Contextualizing Corporate Governance: the case of China's central state enterprise groups

Abstract

Beginning in 2004, the Chinese central government introduced the concept of boards of directors to wholly state-owned enterprise groups (guoyou duzi qiye jituan, 国有独资企业集团). Increasingly, creating external boards (waibu dongshi, 外部董事) has also been emphasized to realize effective corporate governance. This latest state effort exemplifies how the Chinese party-state is searching for feasible—but not necessarily the best—ways to accommodate market-oriented institutions with local political-economic realities, thus creating its own regime of corporate governance. To this end, this study examines the rise of external boards, standing committees, and the rules of two-way interventions (shuangxiang jinlu, 双向进路).