Big Business with Chinese Characteristics: Two Paths to Growth of the Firm in China under Reform (Economic Transition)

In the analysis of China's industrial reforms attention has focused on the declining role of the state sector. However, the emergence of the fast-growing market economy in China since the late 1970s has provided opportunities for traditional large plants to grow into more complex big businesses, stimulated especially by booming demand for their `upstream' products, such as steel and petrochemicals. Large firms emerged also from among the ranks of new entrants and small producers. There is negligible analysis of the institutional process of the emergence of large Chinese firms under system reform. This paper presents a case study of two such firms, one of each type. These firms are strongly shaped by the peculiarities of the Chinese institutional setting.