A thoroughly researched assessment of how China's economic success continues to be shaped by the communist ideology of Chairman Mao A Financial Times "Best Book of 2022" Tied for the 2023 Axiom Gold Medal, sponsored by Axiom Business Book Awards It was long assumed that as China embraced open markets and private enterprise, its state-controlled economy would fall by the wayside, that free markets would inevitably lead to a more liberal society. Instead, China's growth over the past four decades has positioned state capitalism as a durable foil to the orthodoxy of free markets, to the confusion of many in the West. Christopher Marquis and Kunyuan Qiao argue that China's economic success is based on--not in spite of--the continuing influence of Communist leader Mao Zedong. They illustrate how Mao's ideological principles, mass campaigns, and socialist institutions have enduringly influenced Chinese entrepreneurs' business strategies and the management of their ventures. Grounded in case studies and quantitative analyses, this book shows that while private enterprise is the engine of China's growth, Chinese companies see no contradictions between commercial drive and a dedication to Maoist ideology.

Originally published in 1976, this book examines how a new system of factory management was implemented in China after the liberation of 1948-9. At that time, the Chinese Communist Party attempted to integrate a commitment to broad participation in management by industrial workers with a rigid system of control deriving from the Soviet Union. The integration was not accomplished successfully and the events of the period 1948-53 discussed by Dr Brugger set the stage for the rejection of the Soviet model in the mid-1950s. The focus of the book is broadly political and sociological rather than economic, and the author examines closely the political background against which economic change was introduced. This book formed part of a growing genre of writing which rejected earlier assumptions of an uncritical acceptance in China of models of industrialism imported from the Soviet Union.

China's recent evolution is not only a story of extraordinary economic growth but also a story of great institutional change. Fan Zhang challenges traditional theory to explain the real origins of China's reform, the political and economic forces driving it, and the reasoning behind its stagnation. The institutional re-arrangement of government and market has been crucial in this marketization process. Using a wealth of documents and cases, Zhang provides a detailed analysis of China's institutional changes over the past 40 years, focusing on the government-market relationship. A theoretical framework is presented to explain the targets and incentives of government and business firms in a bureaucratic-market system, which promoted economic growth, but also fostered corruption and resulted in a re-centralisation of the system. Using an index of marketization in China since 1978, Zhang shows that overall, market expansion has continued but with diminishing marginal gains. The government control of financial resources that had previously been relaxed in the early years of reform has been enhanced to some extent as a result of the changing institutional environment. Policy makers dealing with China-related policies, researchers and postgraduate students in political science, economics and Chinese studies will find this book a compelling exploration of the current and constant cooperation and conflict between government and market.