IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/eme/aeapzz/s0885-333920140000015009.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

CEO Incentive Contracts in China: Why Does City Location Matter?

In: International Perspectives on Participation

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Bryson
  • John Forth
  • Minghai Zhou

Abstract

CEO incentive contracts are commonplace in China but their incidence varies significantly across Chinese cities. We show that city and provincial policy experiments help explain this variance. We examine the role of two policy experiments: the use of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and the privatisation of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The introduction of SEZs is found to be uncorrelated with the prevalence of CEO incentive contracts. However, firms are more likely to use such contracts in areas that saw rapid SOE privatisation, irrespective of the firm’s own current ownership status and irrespective of the size of the SOE sector in the late 1970s. The positive effect of privatisation is robust to various estimation techniques and model specifications. These findings suggest that domestic privatisation policies have been more influential than FDI in driving the expansion of incentive contracts in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Bryson & John Forth & Minghai Zhou, 2014. "CEO Incentive Contracts in China: Why Does City Location Matter?," Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms, in: International Perspectives on Participation, volume 15, pages 25-49, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:aeapzz:s0885-333920140000015009
    DOI: 10.1108/S0885-333920140000015009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S0885-333920140000015009/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S0885-333920140000015009/full/epub?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec&title=10.1108/S0885-333920140000015009
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S0885-333920140000015009/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/S0885-333920140000015009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Gibbons & Henry G. Overman, 2012. "Mostly Pointless Spatial Econometrics?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 172-191, May.
    2. Alex Bryson & John Forth & Minghai Zhou, 2012. "What Do We Know About China's CEO's? Evidence from Across the Whole Economy," CEP Occasional Papers op31, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Bloom, Nicholas & Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Human Resource Management and Productivity," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 19, pages 1697-1767, Elsevier.
    4. Alex Bryson & John Forth & Minghai Zhou, 2012. "The CEO Labour Market in China's Public Listed Companies," CEP Discussion Papers dp1148, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1991. "Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(0), pages 24-52, Special I.
    6. Chenggang Xu, 2011. "The Fundamental Institutions of China's Reforms and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1076-1151, December.
    7. Dirk Willem te Velde, 2003. "Foreign Ownership, Microelectronic Technology and Skills: Evidence for British Establishments," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 185(1), pages 93-106, July.
    8. Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Tobias Kretschmer & Paul Willman, 2007. "The diffusion of workplace voice and high-commitment human resource management practices in Britain, 1984–1998," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(3), pages 395-426, June.
    9. Theodore Groves & Yongmiao Hong & John McMillan & Barry Naughton, 1994. "Autonomy and Incentives in Chinese State Enterprises," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 183-209.
    10. Wang, Jin, 2013. "The economic impact of Special Economic Zones: Evidence from Chinese municipalities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 133-147.
    11. Groves, Theodore & Yongmiao Hong & John McMillan & Barry Naughton, 1995. "China's Evolving Managerial Labor Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(4), pages 873-892, August.
    12. Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 1995. "Old Dogs and New Tricks: Determinants of the Adoption of Productivity-Enhancing Work Practices," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1995 Micr), pages 1-65.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Rebitzer, James B. & Taylor, Lowell J., 2011. "Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motives: Standard and Behavioral Approaches to Agency and Labor Markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 8, pages 701-772, Elsevier.
    2. Alex Bryson & John Forth & Minghai Zhou, 2014. "Same or Different? The CEO Labour Market in China's Public Listed Companies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(574), pages 90-108, February.
    3. Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc & Sun, Sunny Li, 2015. "The political determinants of executive compensation: Evidence from an emerging economy," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 69-91.
    4. Bryson, Alex & Forth, John & Zhou, Minghai, 2014. "Who posts performance bonds and why? Evidence from China's CEOs," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 520-529.
    5. Jin, Zhangfeng & Pan, Shiyuan, 2020. "Incentive Pay and Firm Productivity: Evidence from China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 479, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Xu, Cheng-Gang, 2010. "The Institutional Foundations of China?s Reforms and Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 7654, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Bloom, Nicholas & Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Human Resource Management and Productivity," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 19, pages 1697-1767, Elsevier.
    8. Beckmann, Michael & Cornelissen, Thomas & Kräkel, Matthias, 2017. "Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-302.
    9. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Miriam Krueger & Nikolay Zubanov, 2017. "Team Incentives and Performance: Evidence from a Retail Chain," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(8), pages 2168-2203, August.
    10. David D. Li & Changqi Wu, 2002. "The Ownership School vs. the Management School of State Enterprise Reform: Evidence from China," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 435, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    11. Fabrice Defever & Alejandro Riaño, 2016. "Protectionism through Exporting: Subsidies with Export Share Requirements in China," Discussion Papers 2016-03, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    12. Edward P. Lazear & Paul Oyer, 2012. "Personnel Economics [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    13. Edward P. Lazear, 1995. "Personnel Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121883, December.
    14. Michael J. Seiler & David M. Harrison & Pim Van Vliet & Kit Ching Yeung, 2005. "Return Characteristics of State‐Owned and Non‐State‐Owned Chinese A Shares," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 533-548, November.
    15. Firth, Michael & Fung, Peter M.Y. & Rui, Oliver M., 2006. "Corporate performance and CEO compensation in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 693-714, September.
    16. Tor Eriksson, 2005. "Managerial pay and executive turnover in the Czech and Slovak Republics," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 13(4), pages 659-677, October.
    17. Flores-Fillol, Ricardo & Iranzo, Susana & Mañé Vernet, Ferran, 2010. "Workers cooperation within the firm: an analysis using small and medium size firms," Working Papers 2072/179606, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    18. Ngo Van Long & Frank Stähler, 2009. "Trade policy and mixed enterprises," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(2), pages 590-614, May.
    19. Kang, Lili & Peng, Fei, 2014. "Acquisition Premiums of Executive Compensation in China: a Matching View," MPRA Paper 55766, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Chen, Shuo & Qiao, Xue & Zhu, Zhitao, 2021. "Chasing or cheating? Theory and evidence on China's GDP manipulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 657-671.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Executive compensation; CEOs; privatisation; FDI; China; cities; G34; J31; J33; M12; M52; O16; P31;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • P31 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions

    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:eme:aeapzz:s0885-333920140000015009. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.