IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v19y2008i3p489-501.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Share reform and the performance of China's listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Jiang, Bing-Bing
  • LAURENCESON, James
  • Tang, Kam Ki

Abstract

In 2005, a reform program was initiated in China's stock markets. It acted to increase the proportion of shares that were freely tradable in the markets and also paved the way for a decline in government ownership of listed companies. This paper considers the impact the reform program might have on the performance of listed companies by analyzing the impact the tradable share proportion and the government-owned share proportion had on firm performance immediately prior to the reform commencing. The government-owned share proportion is found to have exerted a linear and positive impact on firm performance. It is further revealed that this impact is best explained by the high ownership concentration of these holdings. The policy implication is that efforts must be made to raise the involvement of non-government institutional investors, including foreign ones, if the reforms are to have their intended effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Bing-Bing & LAURENCESON, James & Tang, Kam Ki, 2008. "Share reform and the performance of China's listed companies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 489-501, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:19:y:2008:i:3:p:489-501
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043-951X(08)00014-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrei Shleifer, 1998. "State versus Private Ownership," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 133-150, Fall.
    2. Wei, Zuobao & Xie, Feixue & Zhang, Shaorong, 2005. "Ownership Structure and Firm Value in China's Privatized Firms: 1991–2001," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 87-108, March.
    3. Richard B. Goud Jr., 2002. "Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from 25 Countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," Development and Comp Systems 0207002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kato, Takao & Long, Cheryl, 2006. "CEO Turnover, Firm Performance and Enterprise Reform in China: Evidence from New Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1914, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Demurger, Sylvie, 2001. "Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth: An Explanation for Regional Disparities in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 95-117, March.
    6. Qian Sun & Wilson H. S. Tong & Jing Tong, 2002. "How Does Government Ownership Affect Firm Performance? Evidence from China's Privatization Experience," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1&2), pages 1-27.
    7. Bai, Chong-En & Liu, Qiao & Lu, Joe & Song, Frank M. & Zhang, Junxi, 2004. "Corporate governance and market valuation in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 599-616, December.
    8. Blanchard, O. & Aghion, P., 1996. "On insider privatization," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 759-766, April.
    9. Qi, Daqing & Wu, Woody & Zhang, Hua, 2000. "Shareholding structure and corporate performance of partially privatized firms: Evidence from listed Chinese companies," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 8(5), pages 587-610, October.
    10. Paul McGuinness & Michael Ferguson, 2005. "The ownership structure of listed Chinese State-owned enterprises and its relation to corporate performance," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 231-246.
    11. Roman Frydman & Cheryl Gray & Marek Hessel & Andrzej Rapaczynski, 1999. "When Does Privatization Work? The Impact of Private Ownership on Corporate Performance in the Transition Economies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1153-1191.
    12. Sanford J. Grossman & Oliver D. Hart, 1980. "Takeover Bids, the Free-Rider Problem, and the Theory of the Corporation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 11(1), pages 42-64, Spring.
    13. Claessens,Constantijn A.*Djankov, Simeon, 1998. "Politicians and firms in seven central and eastern European countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1954, The World Bank.
    14. Irena Grosfeld, 2006. "Ownership concentration and firm performance: Evidence from an emerging market," Working Papers halshs-00590485, HAL.
    15. Xiaozu Wang & Lixin Colin Xu & Tian Zhu, 2004. "State‐owned enterprises going public The case of China," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(3), pages 467-487, September.
    16. Wei, Zuobao & Varela, Oscar, 2003. "State equity ownership and firm market performance: evidence from China's newly privatized firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 65-82, May.
    17. Andrew Delios & Zhi Wu, 2005. "Legal Person Ownership, Diversification Strategy and Firm Profitability in China," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 9(2), pages 151-169, June.
    18. Irena Grosfeld, 2006. "Ownership concentration & firm performance: Evidence from an emerging market," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp834, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    19. Xu, Xiaonian & Wang, Yan, 1999. "Ownership structure and corporate governance in Chinese stock companies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 75-98.
    20. Kato, Takao & Long, Cheryl, 2006. "CEO turnover, firm performance, and enterprise reform in China: Evidence from micro data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 796-817, December.
    21. Qian Sun & Wilson H. S. Tong & Jing Tong, 2002. "How Does Government Ownership Affect Firm Performance? Evidence from China’s Privatization Experience," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1‐2), pages 1-27.
    22. Wang, Changyun, 2005. "Ownership and operating performance of Chinese IPOs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1835-1856, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qian, Xiaolin & Tam, Lewis H.K. & Zhang, Bohui, 2014. "Systematic liquidity and the funding liquidity hypothesis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 304-320.
    2. He, Wei & Mukherjee, Tarun K. & Kent Baker, H., 2017. "The effect of the split share structure reform on working capital management of Chinese companies," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 27-37.
    3. Ngo My Tran & Walter Nonneman & Ann Jorissen, 2014. "Government Ownership and Firm Performance: The Case of Vietnam," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(3).
    4. Chalmers, Keryn & Haman, Janto & Qu, Wen, 2014. "China’s Securities reforms and IPO wealth loss," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 161-175.
    5. Mingfa Ding & Birger Nilsson & Sandy Suardi, 2017. "Foreign Institutional Investment, Ownership, and Liquidity: Real and Informational Frictions," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 101-144, February.
    6. Yu, Mei & Ashton, John K., 2015. "Board leadership structure for Chinese public listed companies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 236-248.
    7. Zia-ur-Rehman Rao & Tanveer Ahsan & Muhammad Zubair Tauni & Muhammad Umar, 2018. "Performance and Persistence in Performance of Actively Managed Chinese Equity Funds," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 16(3), pages 727-747, September.
    8. Anna P. I. Vong & Duarte Trigueiros, 2014. "Reversal in the relative performance of state- and legal person-owned companies during the Chinese split share structure reform," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(15), pages 1728-1750, May.
    9. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Maria Rebecca Valenzuela & Wisdom Sablah, 2017. "Ethnic diversity and firm performance: Evidence from China’s materials and industrial sectors," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1711-1731, December.
    10. Chen, Shenglan & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Zhang, Ting, 2015. "Controlling shareholders’ incentives and executive pay-for-performance sensitivity: Evidence from the split share structure reform in China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 147-160.
    11. Li, Ke & Lu, Lei & Mittoo, Usha R. & Zhang, Zhou, 2015. "Board independence, ownership concentration and corporate performance—Chinese evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 162-175.
    12. Kurt Hess & Abeyratna Gunasekarage & Martin Hovey, 2010. "State‐dominant and non‐state‐dominant ownership concentration and firm performance," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(4), pages 264-289, September.
    13. Ma, Ming & Sun, Xian & Waisman, Maya & Zhu, Yun, 2016. "State ownership and market liberalization: Evidence from China's domestic M&A market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 205-223.
    14. Farman Ullah Khan & Junrui Zhang & Muhammad Usman & Alina Badulescu & Muhammad Safdar Sial, 2019. "Ownership Reduction in State-Owned Enterprises and Corporate Social Responsibility: Perspective from Secondary Privatization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-13, February.
    15. Cheng, Minying & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Wei, Minghai, 2020. "Non-controlling large shareholders in emerging markets: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    16. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, September.
    17. Tang, Ke & Wang, Wenjun & Xu, Rong, 2012. "Size and performance of Chinese mutual funds: The role of economy of scale and liquidity," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 228-246.
    18. Chi-Hsiou D. Hung & Qiuliang Chen & Victor Fang, 2015. "Non-Tradable Share Reform, Liquidity, and Stock Returns in China," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 27-54, March.
    19. Yi, Li & Liu, Zilan & He, Lei & Qin, Zilong & Gan, Shunli, 2018. "Do Chinese mutual funds time the market?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-19.
    20. Wang, Yuanyuan & You, Jing, 2012. "Corruption and firm growth: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 415-433.
    21. He, Wei & Kyaw, NyoNyo A., 2018. "Capital structure adjustment behaviors of Chinese listed companies: Evidence from the Split Share Structure Reform in China," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 14-22.
    22. Wang, Yang & Ashton, John K. & Jaafar, Aziz, 2019. "Does mutual fund investment influence accounting fraud?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 142-158.
    23. Enrico Geretto & Rubens Pauluzzo, 2012. "Stock Exchange Markets in China: Structure and Main Problems," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 19(1), pages 89-106, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna P. I. Vong & Duarte Trigueiros, 2014. "Reversal in the relative performance of state- and legal person-owned companies during the Chinese split share structure reform," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(15), pages 1728-1750, May.
    2. Ng, Alex & Yuce, Ayse & Chen, Eason, 2009. "Determinants of state equity ownership, and its effect on value/performance: China's privatized firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 413-443, September.
    3. James Laurenceson & Bing Bing Jiang & Kam Ki Tang, "undated". "Share reform and the performance of China�s listed companies," EAERG Discussion Paper Series 1005, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    4. Kun Tracy Wang & Greg Shailer, 2018. "Does Ownership Identity Matter? A Meta‐analysis of Research on Firm Financial Performance in Relation to Government versus Private Ownership," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(1), pages 1-35, March.
    5. Trien Le & Amon Chizema, 2011. "State ownership and firm performance: Evidence from the Chinese listed firms," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 2(2).
    6. Liao, Jing & Young, Martin, 2012. "The impact of residual government ownership in privatized firms: New evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 338-351.
    7. He, Yan & Chiu, Yung-ho & Zhang, Bin, 2015. "The impact of corporate governance on state-owned and non-state-owned firms efficiency in China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 252-277.
    8. LI, Tao & SUN, Laixiang & ZOU, Liang, 2009. "State ownership and corporate performance: A quantile regression analysis of Chinese listed companies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 703-716, December.
    9. Hovey, Martin & Naughton, Tony, 2007. "A survey of enterprise reforms in China: The way forward," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 138-156, June.
    10. Tian, Lihui & Estrin, Saul, 2008. "Retained state shareholding in Chinese PLCs: Does government ownership always reduce corporate value?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 74-89, March.
    11. Wang, Jiwei, 2010. "A comparison of shareholder identity and governance mechanisms in the monitoring of CEOs of listed companies in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 24-37, March.
    12. Quan Cheng & Alex Ng, 2023. "Achieving stability and prosperity: The Chinese way," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Zhi Wang & Miao Yu, 2022. "Political embeddedness and firms' growth," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 127-153, February.
    14. Ahmed Aboud & Ahmed Diab, 2022. "Ownership Characteristics and Financial Performance: Evidence from Chinese Split-Share Structure Reform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, June.
    15. Jin-hui Luo & Di-fang Wan & Di Cai, 2012. "The private benefits of control in Chinese listed firms: Do cash flow rights always reduce controlling shareholders’ tunneling?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 499-518, June.
    16. Kurt Hess & Abeyratna Gunasekarage & Martin Hovey, 2010. "State‐dominant and non‐state‐dominant ownership concentration and firm performance," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(4), pages 264-289, September.
    17. Lau, Chung-Ming & Fan, Dennis K.K. & Young, Michael N. & Wu, Shukun, 2007. "Corporate governance effectiveness during institutional transition," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 425-448, August.
    18. Ngo My Tran & Walter Nonneman & Ann Jorissen, 2014. "Government Ownership and Firm Performance: The Case of Vietnam," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(3).
    19. Helen Hu & On Tam & Monica Tan, 2010. "Internal governance mechanisms and firm performance in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 727-749, December.
    20. Michael Firth & Sonia Wong & Yong Yang, 2014. "The double-edged sword of CEO/chairperson duality in corporatized state-owned firms: evidence from top management turnover in China," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(1), pages 207-244, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:19:y:2008:i:3:p:489-501. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.