The greatest economic challenge facing China in the post-Deng era is the reform of unprofitable, state-owned enterprises that have never truly been forced to face the pressure of a bottom line or the threat of bankruptcy. Forging Reform in China explains how and why well-intentioned, market-oriented reform measures have not been sweepingly successful to date, and what it would take to achieve meaningful reform. This book makes a compelling argument that private ownership cannot work in China's current system until governance over complex economic factors has been established, that is, until credit is tightened and market selection processes made to work.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"An empirically pathbreaking, wise, and conceptually innovative study of China's contemporary political economy. Three detailed case studies of state-owned enterprises and a probing discussion of township industries vividly illuminate the real impediments to a successful transition to a market economy. This book challenges several widely held views about China and takes the theoretical literature into new terrain. Must reading for both academics and practitioners." Michel Oksenberg, Asia/Pacific Research Center, Stanford University
"While there has been widespread speculation about how the huge inefficient state-owned enterprises are a major problem for China's economic reforms, in Forging Reform in China, Edward Steinfeld provides the world with the first in-depth, micro-level analysis of how horrendous the problem really is. He lucidly explains the tangled mess of the SEOs and China's vulnerable banking system. All how are concerned with China's economic future should take seriously Steinfeld's warning that, 'The state sector is not just dying, but also threatening to drag down the nation's entire economy along with it." Lucian Pye, Ford Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, MIT
"This penetrating, pioneering analysis of several large Chinese steel companies, offers an inside account of the enormous problems of China's state enterprises. Ed Steinfeld shows the logic of how state enterprises that 'show profits' and pay taxes have remained inefficient despite reforms. Ezra Vogel, Harvard University
"Steinfeld gained extraordinary access to three major Chinese steel corporations: Anshan, Capital Iron and Steel, and Ma'anshan. In this book he not only lays out the extraordinary stories of these firms during the reform era but also deftly develops the larger lessons of his tale. Those lessons could not be more timely. China is now seeking to reform its SOE sector through major changes in property rights and related shifts in employment terms and levels. Steinfeld argues powerfully that this will not work in the absence of even more important changes in the regulatory environment and in the state itself. Forging Reform in China sets new and important criteria for judging the fate of China's SOE reform effort, and it does so in vivid, concrete terms." Kenneth Lieberthal, University of Michigan
"Mr. Steinfeld's description of the problem is concise and coherent." Hugo Restall, Wall Street Journal
"Benefiting from remarkable access to three mammoth stell corporations, Steinfeld illustrates how the managers, confronted with an array of irrational constraints, make decisions that are logical from their perspective but disastrous for the economy. Steinfeld's report is ground-breaking for all who have an interest in the Chinese economy." Foreign Affairs
"...an enormously impressive and valuable piece of work.... The case studies are the most complete, detailed and nuanced examinations of these firms in English to date, besides being lucidly and entertainingly written, and worth the cover price in themselves." Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, The Times Higher
"...an ambitious attempt to explain the failure of state sector reform in China. The study is well thought out, deals with a broad range of literature, and utilizes case studies." Education about Asia
"While there has been widespread speculation about how the huge inefficient state-owned enterprises are a major problem for China's economic reforms, in Forging Reform in China, Edward Steinfeld provides the world with the first in-depth, micro-level analysis of how horrendous the problem really is. He lucidly explains the tangled mess of the SEOs and China's vulnerable banking system. All how are concerned with China's economic future should take seriously Steinfeld's warning that, 'The state sector is not just dying, but also threatening to drag down the nation's entire economy along with it." Lucian Pye, Ford Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, MIT
"This penetrating, pioneering analysis of several large Chinese steel companies, offers an inside account of the enormous problems of China's state enterprises. Ed Steinfeld shows the logic of how state enterprises that 'show profits' and pay taxes have remained inefficient despite reforms. Ezra Vogel, Harvard University
"Steinfeld gained extraordinary access to three major Chinese steel corporations: Anshan, Capital Iron and Steel, and Ma'anshan. In this book he not only lays out the extraordinary stories of these firms during the reform era but also deftly develops the larger lessons of his tale. Those lessons could not be more timely. China is now seeking to reform its SOE sector through major changes in property rights and related shifts in employment terms and levels. Steinfeld argues powerfully that this will not work in the absence of even more important changes in the regulatory environment and in the state itself. Forging Reform in China sets new and important criteria for judging the fate of China's SOE reform effort, and it does so in vivid, concrete terms." Kenneth Lieberthal, University of Michigan
"Mr. Steinfeld's description of the problem is concise and coherent." Hugo Restall, Wall Street Journal
"Benefiting from remarkable access to three mammoth stell corporations, Steinfeld illustrates how the managers, confronted with an array of irrational constraints, make decisions that are logical from their perspective but disastrous for the economy. Steinfeld's report is ground-breaking for all who have an interest in the Chinese economy." Foreign Affairs
"...an enormously impressive and valuable piece of work.... The case studies are the most complete, detailed and nuanced examinations of these firms in English to date, besides being lucidly and entertainingly written, and worth the cover price in themselves." Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, The Times Higher
"...an ambitious attempt to explain the failure of state sector reform in China. The study is well thought out, deals with a broad range of literature, and utilizes case studies." Education about Asia
Book Description
The greatest economic challenge facing China in the post-Deng era is the reform of unprofitable, state-owned enterprises that have never truly been forced to face the pressure of a bottom line or the threat of bankruptcy. Forging Reform in China explains how and why well-intentioned, market-oriented reform measures have not been sweepingly successful to date, and what it would take to achieve meaningful reform. This book makes a compelling argument that private ownership cannot work in China's current system until governance over complex economic actors has been established, that is, until credit is tightened and market selection processes made to work.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Edward S. Steinfeld is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Director of the MIT-China Program.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
unique but also very biased,
By A Customer
This review is from: Forging Reform in China: The Fate of State-Owned Industry (Cambridge Modern China Series) (Paperback)
The author focuses on one industry (steel) and a small number of firms. There are some good points in the book, but overall it suffers from a biased sample because the author hasn't studied the successful management experiences of Handan and its derivatives.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Surprised it's still in print,
By Night Biggerstaff (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Forging Reform in China: The Fate of State-Owned Industry (Cambridge Modern China Series) (Paperback)
This book is based on research on the Chinese steel industry conducted in the mid-1990s. There's some good info in here, but the author misses some pretty obvious points. You could ascribe this to ideological blinders (I'm thinking of his statement that corporate governance mechanisms "are absolutely essential for getting firms to respond to the price signals of the free market") or perhaps it's just a misplaced sense of disinterest. The most glaring omission is asset stripping. It has been well documented that asset stripping and associated corruption was behind most SOE problems during the period in question. The words "asset stripping" never appear in this book (although the author does admit that "uncoordinated agencies of the state... extract profits from the firm" but he doesn't really go into how this happens). And for some strange reason the author goes easy on Zhou Guanwu's son, admitting only that "something strange had happened." I mean, the guy was given a suspended death sentence, clearly he wasn't just misusing company stationary. My favorite bit, though, is the conclusion: "Perhaps this is not a country that can or should be purchasing airplanes, automobiles, power plants, and heavy machinery in great quantity..." Oops!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique theory of the state owned enterprise problem,
By A Customer
This review is from: Forging Reform in China: The Fate of State-Owned Industry (Cambridge Modern China Series) (Hardcover)
The author presents a different perspective on China's state owned enterprise problem. He contends that the problem is not an allocation of property rights issue. Instead, a supposed free market system has been overlaid over a still partially existing command economy. A fascinating theory. If the author is right, China's problems are very deep and will be extremely difficult to solve.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
CHINA'S economic awakening will undoubtedly go down as one of the great events of the twentieth century. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
joint stock reforms, interenterprise lending, command era, postsocialist reform, large industrial producers, profit contracting, nested problems, stock restructuring, privatization perspective, economic structure reform, profit declarations, social welfare burdens, local state corporatism, nonstate firms, large state firms, transitional reform, triangular debt, transitional systems, soft lending, state predation, transitional context, governmental decentralization, interenterprise debt, tax contracting, modernization funds Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Zhou Guanwu, Magang Steel, Magang Holding, Hong Kong, State Council, Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, Deng Xiaoping, Ma'anshan City, Eastern Europe, Ministry of Finance, Anhui Province, East Asian, State Commission, Soviet Union, World Bank, Magang Group, Huaxia Bank, United States, Zhao Ziyang, People's Republic, State Statistical Bureau, Tsingtao Brewery, Zhou Beifang, Assets Current, East China New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
CHINA'S economic awakening will undoubtedly go down as one of the great events of the twentieth century. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
joint stock reforms, interenterprise lending, command era, postsocialist reform, large industrial producers, profit contracting, nested problems, stock restructuring, privatization perspective, economic structure reform, profit declarations, social welfare burdens, local state corporatism, nonstate firms, large state firms, transitional reform, triangular debt, transitional systems, soft lending, state predation, transitional context, governmental decentralization, interenterprise debt, tax contracting, modernization funds Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Zhou Guanwu, Magang Steel, Magang Holding, Hong Kong, State Council, Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, Deng Xiaoping, Ma'anshan City, Eastern Europe, Ministry of Finance, Anhui Province, East Asian, State Commission, Soviet Union, World Bank, Magang Group, Huaxia Bank, United States, Zhao Ziyang, People's Republic, State Statistical Bureau, Tsingtao Brewery, Zhou Beifang, Assets Current, East China New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 55
books:
See all 55 books this book cites
43
books
cite this book:
See all 43 books citing this book
- Iron and Steel (Selected topics in chemistry) by Reginald William Thomas in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Ideology and Organization in Communist China, Second enlarged edition (Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley) by Franz Schurmann in Back Matter
- The Firm, the Market, and the Law by R. H. Coase in Back Matter
- Exposed to Innumerable Delusions: Public Enterprise and State Power in Egypt, India, Mexico, and Turkey (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) by John Waterbury in Back Matter
- Hong Kong under Chinese Rule: The Economic and Political Implications of Reversion (Cambridge Modern China Series) by Warren I. Cohen in Front Matter
See all 55 books this book cites
- The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace: State, Revolution, and Labor Management (Cambridge Modern China Series) by Mark W. Frazier in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- A Political Economy Analysis of China's Civil Aviation Industry (East Asia: History, Politics, Sociology and Culture) by Mark Dougan on page 31, page 88, and Back Matter
- Selling China: Foreign Direct Investment During the Reform Era (Cambridge Modern China Series) by Yasheng Huang in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Law and Justice in China's New Marketplace by Ronald C. Keith in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Asian Post-Crisis Management: Corporate and Governmental Strategies for Sustainable Competitive Advantage by Usha C. V. Haley on page 224, and page 319
See all 43 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
