The Puzzle of China's Township¥VVillage Enterprises: The Paradox of Local Corporatism in a Dual-Track Economic Transition

Peter Ping Li
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Peter Ping Li: California State University

Management and Organization Review, 2005, vol. 1, issue 2, 197-224

Abstract: This paper seeks to reconcile and synthesize the diverse views about the township¥Vvillage enterprises (TVEs) and local corporatism in the context of ongoing institutional changes in China as a transition economy. Specifically, I attempt to integrate the economic, political, cultural, and social explanations for TVEs, especially the two competing views of market competition and political corruption. I focus on the puzzle of TVE efficiency as well as the paradox of local corporatism as a government¥Vbusiness partnership with both a positive function of public alliance for wealth creation and a negative function of private collusion for wealth transfer. I argue that the key to both the puzzle of TVEs and the paradox of local corporatism lies in China's dual-track reform paradigm (i.e. a market-for-mass track and a state-for-elite track). Lastly, I discuss the critical implications for theory building and policymaking regarding economic transition in general.

Keywords: Business Ethics; China; Chinese Context; Corruption; Duality; Duality Lens; Economic Reform; Formal Institutions; Guanxi; Information Institutions; Institutional Change; Institutional Environment; Institutional Transitions; Interpersonal Networks; Local Corporatism; Local Government; Reform; Systemic Corruption; Township-village Enterprises; Transitional Economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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