Publications

Article

The Emergence of Mafia-like Business Systems in China

By: Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen

A large body of literature on state–business relations in China has examined the political role of capitalists and collusion between the state and the private sector. This paper contributes to that literature and understanding of the internal differentiation among... View Details

Keywords: China's Political Economy; State-business Relations; Business Groups; Financial System; Business and Government Relations; Finance; Economic Systems; China

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2021
Working Paper

The Emergence of Mafia-like Business Systems in China

By: Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen

A large literature on state-business relations in China has examined the political role of capitalists and collusion between the state and the private sector. This paper contributes to that literature, and our understanding of the internal differentiation among China’s... View Details

Keywords: China's Political Economy; State-business Relations; Business Groups; Financial Systems; Economy; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Finance; System; China

2018
Chapter

Will Urbanization Save the Chinese Economy or Destroy it?

The Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping has announced its intentions to transition the economy from one driven by investment and exports to one driven by domestic demand. The main strategy to achieve this transformation involves massive state-led urbanization. This... View Details

Keywords: China; Urbanization; Economic Development; Urban Development; Economic Growth; China

Research Summary

State-Business Relations

In Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia (Oxford University Press, 2023) and related papers, I examine the political foundations and economic effects of different patterns of state-business relations in authoritarian regimes with a... View Details

March 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

ALDDN: Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria

By: Meg Rithmire and Debora L. Spar

In 2020, Ndidi Nwuneli, founder and CEO of Sahel Consulting in Nigeria, faced a thorny set of problems. Her firm partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a large project to develop the local dairy industry as a way to facilitate equitable growth and... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Food; Rural Scope; Growth and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business and Government Relations; Equality and Inequality; Food and Beverage Industry; Consulting Industry; Nigeria

Educators

January 2014
Article

China's 'New Regionalism': Subnational Analysis in Chinese Political Economy

The study of Chinese political economy has undergone a sea change since the late 1990s; instead of debating the origins and direction of national reform, scholars have turned to examining the origins of local economic variation. This essay reviews recent work in... View Details

Keywords: China; Political Economy; Economy; Government and Politics; China

September 2020
Article

The Rise of the Investor State: State Capital in the Chinese Economy

By: Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen

The nature and extent of the role of the Chinese state in the economy is fundamental to many empirical and theoretical debates about that country’s political economy. We document and explain the rise of a novel form of intervention on the part of the Chinese state: the... View Details

Keywords: China's Political Economy; State Shareholding; State-business Relations; State Capitalism; China's Financial System; Economy; Business and Government Relations; Finance; System; China

2012
Case

Qingdao TGOOD Electric Corporation

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming, Chen Hao and Hong Zhang

Founded in 2004, TGOOD is now the largest specialized developer and producer of cubicle-type transformation and distribution equipment in China, with the main products of outdoor cubicle-type power equipment supplemented by indoor switchgear cabinets, offered mainly to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Human Resource Management; Strategy; China; China

March 2021
Supplement

Snapp: Scaling Under Sanctions in Iran (B)

By: Meg Rithmire and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in November 2020 as Eyad Alkassar and Mahmoud Fouz, co-founders of Iran’s first and leading ride-hailing platform, Snapp, eagerly await the results of the U.S. presidential elections.
The case takes us through the challenging times between... View Details

Keywords: Sanctions; Change Management; Disruption; Volatility; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Government and Politics; International Relations; National Security; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Health Pandemics; Transportation Industry; Middle East; Iran

Research Summary

Land in China's Political Economy

Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism: The Politics of Property Rights under Reform

Published October 2015

China since the 1980s has been the scene of unprecedented efforts at urban construction and growth, even in the absence of privatization... View Details

November 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

OneSmart

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Meg Rithmire and Shu Lin

At the end of 2021, Xi “Steve” Zhang was facing an existential crisis for himself and his business. OneSmart was a premium educational company founded in 2008 offering K-12 afterschool tutoring for students nationwide under a number of brands. The company was founded... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Crisis Management; Failure; Education Industry; China

Educators

2012
Teaching Note

Qingdao TGOOD Electric Corporation (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming, Chen Hao and Hong Zhang

Founded in 2004, TGOOD is now the largest specialized developer and producer of cubicle-type transformation and distribution equipment in China, with the main products of outdoor cubicle-type power equipment supplemented by indoor switchgear cabinets, offered mainly to... View Details

Keywords: Human Resource Management; China; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Strategy; China

Article

Party-State Capitalism in China

By: Margaret Pearson, Meg Rithmire and Kellee Tsai

The “state capitalism” model, in which the state retains a dominant role as owner or investor-shareholder amidst the presence of markets and private firms, has received increasing attention, with China cited as the main exemplar. Yet as models evolve, so has China’s... View Details

Keywords: Economic Policy; Communism; Capitalism; State Capitalism; Economic Systems; Economics; Policy; China

2024
Chapter

The Private Economy Under Party-State Capitalism

By: Margaret M. Pearson, Meg Rithmire and Kellee S. Tsai

This chapter addresses the evolution of China’s approach to the private sector from the early reform era until the beginning of Xi Jinping’s third term. It argues that China has evolved from a familiar form of state capitalism, in which economic growth is the primary... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; International Relations; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economic Systems; China