––Report on the 2000 survey of growth and development of entrepreneurs in China

In the 1999 questionnaire survey of enterprise managers in China conducted by the Chinese Entrepreneurs Survey System, which is affiliated to the Information Center of the Development Research Center of the State Council, 10,000 questionnaires were distributed in mid-August of 1999. Of these, 3,562 valid answers were collected. The answers came from various sectors in 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities except Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. State-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises made up 45.7 and 54.3 percent of the respondents respectively, and the proportions of big, medium-sized and small enterprise respondents were 35.1, 47.3 and 17.6 percent respectively. Chairpersons, general managers, factory directors, and Party secretaries accounted for 94.4 percent of the objects of survey.

Designed to provide a basis for the relevant decision-makings, the questionnaire survey tried to cast light on the progress and problems of system construction of the ranks of entrepreneurs in China mainly from the following angles: basic quality and occupational tendencies of enterprise managers, the decision-making mechanisms of enterprises, the mechanisms for the selection of enterprise managers, and the mechanisms of stimulation and restriction.

Results of the survey show that since the launching of the policy of reform and opening to the outside world, the overall quality of Chinese enterprise managers has constantly improved, and structural changes have taken place in their level of knowledge, professionalism and age. China has gradually entered a period of development in the structure of enterprise managers, which is characterized by a higher degree of formal schooling so far as the knowledge structure of enterprise managers is concerned, dominance by middle-aged and young people so far as their age is concerned, and integration of technical and management expertise with the latter being spotlight so far as their structure of professionalism is concerned. Most of the enterprise managers were satisfied with their occupation, and had an ever sharper sense about professionalism.

The results of the survey also show that the decision-making mechanisms in China have been improved somewhat, the decision-making roles of the boards of directors have been strengthened to a certain degree, the mechanism for the selection of enterprise managers and systems for the examination of their achievements meeting the requirements of modern enterprise systems have been gradually improved, and so have been the mechanisms for the impetus and restriction of enterprise managers. Systems for the remuneration of enterprise managers in line with the characteristics of a market economy are being explored and developed, the income levels of enterprise managers have constantly risen, and the forms of income-earning have tended to diversify. Among the enterprises of various types of ownership, state-owned enterprises have fallen behind in comparison so far as their system construction of the ranks of entrepreneurs is concerned. The enterprise managers hope that the reforms will be deepened; marketization, specialization and systematization of the ranks of entrepreneurs will be accelerated vigorously; and systems fit for a socialist market economy and modern enterprise systems will be installed or perfected to create a favorable social environment for the growth and development of the ranks of entrepreneurs.

I. Basic quality and occupational tendencies of enterprise managers

The results of the survey show that people aged between 36-55 form the major part of enterprise managers in China. Nearly half of the enterprise managers have received formal schooling at or above the college level, and most of them have specialized in management. They have a comparatively high degree of satisfaction with their occupation, and most of them have set “work for the interests of employees” and “realization of self-value” as their major occupational objectives.

1. Degree of satisfaction with occupation

When asked “will you still choose to be an enterprise manager if you are given another chance to choose your occupation”, 62.6 percent ticked the item “yes” and only 25.5 percent ticked “no”. The managers of privately owned enterprises have a comparatively higher degree of satisfaction with their occupation than those of state-owned enterprises. Young enterprise managers have greater confidence in their occupation.

2. Choice of occupational objectives

When asked “what is the force behind enterprise managers who still work hard when their enterprises fall into difficulties”, most of the respondents ticked the answers “work for the interests of employees” and “realization of self-value” as their first choices, with the percentages standing at 76.0 and 75.4 respectively. The other choices following are “self-tempering and self-improvement in difficulties” and “making contribution to society”, with the percentages being 54.6 and 41.0 respectively.

II. Decision-making mechanisms of enterprises

The results of the survey show that in shareholding enterprises, the decision-making roles of their boards of directors have been strengthened somewhat, the proportion of administrative leaders holding concurrent posts of Party secretaries has become bigger than the year before, and the continuity of tenure of No 1 leaders is remarkably less in state-owned enterprises than in enterprises of other types of ownership.

1. Concurrent holding of leading posts

In the survey, chairpersons, general managers and factory directors have accounted for 39.4, 31.9 and 24.6 percent of the total number of the people surveyed. Among them, two thirds of the chairpersons are concurrently the general managers, almost the same as the proportion revealed in a similar survey conducted last year. Of the people surveyed, 33.2 percent of the administrative leaders are concurrently Party secretaries, nearly 11 percent more than a year ago.

2. Continuity of tenure of enterprise leaders

The data collected from the survey show that in the recent 10 years, the frequency of replacement of the No 1 leaders of enterprises is biggest in state-owned enterprises, standing at 2.1 times. Following in sequence are shareholding companies with 1.3 times, limited liability companies with 1.3 times, collective enterprises with 1.2 times, enterprises involving foreign or Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwanese investment with 1.2 times, shareholding cooperative enterprises with 1.1 times, and privately owned enterprises with 0.3 time. Replacement of enterprise leaders is noticeably more frequent in state-owned enterprises than in enterprises of other types of ownership.

III. Mechanism for the selection of enterprise managers

The results of the survey show that since the launching of the policy of reform and opening to the outside world, comparatively big changes have taken place in the mechanism for the selection of enterprise managers in China. Although assignment and appointment by senior administrative departments are still the major form of selection of enterprise managers, this proportion has shrunk and the proportion of cases where appointments are made by boards of directors has grown. So far as the major qualifications for holding the posts of enterprise managers is concerned, “work achievements” and “management ability” have been regarded as the most important qualifications for the selection of enterprise managers, standing at 46.3 and 26.8 percent respectively. Other qualifications following in sequence are “morality and prestige”, standing at 15.5 percent; and “trustworthiness by senior administrative departments” and “professional knowledge”, standing at just 6.6 and 3.0 percent respectively (See Table 1).

Table 1 Qualifications for the selection and appointment of managers for enterprises of different types of ownership (%)

	State-owned enterprises	Collective enterprises	Private enterprises	Shareholding cooperative enterprises	Shareholding limited companies	Limited liability companies	Enterprises with foreign or Hong Kong, Macro or Taiwanese investment	Sum total
Work achievements	48.9	45.9	23.8	37.5	53.5	44.8	38.3	46.3
Management ability	23.7	28.6	45.0	33.7	25.9	28.0	30.5	26.8
Morality and prestige	15.8	15.2	10.7	24.8	13.5	16.9	13.8	15.5
Trustworthiness by senior departments	8.5	6.3	1.6	1.0	3.7	4.6	9.4	6.6
Professional knowledge	1.9	3.3	10.7	1.0	1.7	3.7	6.7	3.0
Others	1.2	0.7	8.2	2.0	1.7	2.0	1.3	1.6
Sum total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number of samples	1594	269	122	101	483	614	298	3481

IV. Mechanism of stimulation

The results of the survey show that since the launching of the policy of reform and opening to the outside world, the level of individual income of enterprise managers has risen considerably, and the form of income-earning has tended to diversify. In comparison, the managers of private enterprises and enterprises involving foreign, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwanese investment earn more incomes, following in sequence by managers of shareholding limited companies, of state-owned enterprises, and of enterprises of other types of ownership.

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