Restructuring of large industrial SOEs in transitional China: A case study in Lanzhou

The restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a central aspect of their reform in transitional China. This study traces the processes by which large industrial SOEs in Lanzhou are reorganised externally and expanded internally, and analyses their effects on regional industrial development. The study is qualitative, based on enterprise surveys and their historical documents. The paper demonstrates that the reorganisation process was government-pushed, and that the government also played some role in the diversification and performance of large SOEs. In addition, the diversification of large SOEs in Lanzhou was subject to market conditions and SOE-specific factors, and the influence of the national reorganisation policy on industrial development in Lanzhou was linked to the product and scale structure of local enterprises. As such, the study calls for a context approach that analyses the reorganisation and diversification of large enterprises in transitional China.