Abstract
Through a process of gradualist reform, China’s national oil companies (NOCs) — China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) — have been transformed into globally competitive state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with subsidiaries listed on domestic and international stock exchanges. Poor performance among Chinese SOEs provided the impetus for the latter phase of this transformation from the mid-1990s onwards, whereby the focus of ongoing enterprise reform shifted to ownership and corporate governance restructuring (Ewing 2005: 319; Naughton 2008: 20; Wildau 2008: 28). Despite the corporatisation of the NOCs, the Chinese government retains tight control not only over the holding companies, but also their publicly listed subsidiaries through majority share ownership and a range of unique corporate governance mechanisms, which taken together are often referred to as ‘corporate governance with Chinese characteristics’ (Liu 2006: 418; Ewing 2005: 320). In assessing the nature and extent of control that the Chinese government continues to wield at the firm level, it is necessary to examine the institutions and mechanisms employed by the central party-state to manage and govern the NOCs and their publicly traded subsidiaries.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Andrews-Speed, P. (2004) Energy Policy and Regulation in the People’s Republic of China. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
BBC (2001) ‘Premier Zhu says Cross-Country Pipeline Symbol of China’s Opening Up’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific — Political, 5 July.
Bell, S. and H. Feng (2009) ‘Reforming China’s Stock Market: Institutional Change Chinese Style’, Political Studies, 57(1): 117–40.
Cao, J., M. Lemmon, X. Pan, M. Qian and G. Tian (2009) ‘Political Promotion, CEO Compensation, and their Effect of Firm Performance’, Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Paper 1816.
Chan, H.S. (2009) ‘Politics Over Markets: Integrating State-Owned Enterprises into Chinese Socialist Market’, Public Administration and Development, 29(1): 43–54.
Chen, M.E. (2007) ‘National Oil Companies and Corporate Citizenship: A Survey of Transnational Policy and Practice’, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, March.
ChinaStakes (2008) ‘PetroChina Share Price a Victim of Speculation, Government Control’, ChinaStakes, 1 September. http://www.chinastakes.com/2008/11/petrochina-share-price-a-victim-of-speculation-government-control.html (downloaded 2 December 2011).
Crooks, E. (2008) PetroChina Pays for Oil’s Surge’, The Financial Times, 19 March.
Dickie, M. (2007) ‘Cadre Exchange Stirs Telecom Rumours’, The Financial Times, 11 July.
Downs, E. (2008) ‘Business Interest Groups in Chinese Politics: The Case of the Oil Companies’, in Cheng Li, ed., China’s Changing Political Landscape, Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 121–41.
Economist (2005a) ‘Chinese Industry and the State: the Myth of China Inc.,’ The Economist, 1 September.
Economist (2005b) ‘China’s Gas Guzzler’, The Economist, 23 June.
Ewing, R.D. (2005) ‘Chinese Corporate Governance and Prospects for Reform’, Journal of Contemporary China, 14(43): 317–38.
Gore, L.P. (2011) ‘China Recruits Top SOE Executives into Government: A Different Breed of Politicians?’, EAI Background Brief No. 661.
Green, S. (2003) ‘“Two-thirds Privatisation”: How China’s Listed Companies Are — Finally — Privatising’, Chatham House Briefing Note, December.
Guerrera, F., J. Leahy and J. Politi (2005) ‘Twists and Turns in Log of Treasure Ship’s Journey’, The Financial Times, 14 July.
Houser, T. (2008) ‘The Roots of Chinese Investment Abroad’, Asia Policy, 5 January.
Hoyos, C., U. Izunda and R. McGregor (2004) ‘Pipeline Pullout Embarrasses PetroChina’, The Financial Times, 4 August.
Jia, X. and R. Tomasic (2010) Corporate Governance and Resource Security in China, New York: Routledge.
Jiang, J. and J. Sinton (2011) Overseas Investments by Chinese National Oil Companies: Assessing the Drivers and Impacts. Paris: OECD/IEA.
Kambara, T. and C. Howe (2007) China and the Global Energy Crisis, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Kong, B. (2006) ‘Institutional Insecurity’, China Security, 3: 64–88.
Kong, B. (2010) China’s International Petroleum Policy, Santa Barbara: Praeger Security International.
Lampton, D. ed. (1987) Policy Implementation in Post-Mao China, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lavelle, K.C. (2008) ‘The Business of Governments: Nationalism in the Context of Sovereign Wealth Funds and State-Owned Enterprises’, Journal of International Affairs, 62(1): 131–47.
Lieberthal, K. and M. Oksenberg (1988) Policy Making in China, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lieberthal, K. and D.M. Lampton, ed. (1992) Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Liu, Q. (2006) ‘Corporate Governance in China: Current Practices, Economic Effects and Institutional Determinants’, CESifo Economic Studies, 52(2): 418, June.
Liu, Y. (2009) ‘a Comparison of China’s State-Owned Enterprises and Their Counterparts in the United States: Performance and Regulatory Policy’, Public Administration Review, 69: 46–52.
Luft, G. (2004) ‘Fueling The Dragon: China’s Race into the Oil Market,’ Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, http://www.iags.org/china.htm (downloaded 2 December 2011).
Mattlin, M. (2007) ‘The Chinese Government’s New Approach to Ownership and Financial Control of Strategic State-Owned Enterprises’, BOFIT Discussion Papers, 10.
McGregor, R. (2010) The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, London: Penguin.
McNally, C. (2002) ‘Strange Bedfellows: Communist Party Institutions and New Governance Mechanisms in Chinese State Holding Corporations’, Business and Politics, 4(1): 91–115.
Naughton, B. (2006) ‘Top-Down Control: the SASAC and the Persistence of State Ownership in China’, Paper presented at the conference on China and the World Economy, Leverhulme Centre for Research on Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP), University of Nottingham, 23 June.
Naughton, B. (2007) The Chinese Economy, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Naughton, B. (2008) ‘SOE Policy: Profiting the SASAC Way’, China Economic Quarterly 12(2): 19–26.
Naughton, B. (2010) ‘China’s Distinctive System: Can it be a Model for Others?’ Journal of Contemporary China, 19(65): 437–60.
OECD (2009) China: Defining the Boundary Between the Market and the State, Paris: OECD.
Pearson, M. (2007) ‘Governing the Chinese Economy: Regulatory Reform in the Service of the State’, Public Administration Review, 67(4): 718–30.
Ren, D. (2011) ‘Reshuffle Puts CNOOC Chairman into Top Slot at Oil Refiner Sinopec’, South China Morning Post, 9 April.
Shambaugh, D. (2008) China’s Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Centre Press.
State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) (2011) http://www.sasac.gov.cn/n2963340/n2964712/3050194. html (downloaded 2 December 2011).
Taylor, I. (2009) ‘China’s Rising Presence in Africa’, China Review International, 16(2): 155–59.
Tomasic, R. and N. Andrews (2007) ‘Minority Shareholder Protection in China’s Top 100 Listed Companies’, Australian Journal of Asian Law, 9(1): 88–119.
Wildau, G. (2008) ‘Enterprise reform: Albatross turns Phoenix,’ China Economic Quarterly, 12(2): 27–33.
Woetzel, J.R. (2008) ‘Reassessing China’s State-Owned Enterprises’, Forbes.com, 7 August.
Wu, J. (2005) China’s Long March Toward a Market Economy, San Francisco: Long River Press.
Yeo, Y. (2009) ‘Between Owner and Regulator: Governing the Business of China’s Telecommunications Service Industry’, The China Quarterly, 200: 1013–32.
Zhang, Y. (2003) China’s Emerging Global Businesses, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Monique Taylor
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taylor, M. (2012). China’s Oil Industry: ‘Corporate Governance with Chinese Characteristics’. In: Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Political Economy of State-owned Enterprises in China and India. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137271655_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137271655_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34809-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-27165-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)