Chinese Business Groups Research Articles

Institutional embeddedness renewal or overembeddedness

Purpose – Viewing business groups as institutionally embedded agents, the purpose of this paper is to theoretically addresses the distinctions between institutional embeddedness renewal and overembeddedness, and empirically analyzes the proposed effecting mechanisms in the context of China. Design/methodology/approach – The paper predicts the specific performance effects accompanying the collective and local processes governing systematic institutional embeddedness phenomena, and examine the proposed hypotheses using a real experimental setting of Chinese business groups during the period of enterprise reform and stock market liberalization, employing data on 38 business groups in the textile industry from 2000 to 2008. Findings – The results of the econometric analysis support an optimistic view that business groups can strategically renew their embeddedness even in the late stages of market-oriented institutional transition as in China. Specifically: first, the positive effect of the self-enhancing isomorphic pressure around both the new and the old institutions implies the relative dominance of systematic institutional embeddedness renewal within business group communities; second, at the local level, institutional strategies promoting the market orientation of adopted organizational forms bring about not only positive but also negative effects, suggesting the need to manage a simultaneous significant risk of overembeddedness. Originality/value – The paper establishes an institutional strategy framework to predict potential effects associated with systematic institutional embeddedness phenomena, such as institutional embeddedness renewal and overembeddedness, in the context of market-oriented institutional transition.

Dueling Institutional Logics And The Effect On Strategic Entrepreneurship In Chinese Business Groups

Focusing on a period of institutional friction when institutions are in transition, this study examines the dueling institutional logics that simultaneously operated as business groups were implemented to foster strategic entrepreneurship activities in China. Our findings from 1,095 Chinese business group-affiliated firms show that the original institutional logic of state control and ownership remains a potent factor, while the new institutional logic in support of strategic entrepreneurship takes place through business groups' informal and formal organization controls. Further, the state logic causes rigidity and inflexibility for firms to react to the new institutional demands, thus weakening the positive effects of business group formal and informal controls on strategic entrepreneurship. This study contributes to the institution-based view by highlighting that dueling logics coexist in business groups and investigating how they can be sources of variation in advancing strategic entrepreneurship during periods of institutional friction. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

Management Insights

Management Insights

"Diversification, Internationalization and Institutional Context"

This study investigates the role of institutional context in the strategy-performance relationship for Chinese business groups, particularly for diversification and internationalization. Theoretica...

Coinsurance within Business Groups: Evidence from Related Party Transactions in an Emerging Market

Using novel transaction-level data on Chinese business groups, this study provides the first direct evidence of the coinsurance theory of business groups, by investigating when different types of internal resources are transferred within a business group. We find that in Chinese business groups, a credit crunch experienced by the controlling shareholding firm (the “controller”) of a publicly listed firm increases the loan-based related party transactions (RPT) including loan guarantees and intercorporate loans provided by the listed firm to the controller. In turn, when the listed firm’s performance dips, the controller and its son firms provide more support to the listed firm in the form of non-loan-based RPTs. These findings directly show the dynamic interactions of members within business groups.

Institutions and Organizational Structure: The Case of State-Owned Corporate Pyramids

Pyramidal organizational structures are common throughout the world. This article considers an explanation for pyramids built by the state: separating firms from political interference. Although intermediate pyramidal layers insulate managers from a pyramid's top owners and hence induce agency costs, they also minimize political costs of state intervention. All else equal, the optimal division of power between the government and the managers should be the point at which the marginal agency costs are equal to the marginal political costs. Our empirical results, based on hand-collected data for 742 local government-owned Chinese business groups are generally in line with this hypothesis. (JEL: D21, D23, G32, L22, L32, P31). The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

Coinsurance within Business Groups: Evidence from Related Party Transactions in an Emerging Market

Using novel transaction-level data on Chinese business groups, this study investigates the coinsurance effect of business groups. A business group member will receive support from its parent firm i...

Coinsurance Within Business Groups: Evidence from Related Party Transactions in an Emerging Market

Using novel transaction-level data on Chinese business groups, this study provides the first direct evidence of the coinsurance theory of business groups by investigating when different types of internal resources are transferred within a business group. We find that in Chinese business groups, a credit crunch experienced by the controlling shareholding firm (the “controller”) of a publicly listed firm increases the loan-based related party transactions (RPTs) including loan guarantees and intercorporate loans provided by the listed firm to the controller. In turn, when the listed firm's performance dips, the controller and its son firms provide more support to the listed firm in the form of non-loan-based RPTs. These findings directly show the dynamic interactions of members within business groups. This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.

Multinational Advantages of Chinese Business Groups: A Theoretical Exploration

Prior research on the internationalization of emerging market firms focused either on established incumbent firms or peripheral latecomer firms. However, an increase in outward foreign direct investment from emerging markets such as China has benefitted from a new organizational form – business groups. Given that new organizational forms pose fundamental challenges to existing theories on multinational enterprise, an examination of business group internationalization will bring the literature of multinational enterprise theories forward. Adopting an organizational approach, I propose that business groups, an organizational form that emerged to substitute market imperfections in China, constitute a micro-institutional environment for generating ownership, location, and internalization advantages, as well as for capitalizing on the linkage, leverage, and learning opportunities for internationalization. I posit that Chinese business groups facilitate such an internationalization process via their unique attributes including internal market, inward linkages, and institutional support. The article aims to provide a theoretical framework that generates insights for China's policy makers and managers, and to guide future research.

Productivity performance in Chinese business groups: the positive and negative impacts of business group affiliation

This paper considers evidence on business group productivity performance in China. It also carries out a detailed investigation into China's 50 largest groups to see if pyramidal groups are forming. As such, we further explore what can be considered as some of the positive and negative attributes of Chinese groups. We show that although improvements in productivity have taken place, some Chinese business groups are also taking the first steps towards developing pyramidal structures. This could have important implications for longer-term productivity growth in China's business groups.

Ownership structure and corporate diversification strategies of Chinese business groups

PurposeDiversified business groups have become active players in Chinese economy in the recent years. While several studies have been conducted to examine the role of external factors such as market imperfection on firms' decisions to diversify, relatively few efforts have been made to investigate the impact of internal factors such as ownership structures on such decision. Building on agency theory, this paper attempts to examine the impacts of ownership type and ownership concentration on Chinese business groups' diversification strategies.Design/methodology/approachYear 2000 annual reports of publicly traded companies on Shenzhen Stock Exchange were used to identify business groups and collect data. Multiple regression analysis was used to conduct the data analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that compared to other ownership structures, government‐owned business groups tend to be more diversified, while ownership concentration seems to be related to lower levels of diversification. Industry membership also plays a significant role, but previous performance is not significantly related to diversification levels. Implications and future study directions are also discussed.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the understanding of the impact of ownership structure on companies' diversification strategies in a transitional economy such as China.

Trading Favors within Chinese Business Groups

A dominant aspect of ownership in the developing world is pyramidal structures, which allow shareholders to control corporations with relatively low investments. The uneasy relationship between these controlling investors and minority shareholders, and the potential impact on the broader macro economy, has been well studied by corporate governance scholars. On the one hand, the mismatch of cash flow and control rights leads to a range of agency problems and resultant resource misallocations, potentially impacting the macro economy (see Randall Morck, Daniel Wolfenzon, and Bernard Yeung 2005 for a comprehensive overview). Yet pyramids are one important mechanism that enables the formation of diversified business groups that, too, are a dominant feature of business organization in much of the world. The economics and management literature has taken a more ambivalent view of business groups, with their agency problems and rent seeking behaviors often counterbalanced by productive efficiencies from correcting market failures in weak institutional environments (see, in particular, a survey of the business groups literature by Tarun Khanna and Yishay Yafeh 2007 which emphasizes this tension). Often, the channels that enable value extraction by controlling interests overlap with those required to overcome market failures. For example, consider a controlling shareholder of a publicly listed firm that has a separate, completely owned, Trade and The InTernal OrganIzaTIOn Of fIrms

The Development of Hybrid East and West Organizations in Malaysia

The current research investigates how successful Chinese business groups in Malaysia integrate Chinese management ideas with selected techniques from the West to form a hybrid model of management. The case research methodology was a rigorous, in-depth analysis of large successful Chinese family organizations in Malaysia. We find that management techniques from different cultures are combined in efficient Malaysian organizations, so East and West cross cultural boundaries around a continuing core of flexibility, networks, and family control. From our findings, entrepreneurs will be able to gain an understanding of how to enhance competitiveness in East Asia in general and Malaysia in particular.

Diversified business groups and corporate restructuring in China

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the roles different ownership structures, the joint effect of related and unrelated diversification strategies, and previous performance levels have on the restructuring strategies of such firms.Design/methodology/approachAnnual reports of publicly traded firms in the two Chinese stock exchanges are used to collect data. Multiple regression and ANOVA analysis are used to examine the impact of ownership structure types, match between diversification strategies, and previous performance on the change of business scopes of the sample business groups.FindingsCompared to other ownership types, government owned business groups tend to increase their business scope during asset restructuring, while private business groups tend to decrease their scopes through divestitures and spinoffs. Poor previous performance is also found to be negatively related to change in business scopes. The “match” between related and unrelated diversification strategies of the business groups leads to increase in business scopes, while “mismatch” between these two strategies tends to lead to decrease in business scopes.Practical implicationsThis study provides some recommendations to managers and public policy makers in emerging economies. There is a need to monitor the changing institutional environment a firm operates in. It is up to the managers of business groups to determine the degree of market imperfections they are facing and the need to compensate with internal market mechanism and social exchange mechanism within the group structure. As China opens its door further to private ownership and foreign ownership, the pressure to increase efficiency and effectiveness along with the continuous improvement of the institutional environment will require that managers adopt strategies that can enhance the competitiveness of the firms, whether it is through further diversification or scope reduction.Originality/valueThis research deepens our understanding of restructuring strategies of Chinese business groups, by linking factors such as ownership structure, diversification strategies, and past performance to scope changes in these groups. It can broaden our understanding of corporate restructuring in transitional economies, such as China and India.

Management Compensation and CEO Turnover in Chinese Business Groups

Using a sample of listed subsidiaries and their parent companies in China, I study top executive compensation and CEO turnover and their relationship to firm performance in business groups. The empirical results support the hypothesis that the pay-performance sensitivity of managerial compensation (CEO turnover) in a listed firm is positively (negatively) related to the accounting performance of its parent company. In addition, I find a stronger relationship between the compensation (turnover) in a listed subsidiary and the performance of its parent company when the controlling shareholder’s ownership is high. Using related party transactions to proxy for the correlation between the two firms, I find that management compensation(CEO turnover) in a listed firm is related to the performance of its parent company if related party transactions between them are greater than median. In conclusion, the association between the listed subsidiary and its parent company and the incentives of controlling shareholder may affect the pay-for-performance sensitivity to a parent company.

Shock-imprinting: External shocks and ethnic Chinese business groups in Indonesia

This paper examines the effect of external shocks on corporate strategy of ethnic Chinese business groups in the context of Indonesia. It reports on an in-depth, longitudinal, and comparative case study of four prominent Indonesian Chinese groups, all of which implemented major strategic changes in response to the Asian financial crisis. As theories emphasizing strategic continuity and strategic adaptation are only partially able to explain the results, an alternative explanation is offered. Results are generalized towards a novel notion of “shock-imprinting” which implies that companies continue to employ defensive strategies after an external shock has subsided.

Capitalism in Southeast Asia Through the Lenses of Corporate Finance: What We Know and What We Don't

This study looks at capitalism in Southeast Asia through the lenses of modern corporate finance, based on contract and ownership theories of the firm. The paper limits its survey to recent literature that uses firm-level micro data of Southeast Asia corporate firms. Three major common issues of Southeast Asian capitalism that have shaped the modern corporate sector of the region are explored: overseas Chinese businesses, business groups, and government-business relations. The paper also shows that, despite the growing interest in the region, the literature is still very sparse and many questions remain unanswered.

The Chaozhou Chinese Charitable Work by Donations of Big Chinese Business Groups in Thailand(General Themes)

The Chaozhou Chinese Charitable Work by Donations of Big Chinese Business Groups in Thailand(General Themes)

Regional Co-Operation and Low-Cost Investment Enclaves: An Empirical Study of Singapore's Industrial Parks in Riau, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Infrastructure can be unreliable and administration subject to corruption in Asia's rapidly developing economies. Foreign investment is thus drawn to privileged investment enclaves, as well as in and around centers of international infrastructure. This context provides opportunity for Singapore-styled industrial parks, through the provision of superior infrastructure, the ability to negotiate investment concessions at inter-government level and, where existing, through the links to influential Chinese business groups in the investment location. Batamindo Industrial Park and Bintan Industrial Estate in Indonesia were the prototypes. This paper revisits the Parks, and offers a stock-take on the challenges confronting these flagship projects. Evidence from on-site surveys and interviews are presented. This paper concludes that the raison d'être for the projects has overestimated the attractiveness of the low-cost investment enclaves for multinational companies, and the projects' potential has been largely overshadowed by socio-political uncertainties in the host environment.

On Regional Co-Operation and Low-Cost Investment Enclaves: An Empirical Study on Singapore's Industrial Parks in Riau, Indonesia

Infrastructure can be unreliable and administration subject to corruption in Asia's rapidly developing economies. Foreign investment is thus drawn to privileged investment enclaves, as well as in and around centers of international infrastructure. This context provides opportunity for Singapore-styled industrial parks, through the provision of superior infrastructure, the ability to negotiate investment concessions at inter-government level and, where existing, through the links to influential Chinese business groups in the investment location. Batamindo Industrial Park and Bintan Industrial Estate in Indonesia were the prototypes. This paper revisits the Parks, and offers a stock-take on the challenges confronting these flagship projects. Evidence from on-site surveys and interviews are presented. This paper concludes that the raison d'etre for the projects has overestimated the attractiveness of the low-cost investment enclaves for multinational companies, and the projects' potential has been largely overshadowed by socio-political uncertainties in the host environment.