The Chinese Boardroom: Roles, Dynamics and Relationships

Andrew Kakabadse and Yang Chen
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Andrew Kakabadse: Cranfield University
Yang Chen: University of Bristol

Chapter 4 in Global Boards, 2009, pp 85-106 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Since embarking on its comprehensive programme of economic and political reform, China has experienced extraordinary wealth and growth. By 2007, some 20 Chinese companies were ranked as the world’s largest companies according to the Fortune Global 500 list (Lodge, 2007), giving a clear signal that Napoleon’s “sleeping dragon” has woken and will be soon spitting fire. Concurrently, the governance structures (gongsi zhili) of Chinese enterprises have also undergone a significant transformation, whilst maintaining long established political and cultural features, namely active government ownership and strong family networks. In fact, the heart of Chinese economic reform is the redesign of corporate governance whilst simultaneously defending the essence of the “Chinese nature.” It can be said that the government-led reform of corporate governance has been a major aspect of China’s economic transition. In response to the State Council’s withdrawal from direct intervention in the economy and change of role to one of acting as a regulatory authority (Qian and Wu, 2000; Ngok and Zhu, 2007), the emerging corporate governance paradigm is fashioned from the Anglo-America model of a market-determined legalistic framework (Tam, 2002). Despite that, China continues to adopt a quasi two-tier board structure, loosely designed on the German system, consisting of a board of executive directors and a supervisory board (Clarke and Du, 1998).

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Independent Director; Chinese Communist Party; Supervisory Board; Board Size (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1057/9780230250512_5

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