Economic Reform and State-Owned Enterprises in China is a comprehensive and detailed investigation into China's reform process during the period 1979 to 1987, with especial reference to the effect of the reforms on the industries (mostly large-scale) that are still owned by the state. The data on which this book is based resulted from a statistical survey and questionnaire of the managers of approximately 380 enterprises, documenting their responses to the new environment created by the reforms. The survey was undertaken by a team from the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.
Donald Hay and Derek Morris have a distinguished reputation for their work in applied industrial organisation. This book takes the statistical data collected and gives a thorough analysis of virtually every aspect of enterprise behaviourproduction and costs, employment, profit margins and profitability, finance, investment decisions and autonomy. The constant question is whether the reform programme was successful in the state-owned sectors, and the authors conclude that the answer is a qualified 'yes' and that in many respects the enterprises began in the eighties to behave like Western firms.
The authors also succeed in constructing a model of Chinese state-owned enterprise, and in using this to simulate the results of further reform programmes. They conclude that state-ownership remains a major constraint on market-led behaviour and efficiency. The authors argue that the next stage of reform must be to transfer these large enterprises to share- rather than state-ownership.
A comprehensive analysis, packed with statistical data, this book will be essential for all those interested in China's economic reform process and the role of the state.
Industry Reviews
`A balanced assessment of the extent to which the reforms have actually altered state enterprise behaviour in China ... This study is the first book-length product of an enormous research project which has included field research at more than 30 state-owned enterprises, as well as survey data from more than 1,000 enterprises. Clearly the research has to date produced far more data than could usefully be included in a single monograph, and further
publications are eagerly awaited ... the opening section surveying the different phases of reform is a model of clarity and conciseness ... What really makes this book indispensable is its wealth of statistical
data on all aspects of enterprise operations and relationships under the reforms ... the case is thoughtfully made, and is a timely contribution to the debate on ownership and reform of state-owned enterprises.'
Times Higher Education Supplement
`Hay and co-authors provide a significant, multi-faceted entry into the already substantial body of sophisticated statistical work on Chinese enterprises ... those interested in the progress of the economic reforms in the industrial sector need not miss, and should not overlook, the major conclusions which are, fortunately, fairly clearly laid out in the conclusions to each chapter ... their work contributes valuably setting out the puzzle that future work
must strive to explain.'
Louis Putterman, China Quarterly, Vol. 146, June '96
