回归乡土与现实：乡镇企业研究路径的反思

20世纪八九十年代兴盛的乡镇企业研究的核心问题是所谓的“中国模式”的悖论：这样一种产权模糊的企业如何能够成功？此问题并没有得到从企业经营和治理本身出发的充分回答，而随着乡镇企业的大规模转制和倒闭被人忘记。本文在渠敬东《占有、经营与治理》一文的启发和引领下，通过对乡镇企业研究的评述，对渠文的思路进行阐发，试图指出“乡镇企业悖论”的真正答案也许并不在产权本身，而是在企业的经营过程及其与乡土社会的紧密联系之中。

Return to Earthbound China: Reflections on Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) Studies

During the 80’s and 90’s in the 20th century, Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) were the strongest force leading to China’s economic growth. The enterprises were unique in the sense of the structure of property rights. Some economists pointed out the “ambiguous” structure in TVEs because their property right or ownership belonged to village collectives or township governments but their operation was delegated to TVE managers. Based on the new classic economic theory, this kind of property structure is inefficient due to the separation of the inputs and returns. The success of TVEs thus has stirred up hot debates on the economic growth of “China Pattern,” with the key question being why an ambiguous property structure could have been so successful.There have been three categories of academic explanations. The first one is based on “industrial structural characteristics,” which argues that the success of TVEs was due to the differences between the “light” and “heavy” industries. There was a shortage of “light industry” products in contrast to the “heavy industry” products. TVEs took the market opportunities to make consumer products and reaped high returns with little competition. The second explanation focuses on the behaviors of local governments. The new fiscal contract system provided local governments with strong incentives to develop local TVEs. The third is a “historical explanation,” that is, the success of TVEs could be explained by the “path dependent” theory. In 1994, Martin Weitzman and Xu Chenggang proposed a new “cultural explanation” in their paper that the Chinese “corporate” culture could be regarded as an important factor that had positively affected the management of TVEs. In the current paper, I try to continue Weitzman and Xu’s arguments and respond to Qu Jingdong’s views in his paper of “Possession, Operation and Governance as Three Conceptual Dimensions of Town and Township Enterprises.” I believe that the nature of village culture was an important part of TVE operation, which could help us understand the success of Chinese TVEs.