ABSTRACT
In this, the second of our detailed case studies of contemporary enterprise reform and restructuring, we examine the Tangshan Iron and Steel Group Company Limited, commonly known as Tanggang, another extremely large Chinese state-owned steel maker. Like other sizeable state enterprises, it is subject to the government’s restructuring directives and remains a target of its corporatization plan. In terms of scale, Tanggang is currently not as large as Wugang, but has been one of the top ten steel makers in China since 1979. In 2003, it was ranked fifth by production of crude steel, after Shanghai Baosteel, Liaoning Anshan (now Anben), Wugang and Beijing Shougang. Worldwide it was ranked thirty-third in scale of operations (International Iron & Steel Institute 2004). In terms of employees, in 2003 Tanggang had 39,776 on its direct payroll plus 10,236 retirees (China Steel Yearbook 2004: 242). In line with the recent spate of ‘consolidation policy’ mergers among state-owned steel enterprises, in November 2005 Tanggang’s acquisition of the smaller Hebei iron and steel concerns of Chengde Steel and Xuanhua Steel was formally approved by the provincial government, the merged enterprise to operate under the title of ‘New Tanggang’. As we discuss later, however, of higher profile news-wise has been the recently proposed relocation of (west Beijing-based) Shougang to Tangshan by 2010, this signalling the future merger of two giant steel enterprises.
