The China Paradox

The China Paradox

by Paul G. Clifford
Released October 2017
Publisher(s): De Gruyter
ISBN: 9781501507212

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Book description

Featured as Book of the Week by The Wire China in August 2020!

If your business has anything to do with China or you simply seek to understand the rise of China, you need to read this book.

In The China Paradox, business strategist and historian Dr. Paul G. Clifford uses vivid examples from his deep experience in China to lay bare the delicate and fragile balance of forces which lie at the heart of China’s success. He explains how, against all the odds, the ruling Communist Party boldly led the economic reforms as the surest way to preserve their grip on power. This flourishing of China’s hybrid developmental model is placed firmly in the historical context, shedding light on the legacies that thwarted earlier attempts at change and which today still threaten to render the progress unsustainable. China is taking its place on the world economic stage, displaying business acumen and innovation. But China’s un-reformed political governance, coupled with the challenges resulting from breakneck growth, may hamper the nation’s ability to realize its potential and impact its longer-term prospects. This book is for anyone who needs to understand how China competes, anyone with business or other affairs in China, and anyone involved in foreign trade will benefit from this book.

Click to read the author's article on Open Democracy:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/the-us-should-not-demonize-huawei-it-should-invest-to-compete/

Click here to see a related article in the South China Morning Post:

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2134180/reform-or-no-reform-authors-clash-over-chinas-way

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Contents
  7. Chapter 1: The Hybrid Model at the Heart of a Vibrant New China
  8. Chapter 2: Early Attempts at Industrialization: The Empire and the Republic
  9. Chapter 3: The First Decades of the People’s Republic: The Soviet Model … and Worse
    1. The Fate of China’s Capitalists: From Ally to Enemy
    2. The Dysfunctional Soviet Model Is Embraced
    3. And Worse … Beyond the Soviet Model
    4. The Brutal Assault on Intellectuals and Science
    5. The Dead End of the Mao Years
  10. Chapter 4: Wrongs Are Righted, the Reforms Take Shape
    1. Setting the Boundaries of Change
    2. The Initial Reforms—Limited and Tentative
    3. The Reforms Go into a High Gear
    4. The Reforms Lose Steam (2002 Onward)
    5. China’s Economic Planning Today
  11. Chapter 5: What to Do with the State-Owned Enterprises?
    1. Weaning the SOEs Off the State (1978–93)
    2. Central Planning Fades Away
    3. Addressing Ownership and Governance (1993–2003)
    4. Selling off the “Dogs”
    5. Transforming the Large SOEs
    6. Can SOE Culture Be Changed?
    7. SOE Reform Falters (2003 Onward)
    8. A New Type of SOE Shows the Way Forward
  12. Chapter 6: The Private Economy Emerges Unannounced
    1. TVEs—Engine for Growth as the Reforms Took Shape
    2. POEs Flourish, Especially If Far from the Capital
    3. Wanxiang—A Pioneering Private Company Forges Its Own path
    4. Huawei—A Private Firm as “National Champion”
    5. Private Firms Sustain the Economy
  13. Chapter 7: Magnet for Foreign Investment
    1. Why Did China Welcome FDI?
    2. Why Has China Been so Attractive to Foreign Investors?
    3. China Has Its Cake and Gets to Eat It, Too
    4. Win-Win in the Auto Industry
    5. Why Did China Neglect Logistics and Resist Its “Opening Up” to FDI?
    6. The Motorola Breakthrough
    7. Why FDI Will Stick with China
  14. Chapter 8: Business Models at the Heart of China’s Emergence
    1. Model 1. Learn and Catch Up
      1. Disappointment in Auto and Semiconductor
      2. The Model Works Well—In Consumer Products, High-Speed Rail, and Nuclear Power
    2. Model 2. Picking off Underperforming Overseas Assets
      1. Obstacles to China ODI
    3. Model 3. “China, Inc.” in Emerging Markets
      1. The Government/CCP
      2. Financial Institutions
      3. Chinese Firms
      4. A Little-Known Firm from Anhui Grows in Africa
      5. Transportation, Mines, and Downstream Industry
      6. How to Assess the China, Inc. Business Model in Emerging Markets
    4. Model 4. Novel Product or Technology Breakthrough
      1. Implications for the Emergence of Chinese Firms on the Global Stage?
  15. Chapter 9: What Could Disrupt or Sustain the China Paradox?
    1. Peace, Stability and the CCP
      1. The CCP Has Survived and Adapted
      2. How Well Is the CCP Functioning Today?
      3. The CCP Is Embedded in Businesses
      4. China’s Fault Lines and Tensions
      5. The CCP and China’s Future
    2. The Rule of Law
    3. Culture, Education, and Civil Society
      1. A Cocktail of Confucianism and Leninism
      2. Anything Goes, as the Market Latches onto Newfound Freedoms
      3. Corruption, Moral Turpitude, and Social Alienation
      4. Education Falls Short
      5. Business Education Flourishes
    4. Economic and Financial Stability
    5. Confronting the Environmental Crisis
    6. The Mega Domestic Market
    7. Gleaming New Ground Transportation Infrastructure
    8. Government-Sponsored Research and Development
      1. The Mobile Handset Example
      2. China’s R&D Results Are Patchy
    9. Connecting with the Consumer
    10. Prospects of Deepening Economic Reform?
  16. Chapter 10: Conclusion
  17. Endnotes
  18. Index

Product information

  • Title: The China Paradox
  • Author(s): Paul G. Clifford
  • Release date: October 2017
  • Publisher(s): De Gruyter
  • ISBN: 9781501507212