How a Japanese company managed a distributors network in China. The study describes some changes in firm strategies, how these changes were implemented. The result is a multi-strategies network with different dependance links between distributors and the industrial firm.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw on scientific models in conceptualising the evolutionary bases of contemporary behaviours, and make cross‐species comparisons, to account for male managerial activities in situ in health organizations. Design/methodology/approach – In the...