China's Managerial Revolution

The reform of Chinese management has been high on the PRC government's agenda. Since 1978, while China has been moving from a command economy to a socialist market economy, it has had to turn its economic cadres into managers as part of its "Four Modernizations" and "Open Door" reform policies. The contributors here examine in detail the "managerial revolution" now taking place in China. Special attention is given to ways in which the Dengist market-driven model has been introduced at macro- and then micro-enterprise level; the introduction of the "contract responsibility" system which has increased managers' autonomy in decision making; and the ways in which many of the old state "dinosaur" firms are being in effect "privatized," with enormous inplications for both managers and workers. The analysis centres on reform in the areas of HRM, joint-venture creation, managerial motivation, managing corporate networks and organizational learning.