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Why do Chinese state-owned enterprises routinely respond to central-level goals and policies in different ways, and why do their reform trajectories often vary significantly across firms and over time? This book introduces a leadership approach to studying the politics, process, and outcomes of economic reform in China's public sector. Using a series of in-depth case studies, Wendy Leutert analyses the exercise and effects of leadership in Chinese state-owned enterprises. She uncovers the 'intra-organizational politics of reform': the daily dynamics of cooperation and conflict between leaders and their subordinates inside public-sector organizations. She also identifies common tactics that Chinese state-owned enterprise leaders use to execute their agendas and ways their subordinates respond. Updating and expanding existing knowledge, this book highlights the growing global consequences of leadership in Chinese state-owned enterprises and why leadership remains vital for understanding China today.
List of contents
1. Reform and leadership; 2. A leadership approach; 3. Enterprise reforms since 1978: evolving constraints and space for leadership; 4. Reform through leadership in China infrastructure; 5. China's national champions: leadership and reform on a global stage; 6. Leader-subordinate dynamics in Chinese SOEs; 7. Rethinking the domestic politics of reform as SOE leadership goes global; Appendix 1: Methodology and research design; Appendix 2: Cited participant observation and interviews in CI; Appendix 3: List of interviewees; Bibliography.
About the author
Wendy Leutert is Assistant Professor and GLP-Ming Z. Mei Chair of Chinese Economics and Trade at Indiana University. She has a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University, a M.A. in international relations from Tsinghua University, and a B.A. in political science and philosophy from Wellesley College. In 2022 she was awarded the Emerging Scholars Policy Prize from University of Pennsylvania Perry World House and Foreign Affairs.
