Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit: The Emergence of Capitalism in China - Brossura

Guthrie, Doug

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0691095191 ISBN 13: 9780691095196

Casa editrice: Princeton University Press, 2002

Riassunto

Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit is an innovative sociological examination of what is perhaps the main engine of economic reform in China, the large industrial firm. Doug Guthrie, who spent more than a year in Shanghai studying firms, interviewing managers, and gathering data on firms' performance and practices, provides the first detailed account of how these firms have been radically transformed since the mid-1980s.

Guthrie shows that Chinese firms are increasingly imitating foreign firms in response both to growing contact with international investors and to being cut adrift from state support. Many firms, for example, are now less likely to use informal hiring practices, more likely to have formal grievance filing procedures, and more likely to respect international institutions, such as the Chinese International Arbitration Commission. Guthrie argues that these findings support the de-linking of Western trade policy from human rights, since it is clear that economic engagement leads to constructive reform. Yet Guthrie also warns that reform in China is not a process of inevitable Westernization or of managers behaving as rational, profit-maximizing agents. Old habits, China's powerful state administration, and the hierarchy of the former command economy will continue to have profound effects on how firms act and how they adjust to change.

With its combination of rigorous argument and uniquely rich detail, this book gives us the most complete picture yet of Chinese economic reform at the crucial level of the industrial firm.

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Recensione:

"[Guthrie] provides an admirably clear and detailed exposition of who runs what in reformera industry in China, complete with diagrams. . . . This book is essential reading for anyone interested in China's economic reforms and in transition economies more generally, and it will stand comparison with anything else in the field." --Jackie Sheehan, The Times Higher Education Supplement

"A splendid book. . . . Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit provides a comprehensive examination of an important and timely phenomenon. The question is important. The data are not only unique, they are also remarkably comprehensive. . . . [It is] likely to stimulate both discussion and additional research." --Lisa A. Keister, Contemporary Sociology

L'autore:

Doug Guthrie is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Global Activities, Office of the Provost, at New York University.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Princeton University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0691095191
• ISBN 13: 9780691095196
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 318