A healthy hybrid: The technological dynamism of minority-state-owned firms in China

Since its economic reform began in 1979 China's economy has grown rapidly but its dynamism has not been shared by the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at its core. Although some progress has been made, a large proportion of SOEs remain inefficient and uncompetitive, failing to exploit their advantages in scale, experience and resources. In contrast there has been rapid growth first of the collective and township enterprises, and then of the private sector, now the largest ownership type. However, private businesses continue to be handicapped by poor access to finance and other resources. These have however been made freely available to firms with only a minority state shareholding and otherwise owned by private shareholders and employees. This paper, focussing on the telecoms manufacturing sector, compares minority-state-owned hybrids favourably with other ownership types and argues that in the Chinese setting they can and should play a key role in future development.     

Subsidy competition,industrial land price distortions and overinvestment: empirical evidence from China’s manufacturing enterprises

In China, offering inexpensive industrial land is a major means for local governments to participate in interregional subsidy competition, which caused regional industrial land price distortions. This article examines the effect of regional industrial land price distortions on the overinvestment of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Chinese industrial enterprises data and land price monitoring data of 49 major cities in China between 1998 and 2007 are employed. This article has found that industrial land price distortions will significantly stimulate the overinvestment of manufacturing enterprises. Such a promoting effect varies among manufacturing enterprises of different ownership and industry attributes. Industrial land price distortions have the most significant promoting effect on the overinvestment of foreign-invested firms, followed by private firms, while state-owned enterprises are the least affected. Compared with private heavy-industry firms, industrial land price distortions have a more significant effect on the overinvestment of private light-industry firms. Compared with foreign-invested heavy-industry firms, industrial land price distortions have a more significant effect on the overinvestment of foreign-invested light-industry firms. This study represents a positive exploration and supplement to the existing studies on the effects of subsidy competition on corporate investment behaviours and the studies on Chinese-style subsidy competition.     

制造业产出服务化对企业绩效的作用机制 ——基于产品市场竞争的视角

制造业服务化是先进制造业与现代服务业融合的重要内涵之一,按生产关系分为投入服务化和产出服务化,产出服务化反映了制造企业向“微笑曲线”两端服务环节转型。基于产品市场竞争视角,从市场势力和产品差异化两方面探究制造业产出服务化对企业绩效的作用机制,并通过构建产出服务化测算指标,选取2008-2018年中国1987家上市公司的面板数据,运用PSM-DID方法对制造业产出服务化与企业绩效的关系进行实证检验。研究表明:(1)制造业产出服务化显著提升了企业绩效,但存在明显的地域与所有制差异。东部、中部地区以及民营制造企业产出服务化对企业绩效的提升效果较为显著,西部地区以及国有制造企业绩效的提升在考察期内并不明显,外资企业产出服务化降低了企业绩效水平;(2)制造业产出服务化可通过“市场势力”效应和“产品差异化”效应共同促进企业绩效水平的提升。但在地域与所有制上差异显著,东部、中部地区以及民营制造企业存在“市场势力”效应和“产品差异化”效应,西部地区、国有以及外资制造企业产出服务化虽能有效提高企业的市场势力和产品差异化水平,但对企业绩效水平的提升并不明显。因此,应从市场环境、社会分工、人力资本积累等方面为制造业服务化提供保障,帮助制造企业获取竞争优势。     

异质机构、企业性质与自主创新

本文通过放松经理人市场的完全竞争性假定,拓展了经典职业生涯模型,藉此研究了中国制度背景下的机构持股、企业性质与企业创新的关系,并基于2004—2009年923家上市公司的数据,从R&D投入和专利申请两个维度对本文拓展模型的命题进行了实证检验。结果表明:(1)异质机构对企业创新有不同的影响,证券投资基金对企业创新有显著的负效应,这种负效应在国有企业中表现得更为明显;(2)民营企业中机构投资者持股促进了企业的创新活动,国有企业中机构投资者持股与企业创新呈显著的负相关关系;(3)机构投资者整体持股对全样本企业的专利申请有不显著的正效应,而对R&D投入则有显著的负效应。     

Quid pro quo

This paper attempts to shed some new light on two puzzles about Chinese economy: Rapid economic growth despite pandemic corruption; dramatic development of the private sector despite ‘ownership discrimination' in financial resource allocation. In our model, the productive bribe facilitates the more efficient private firm to obtain the scarce financial resource, either from the bank or from the state-owned enterprise, and corrects the initial allocation distortion. Meanwhile, our model also generates the distortionary and the predatory bribes which hurt the economy.     

China’s economic reforms and growth prospects

Conventional wisdom attributes China’s rapid economic growth to its model of state capitalism, which combines direct state ownership of the commanding heights of the economy and indirect state control of the rest of the economy through industrial policies and the allocation of credit through state-owned banks. This article argues that China’s growth since 1978 is largely due to the result of the expanding role of markets and the rise of private business. If China systematically adopts the economic reform agenda endorsed by the Chinese Communist Party in the fall of 2013, it likely will avoid a sustained period of much slower growth that some have forecast.     

The early stages of reform in Polish manufacturingStructural adjustment, ownership and size

This paper argues that a significant adjustment process has taken place in Polish industry in the early stages of the market-oriented reforms. We analyse comprehensive data on two-digit and three-digit manufacturing industries, disaggregated by firm ownership and size. By focusing on a decomposition of labour productivity growth, we obtain results which suggest that structural determinants of the recovery have outweighed cyclical ones. With regard to firm ownership and economic performance, we find that the productive response of state enterprises has been markedly different from that of private firms, with the latter outperforming the former. Finally, our results indicate that size matters, at least among private firms, and our results provide mild evidence of increasing returns.
JEL classification: D21, E63, P21.     

金融危机对民营经济的冲击及对策

随着我国经济发展,民营经济越来越成为国民经济的重要组成部分,并成为国民经济中最富活力的经济增长点。全球金融危机的爆发对我国民营经济产生了巨大冲击。为应对金融危机的巨大冲击,应该从加强民营企业自身和民营企业发展环境两方面进行治理。     

资本误配置的影响因素初探

资本市场的各种不完美性会导致资本在企业间不能够以资本的边际产出相等的原则进行配置,从而产生资本误配置(capital misallocation)。本文通过研究中国制造业企业的固定资产投资行为,用模拟矩方法(Simulated Method of Moment,SMM),估计了不同所有制类型的企业的资本调整成本(adjustment cost)函数、投资不可逆(irreversibility)程度以及折现因子(discount factor)(用来计算边际利率)。我们发现,民营企业面临的边际利率要远远高于外资企业,而后者面临的边际利率又高于国有企业和集体企业。不同类型的企业面临差别利率是造成资本误配置的最重要因素,投资不可逆次之,资本调整成本则是相对次要但仍然不可忽略的因素。     

中国国有企业改革：经验、困境与出路*

作为国有企业产权改革主要模式，“混合所有制”改革是否有助于确保国有资产保值增值，是否有助于推动中国经济可持续发展等问题仍存在探讨空间。本文基于对于改革开放以来中国国有企业改革的成就和教训的考察，指出“混合所有制”可以作为竞争性部门国有企业改革的一个过渡形式；对于垄断央企的改革应该充分借鉴国际上自然垄断行业的改革经验，打破行政垄断，推动竞争性框架建立，并切实实现从“管企业”逐步调整为“管资本”，通过改革实现国有资产的保值增值，并为经济创造新的增长点。     

Ownership, investment climate and firm performance

The importance of a country's ‘investment climate’ for economic growth has recently received much attention. In this paper we use a new survey of 1,500 Chinese enterprises in five cities to measure more precisely components of the investment climate and their effects on firm performance. Our firm‐level analysis reveals that both ownership and investment climate measures matter for investment, productivity and growth. In particular, firm performance is positively correlated with foreign and domestic private ownership, light regulatory burdens, limited corruption, technological infrastructure and labour market flexibility. In contrast, gains from improving banking access and physical infrastructure are quite limited.     

不同技术来源对中国装备制造业技术创新的影响——基于企业所有制类型视角

利用2010-2017年中国装备制造业国有企业、民营企业和外资企业面板数据，分析不同技术来源对各所有制企业技术创新的影响，进一步考察各所有制企业对外源性技术来源的吸收效率。结果发现，不同技术来源对中国装备制造业技术创新的影响因所有制不同而呈现显著差异。其中，国外技术引进对民营企业和外资企业技术创新具有显著正向影响，对国有企业没有显著影响;国内技术购买对民营企业有显著抑制作用，对其它类型企业没有影响;外商直接投资对国有企业和外资企业的技术创新有显著正向作用，对民营企业没有显著影响;自主研发显著促进国有企业技术创新，而对民营企业和外资企业没有显著促进作用。考察吸收效率发现，不同所有制企业对各种来源技术吸收效率整体较低且存在一定差异。     

Reform and competitive selection in China: An analysis of firm exits

This paper considers aspects of the competitive selection process in China – firm entry, survival, and exit – in an important sector of manufacturing, looking in particular for changes resulting from the process of reform. Using industry census data from a province in North-East China, we find substantial differences in the process between ownership types. By conducting decompositions of aggregate growth and exploring the determinants of firm's exit using a hazard rate model, we observe a substantial rate of churning of enterprises in the sector, finding that the competitive selection processes operate, for small and collectively owned enterprises (COEs), in a manner consistent with what is known about a private market economy. While the hazard for state owned enterprises (SOEs) is lower than for COEs, we find that the reforms introduced in 1992 were important in closing the gap for similarly situated firms.     

Institutional environment,ownership and firm taxation

This paper examines how ownership type and institutional environment affect firm taxation. Using a sample of Chinese‐listed firms from 1999 to 2006, we find that private firms enjoy a lower effective tax rate than local state‐owned enterprises. In addition, the preferential taxation of private firms is associated with local government incentives to promote local economic growth. We find that private firms located in regions with a lower level of privatization receive preferential tax treatment. Our results also suggest that decentralization and interjurisdictional competition lead to financial interdependence between local governments and private firms.     

POST-REFORM PRODUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE AND SOURCES OF GROWTH IN CHINESE INDUSTRY: 1980–85

This paper examines the productivity growth and its sources in 39 Chinese industries in the post-reform period 1980–85. We use both the gross-output and value-added models to isolate the contributions of labor, capital, materials and technical efficiency to growth in industrial output. Using new data from the National Industrial Census of China (1988) for large and medium-size enterprises, we find that Chinese industries, in particular, those in the manufacturing experienced sharp increases in total factor productivity growth in the 1984–85 period as compared to the 1980–84 period. Moreover, collective and private enterprises show higher output and total factor productivity gains than do state enterprises. Our regression results show that total factor productivity gains are closely tied to increases in retained profits and the proportion of total employees that are technical workers. However, labor bonuses have a negative effect on total factor productivity growth.     

Models of trust-sharing in Chinese private enterprises

This paper presents two related models of development patterns of Chinese private enterprises. They illustrate incentive-based reasons for ownership arrangements of private enterprises, and highlight how institutional foundations of trust, particularly government and family-based cultural values, play an important role in influencing the development of private enterprises. These models attempt to explain why government and family-based culture are crucial for the ownership structure and management of private enterprises. The main argument in the models is that the structure of family businesses can be viewed, in essence, as a form of trust-sharing (Guanxi-sharing) arrangement within the firm. Furthermore, the increase in the prevalence of family businesses can be seen as a result of family trust replacing government trust in the firm's economic activities.     

高管持股对创新可持续性的影响研究

企业创新活动一旦中断将会产生巨大的调整成本损失。因此,如何保持企业创新可持续性是企业创新研究的重要问题。结合委托代理理论,探索了企业高管持股对创新可持续性的影响,并进一步讨论了高管过度自信与产权性质的调节作用。使用2003-2014年中国A股制造业上市公司面板数据进行实证分析,结果表明：高管持股对企业创新可持续性具有显著正向影响,高管过度自信则弱化了两者间正向关系,而相对于非民营企业,民营企业高管持股对创新可持续性的正向作用更强。同时考虑两种情境效应的综合影响时,在民营企业中高管过度自信的负向调节作用更强。最后,考虑了遗漏变量带来的“选择偏差问题”和内生性问题,采用基于Kernel匹配得分法的反事实检验,为实证结果提供了稳健性证明。     

我国服务贸易进口与制造业出口竞争力关系研究

在统计我国服务贸易进口额和制造业11个重点行业出口额的基础上,以面板数据结合多元回归方法实证服务贸易进口与我国制造业出口竞争力关系。结果显示：①总体上我国服务贸易进口增长有利于制造业出口竞争力的提升;②不同部门服务贸易进口的增长对制造业出口竞争力提升的影响程度存在着较大差异;③服务贸易进口对不同部门制造业出口竞争力的影响也不一样。最后就我国制造业应该如何利用服务贸易进口来提高其出口竞争力提出了针对性的政策建议。     

The Regional and Industrial Effects of FDI on Chinese Manufacturing Sector

This paper investigates the regional and industrial effects of FDI on Chinese manufacturing sector since China entered WTO. We find that FDI plays a different role in the development of different areas and industries through a comparison with state-controlled industrial enterprises in China. More establishments of smaller foreign funded enterprises and less foreign capital with a high level of management should promote the competition to stimulate manufacturing growth in eastern area, while fewer establishments of foreign funded enterprises with a large capital should make a great stimulus to the western manufacturing development. Both foreign capital and the establishment of foreign industrial enterprises have a great effect on the whole manufacturing sector by industry.     

Liability Structure and Carbon Emissions Abatement: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Enterprises

As it is known that the linkage between financial performance and environmental performance of enterprises has not obtained conclusive results, and the role of liability and its structure have not been considered yet. In view of these gaps, this paper employed the data of Chinese manufacturing firms from 2008 to 2011, to examine the impact of liability structure on enterprises’ carbon emissions abatement. The results manifest that both the relative and absolute proportions of long-term liabilities have a significant negative effect on the level value and growth rate of enterprise carbon emissions in China. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that enterprises in high energy consumption group have higher total carbon emissions and growth rate compared with enterprises in low and middle energy consumption groups. For enterprises of different ownership, the level of private-owned enterprises is higher and the growth rate is lower. The findings imply that policy makers should not adopt a one-size-fits-all policies to reduce firm carbon emissions.