About the nature of state-owned enterprises: market and the government's double substitution市场与政府的双重

The problem raised

一、问题的提出 

The nature of state-owned enterprises is both a profound theoretical issue, but also a great sense of reality. Currently, academics and practitioners awareness on this issue did not achieve consensus, which gives the state-owned enterprise reform has brought a certain impact. Some scholars believe that the role of state-owned enterprises mainly in its ability to provide public goods to compensate for market failure. However, in China and other socialist countries, apparently owned enterprises not only able to compensate for market failure, it also has many other effects, such as a latecomer catch-up strategy for national implementation tools, control of the national economic security and reduce regional economic disparities and means. State-owned enterprises are the economic foundation of the socialist system as exists, the greater the proportion of state-owned enterprises, the more solid the foundation of the socialist system, the capitalist countries the proportion of state-owned enterprises generally relatively low, while the socialist countries, the proportion of state-owned enterprises is relatively high. However, as pointed out by Chen Zongsheng, 1996 Poland 54% of medium-sized enterprises are still owned by the state, however, whether Chinese or Western countries did not even think that Poland is a socialist country. ... Thus, the proportion of state-owned enterprises to determine the nature of a society is not sufficient reason. ChengEnFu and Jiangang that Chinese state-owned enterprises exist primarily to eliminate polarization and promote social justice. However, China since reform and opening, although the proportion of state-owned economy has been relatively high, more than most Western countries, but China is not growing polarization of light, but more and more heavy. 1978, China's Gini coefficient of only 0.28, and by the end of 2007 it reached 0.48, exceeding the internationally recognized warning line. At the same time, the EU countries the proportion of state-owned enterprises is not high, but it eliminates the polarization, EU citizens generally feel more equitable society. Therefore, this view is not correct. Zhang Zuoyuan that state-owned enterprises to help liberate and develop productive forces. China's reform and opening up three decades, the level of productivity did get a great development and liberation, but in East Asia, Japan and South Korea in the 1960s and 1990s productivity has been tremendous development, but their proportion of state-owned enterprises has not been high. The United States is the world's most developed economies, the state-owned enterprises from the founding to the present time, the proportion of two hundred years is not always high. Therefore, most state-owned enterprises is to liberate and develop productive forces sufficient condition rather than a necessary condition.

国有企业的性质问题既是一个深刻的理论问题，也是一个具有重大意义的现实问题。当前，学术界和实务界关于这一问题的认识并没有取得一致的意见，这给国有企业的改革带来了一定的影响。有学者认为，国有企业的作用主要在于其能够提供公共产品以弥补市场失灵。但是在中国等社会主义国家，显然国有企业不仅仅能弥补市场失灵，它还有很多其他作用，譬如作为后发国家实施赶超战略的工具、控制国家经济安全和缩小区域经济差距的手段等。国有企业主要是作为社会主义制度的经济基础而存在的，国有企业的比重越大，社会主义制度的基础越牢固，资本主义国家国有企业的比重一般都比较低，而社会主义国家的国有企业比重则相对比较高。#p#分页标题#e#

The author believes that state-owned enterprises and not have their own unique role, it's just the dual market and government substitutes its role mainly depends on the nature and role of government, and to some extent affected by the market.  

笔者认为，国有企业并没有自己独特的作用，它只是市场与政府的双重替代物，它的作用主要取决于政府的性质和作用，并在一定程度上受市场的影响。 

Second, the state-owned enterprises and the government double the market alternatives

Coase in his famous essay "Nature" and said: "Enterprise remarkable feature is the alternative to the price mechanism," "enterprise appears mainly due to marketing costs exist", "outside the enterprise, price changes to guide the production, which is Through a series of transactions on the market coordination in the enterprise, these market transactions are eliminated and these transactions are complex market structure business owners - coordinator replaced, which guide the production. " Namely, that the enterprise is the market Coase alternatives, business is business owners use the authority to allocate resources of economic organization. He knew and observed enterprise mainly "capitalist enterprise", if this understanding to look at the socialist state-owned enterprises, apparently not correct.

科斯在其著名dissertation《企业的性质》中认为：“企业的显著特征就是替代价格机制”，“企业的出现主要是由于市场运行成本的存在”，“在企业外部，价格变化指导生产，这是通过市场上的一系列交易协调的。在企业内部，这些市场交易被取消，进行这些交易的复杂的市场结构被企业主——协调者取代，后者指导生产”。即，科斯认为企业是市场的替代物，企业是运用企业主的权威来配置资源的经济组织。

In a market economy, in addition to the authority can save Coase said market transaction costs, the government's administrative decisions can also save the market transaction costs. Coase another one in his famous essay "Problem of Social Cost" talked about: a vendor near polluted due to smoke more people engaged in various activities, but these people engaged in various activities together to negotiate a transaction with the vendor higher cost, if the government can negotiate on their behalf with the manufacturer, it can reduce the transaction costs, he said: "In fact, the government is a super firm (but not a very special enterprise), because it can influence by administrative decision The use of factors of production. "" The government has the ability to lower the cost of private organizations (or with no special government forces exist any certain percentage of the cost) for certain activities. 

However, Coase did not analyze the situation of state-owned enterprises. For state-owned enterprises, it has both the authority based on contract, but also from the government's administrative power. The Government will impact on businesses usually have three ways: First, through legislative means, such as tax bill; Second, through executive order, that is exercising executive powers; Third, through the way of negotiating with the enterprises. In order to facilitate the distinction, we first approach the government through the influence of the enterprise called government of political power, the second way the influence of the enterprise called government executive powers, the third way, said the influence of the enterprise Rights for the government. If the government or a class for all business enterprises generally exert stabilizing influence, then the use of government and political powers in such form may be economical; if only for the government to exert influence over an enterprise, and high frequency content changes frequently , then the use of government and political powers in such form may not be economical, this time in the form of using state-owned enterprises, the state-owned enterprise into a subsidiary unit of government, the formation of the relationship between leaders and the led, namely administrative relations, you can save imposed influence costs; in democratic countries, legislation usually cost is very high, if the government is not generally to all companies or to influence a particular class of business, but for some or individual enterprises to exert influence, but this to influence the frequency is not high, then the use of a third way, that the government right of way may be economical. Universality or specificity, to influence the frequency, uncertainties and other factors which form the government uses to influence the enterprise has an important influence. Government chooses the way of political power to influence the enterprise, in the legal sense is not very strong country, possibly the effect is not very satisfactory. A country's legal consciousness also affect the manner in which the government to exert influence on the enterprise is an important factor.

Therefore, I believe that state-owned enterprises are actually saving the government to exert influence on corporate cost option. Of course, here the cost concept includes not only economic costs, but also includes the time, effort and other factors. For state-owned enterprises, due to the frequent impact of executive power by the government, and to a certain extent lost its independence as the main market, therefore, be autonomous enterprise market behavior have been affected. However, it can also take advantage of the government's role in saving transaction costs. In addition to the advantages and disadvantages of state-owned enterprises, but also there may be insufficient the following aspects:

(A) the cost of government abuse of administrative power. If the lack of rules and norms as well as a small number of government staff discipline is poor, then the minority government staff may be arbitrarily impose costs on state-owned enterprises. As state-owned enterprise managers appointed by the government, coupled with the state-owned enterprises due to the diversification of the target leaving affects the validity of the assessment, so that the government's appointment of state-owned enterprise managers with a certain degree of subjectivity. Therefore, the relationship between managers and government officials, the quality is closely related with their own interests, which makes the state-owned enterprise managers will obey the will of government officials, if the corruption of government officials, he can be able to stretch the hand of corruption in state-owned enterprises, to the detriment of the interests of state-owned enterprises.

(2) Market Alternative excessive costs. Some state-owned enterprises to take advantage of the special relationship with the government, low-cost or even zero cost to use scarce economic resources, but not in the most economical way to use these resources, resulting in a scarcity of economic resources, productivity loss. There are some state-owned enterprises through government or through laws and regulations of the special powers conferred exclusion, restriction competitors, forcing non-state-owned enterprises to withdraw from related fields, thereby seeking monopoly harm social welfare.

(3) business assessment costs. As state-owned enterprises will not only bear the financial tasks entrusted by the government but also bear the political or social task of state-owned enterprises have multi-target pursuit. According to Holmstrom and Milgrom's research, if a person can bear a lot of work, and this work quantitative assessment of a number of different levels of difficulty, then the person will be assessment to put more effort put into the Ease of assessment work, and thus become by the end of competition. In extreme cases, if a job easily quantified, another job can not be quantified, then the assessment of people will put all the energy put into the work easy to quantify, but the expense of home work can not be quantified. Therefore, if the state-owned enterprises to take the government's political or social tasks conferred difficult to quantify, then, will give an objective and scientific assessment of state-owned enterprise managers' job performance difficult. Practice has proved that the effectiveness of monitoring and incentive system depends primarily on the effectiveness evaluation system, evaluation system is inefficient, then even if legal or regulatory re-sound, and its role will also be very limited. Difficult by the assessment of the cost is mainly reflected in the following two aspects: First, as unscientific assessment of the effectiveness of incentives resulting in reduced, thereby enabling enterprise efficiency; second is due to assess the accuracy of the poor, but also to the management of state-owned enterprises implementation of moral hazard by providing objective conditions, which will also increase the cost to the state-owned enterprises.

(4) The Government goals and marketing objectives conflict costs. Government targets some are social, some are political, non-market to achieve these goals is bound to take some enterprise resource managers and employees and dispersed some effort and time.

(5) changes in government policies often caused costs. Policies and institutions need a certain stability to the formation of stable expectations, improve the efficiency of behavior. But the government's domestic and foreign policy may be due to various factors and changes may be due to changes in government leadership changes, unlike businesses to pursue the goal of economic efficiency as more stable. Therefore, changes in government policies may make corporate behavior often becomes disorder, affecting corporate goals.

(6) the lack of state-owned enterprise management personnel costs. As both a governmental nature of state-owned enterprises, but also with the general nature of the business. Therefore, the state-owned enterprise managers must have both talent and entrepreneurship politicians, is a political http://www.ukthesis.org/dissertation_writing/Marketing/ entrepreneurs and understand business to understand politicians. Therefore, this kind of management talent is very scarce. A large number of state-owned enterprises because of the lack of qualified management personnel and the government can not achieve a good goal to give state-owned enterprises.

After analyzing the pros and cons of state-owned enterprises, state-owned enterprises let us analyze the pros and cons based decision-making mechanism. Coase's analysis of ideas here to learn. Coase using equation (1) to illustrate the profit-maximizing corporate decision-making mechanism.