Articles

Incremental Decision Making and Corporate Restructuring

Economic and business stories have dominated Western press attention to China in 2005, perhaps more so than in any previous year. Perceptions of a dynamic "rising China" have burst into American consciousness in an unprecedented fashion. Ironically, however, leadership decision making on economic policy in China seems to be sliding back toward a more bureaucratically dominated and less imaginative pattern. From a policymaking standpoint, there has been little significant innovation during 2005. This article reviews developments in four areas: currency revaluation, share conversion, consolidation of firms, and the new industrial policy for the steel industry. Taken together, the trends in these areas suggest a move toward cautious, incremental, and bureaucrat-dominated policymaking as well as an effort to step up the pace of corporate restructuring.

Saturday, July 30, 2005 0 min read By:

Barry Naughton,