ABSTRACT
China’s industrial firms are not immune to making more efficient use of its staff. China’s central government in the 1980s began a series of reforms designed to marketize state industrial enterprises. Shanghai’s Baoshan Steel Works (Baogang) exemplifies China’s commitment to reducing government interference in the operation of state firms, and downsizing its state sector work force. Baogang is China’s most modern integrated steel producer. It was China’s first major project since 1949 to import complete sets of equipment. Baogang’s contribution to China’s modernization is in the high quality of the steel it provides. Since 1991, more than 80 percent of Baogang’s production has been rare steel products, with an emphasis on steel for the automobile, oil production, shipbuilding and light industries. The position of skilled and highly educated workers has been enhanced by the reforms. The Baogang experience can be used as a model for some of China’s other industrial enterprises.
