Post-Transition China

Abstract

Economic activity in China, and indeed anywhere in the world, is embedded in, and shaped by, a complex web of societal factors that in their entirety form what is known as a ‘business system’. The objective of this chapter is to provide a brief exposition of the main business systems present in today’s China - state-owned, private, and local corporate. We begin by explaining the notion of a business system and its component parts and then apply the business systems approach to the case of China. We conclude by posing three major questions for the future evolution of the Chinese business systems, and thus for the future of the Chinese economy more generally.

Keywords: China, State-owned Enterprise, Private Enterprise, Local Corporates, Economic Development, Varieties of Capitalism, Comparative Business Systems, Complex Adaptive Systems