Eliminating zombie companies through insolvency law in China: striking a balance between market-oriented policies and government intervention

Zhao, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6430-2356, Wen, S, Parry, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8285-2191 and Wei, C, 2021. Eliminating zombie companies through insolvency law in China: striking a balance between market-oriented policies and government intervention. Asia Pacific Law Review, 29 (2), pp. 264-286. ISSN 1019-2557

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Abstract

Abstract: China’s changing approach to zombie companies can tell us a lot about its process of transition to a market economy with socialist characteristics. Zombie companies are commonly regarded as those who have sufficient earnings to cover their interest payments but who lack resource to enable growth, but others reach zombie status through being subsidised and shielded from market forces. This category has been a blight on the Chinese economy and yet many of these zombie companies have also been social lynchpins, giving rise to a tension as to their treatment. While state-driven administrative approaches to handling zombie companies have tended to dominate, more recently there have been efforts to step up the elimination of these companies through more market-based approaches and there were ambitious state targets for these efforts to intensify in 2020. Of course these targets may have been difficult to achieve as the economy deals with the impacts of Covid-19 and the zombie companies so far dealt with appear to be dormant and assetless companies. This article discusses the conceptualisation of zombie companies, identifies the factors used in China to designate zombie companies, outlines the tensions in Chinese government policies towards zombie companies, evaluates the approaches taken towards their elimination and identifies how a market-based approach to exits may be achieved through the advancement of insolvency procedures.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Asia Pacific Law Review
Creators:	Zhao, J., Wen, S., Parry, R. and Wei, C.
Publisher:	Routledge
Date:	2021
Volume:	29
Number:	2
ISSN:	1019-2557
Identifiers:	Number Type 1407603 Other 10.1080/10192557.2022.2033083 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Law School
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	15 Feb 2021 08:57
Last Modified:	08 Mar 2023 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/42295

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