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This research applies the dynamic slack-based measure (DSBM) model to evaluate the dynamic efficiency of manufacturing companies in the long run and uses the Censored Least Absolute Deviations (CLAD) model to analyze the effect of corporate governance on their overall efficiency and the efficiency of each input factor. We find the following main results. First, overall efficiency of the manufacturing industry listed companies is low. 2) Debt efficiency is lower than the efficiency of shareholders' equity and exhibits a downward trend. 3) Labor efficiency is the lowest among all inputs. 4) The efficiency of the medicine and bio-products industry is the highest, while the efficiency of the paper and printing industry (which causes serious pollution) is the lowest. 5) Companies with low export intensity and high capital intensity are the most efficient, while companies with high export intensity and low capital intensity are the least efficient. 6) Ownership concentration and efficiency have a significantly positive U-shape relationship. 7) Board size and efficiency have a significantly inverted U-shape relationship. 8) An actual controller with a state-owned nature has a significantly negative impact on efficiency. 9) Executive compensation, equity incentive, and institutional ownership have a significantly positive impact on efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While farmland transfer in rural China has emerged as a critical issue in China's land use policy, there are many unanswered questions about the factors behind ongoing farmland transfer. This study uses survey data from 243 villages in Southwest China to examine how nonfarm employment and large-scale farm enterprises might affect farmland transfer. Specifically, this paper employs a spatial autoregressive (SAR) model with a geographic distance weighting matrix at the village level to explore this effect. Empirical results suggest that the proportion of migrant workers and large-scale farm enterprises positively affects the scale of farmland transfer, while the proportion of local nonfarm workers negatively affects it. By comparing estimation results from the SAR with those from the OLS model, it is found that the OLS model may overestimate the positive impact of migrant workers and underestimate the negative impact of local nonfarm workers on farmland transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Chinese stock market, firms experiencing financial distress have been imposed on a Special Treatment (ST) cap by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Using a sample of 441 ST firms tracked from 1998 to 2011, this paper employs a Cox proportional hazards model to predict turnaround probability for a distressed firm to remove the ST cap. The predictor variables incorporate (1) accounting-driven ratios, (2) market-driven variables, and (3) information on ownership structure and restructuring status throughout the process. In contrast to previous distress studies, this paper finds that market variables do not add predictive power to the model when combined with accounting variables. Also, incorporating the time effect, the results show that the survivor function for an ST firm's survival is negatively related to the duration, and that the Cox hazards model outperforms the logit model in the out-of-sample forecast. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

From the perspective of credit allocation, this paper analyzes the effects of credit market development on the innovative capacities of industrial firms in the People's Republic of China. Using a large dataset of industrial firms in 31 provinces in the People's Republic of China, we find that credit market development enhances the probability of firms' product innovation and innovation outcomes. We further show that firms' credit constraints and firms' performances are two channels through which credit market development affects innovative capacities of firms. Our results are neither driven by the increase in the quantity of credit, nor by the increase in the number of firms in a province. The results are robust to different samples, different estimation methods, and alternative measures of credit market development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relationship between ownership structure and firm performance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing and transition countries has been largely ignored. Drawing on endogenous ownership theory, this paper seeks to understand the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance in SMEs in China, which represents an embryonic market environment. Using survey data collected from 189 private firms in Shantou City, China, we find that ownership variables do not have a statistically significant relationship with firm performance. We examine the determinants of changing ownership shares and find that firm size and business instability are related to changes in ownership shares. Our findings provide empirical support for the central tenets of endogenous ownership theory. As such, the results can be interpreted as meaning that even in a developing market environment, such as China, market forces are strong enough to dominate ownership structure change or that the market mechanism is functioning well in some areas of emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The training provision and skill level of the labour force of a nation has been widely regarded as essential to organizational and national performance in an era of accelerating global competition. China, with one of the largest labour forces in the world, has often been criticized for the low quality of its labour supply. This paper critically examines the vocational training system and enterprise training provision in China. It analyses the role of the state and employers, and the main characteristics and problems in the training provision. The paper identifies the likely groups of workers missing out in the training network. It also contemplates the prospect of training in China against the context of its recent WTO accession, an increasing level of foreign investment in the country and, more importantly, its recent radical restructuring of the state-owned sectors and its rapid expansion of private sectors including the informal sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using survey data of enterprises and entrepreneurs from Liuzhou, Guangxi, China, the determinants of political participation of private enterprises are studied. We find (1) entrepreneurs who are older or from larger older enterprises have a higher probability of becoming members of the People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, while gender, education and household registration status do not significantly affect their political participation. (2) Entrepreneurs with membership in the Communist Party of China or other parties have a higher probability of entering politics. Compared with Communist Party members, those of other parties have a much higher probability of political participation. (3) Parental leadership identity increases entrepreneur probability of entering politics. Its effect is between that of Communist Party membership and other party membership. This paper provides evidence that Chinese entrepreneurs in private enterprises are translating their economic power, political identity, and household background into formal political power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]