In search for enterprise : state-sector reform and societal transformation in China

With special reference to the steel industry, this article draws upon a politicalinstitutional perspective to examine the progress made in the most recent round of state-enterprise reform in China - the introduction of the Modern Enterprise System and Group Company System. This reform programme is intended, by 2010, to transform 156 of China's largest state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into internationally competitive corporations which, while still remaining in overall state ownership, will much more closely resemble typical Western corporations in their structures and processes, with Boards of Directors accountable to shareholders rather than being subject to the political authority of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).