Enterprise reform in China: agency problems and political control
- 1 October 1996
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Economics of Transition
- Vol. 4 (2) , 427-447
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0351.1996.tb00181.x
Abstract
The past reforms of state‐owned enterprises in China delegated many effective control rights to managers while maintaining ultimate control rights for the Party and government. The result is that either the agency costs are high because managers lack accountability or the political costs are high because the government causes political interference. Reform of state‐owned enterprises in China should aim at reducing both political and agency costs, which can be done through depoliticization, effective corporate governance, and deserialization. In particular, China needs an ownership transformation with a combination of privatization, denationalization, and pluralization; a state assets management system to limit political influence from the government; and corporatization to establish effective corporate governance which may take a variety of forms.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Enterprise restructuring in early transition: the case study evidence from Central and Eastern Europe1Economics of Transition, 1995
- China's Evolving Managerial Labor MarketJournal of Political Economy, 1995
- Growing Out of the PlanPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1995
- Enterprise Reform in Chinese IndustryJournal of Economic Perspectives, 1994
- Autonomy and Incentives in Chinese State EnterprisesThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1994
- Why China's economic reforms differ: the M‐form hierarchy and entry/expansion of the non‐state sectorEconomics of Transition, 1993
- The Transition to a Market Economy: Pitfalls of Partial ReformThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1992
- Privatization in Eastern Europe: The Case of PolandBrookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1990
- Productivity change in Chinese industry: 1953–1985Journal of Comparative Economics, 1988
- The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral IntegrationJournal of Political Economy, 1986