners were open to adapting new 'modern' management techniques.

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Why is it important?

Unlike most accounting and culture work that relies on surveys to investigate national cultures this study is ethnographic. It reveals the complexity of cultures, e.g. within Chinese Indonesians, and Indonesia generally. However, identities based on ethnicity were important for determining relations between different groups.