Why did the Four Hundred Pilot Experiment Enterprises in Sichuan Achieve Swift Results?

Abstract

The pilot experiments to increase the autonomy of enterprises conducted in Sichuan began in October last year. At first there were only 6 enterprises involved; it was extended to 100 early this year. The experimental work in the first half of this year has already brought good results. The total industrial output value of these 100 enterprises grew, in the first half of this year, at a rate 56.7 percent higher than the average growth rate of the total industrial output value of the province as a whole; the profit realized by 84 of the local industrial enterprises under the experiment grew at a rate 54 percent higher than the average growth rate of the profit of local industries in the province as a whole, and the quality, in general, of products has also been raised. The 14 experimental enterprises within the chemical industry system in Sichuan alone had 86 percent of their major products reach quality control targets which equaled or surpassed the highest historical standards; especially in terms of the ...