ABSTRACT
In China, about 7.5 billion copies of domestically published books were sold in 2000, with the total turnover recorded as RMB37.7 billion. In order to increase book sales and enlarge the trade book market, many state-owned bookstores have established large wholesaling and retailing centers according to the principle of rational macro allocations. The historical growth of the non-state-owned bookstores is reflected in various aspects, such as the enlargement of scale, the changing status from supplementary to independent development, and the management improvement from being informal to being formal or more professional. The goal was to establish normal chain stores, free-chain stores, and chartered chain stores, as well as to develop gradually coordinated management with the publishing and distributing enterprises in the neighboring provinces. The dynamic vitality of the type of enterprise is well exemplified by the development of Internet bookstores. The major problems that face non-state-owned bookstores are due primarily to their unfair market competition with state-owned bookstores.
