Introduction: China’s macro environment and enterprise challenges

Following the Sixteenth National Congress of the Central Communist Party (CPC) in November 2002, the pace of reform for China’s enterprises of all kinds has quickened as they seek to cope with the challenges of self-determination – strategic, financial and governance – and to do this in the context of difficult social and welfare changes and the realities of increasing international competition. This book explores these challenges from the perspective of the enterprise. The enterprises operate in a macro environment, conditioned by the state of the economy, external relations, politics, laws, institutions, resource constraints, demography, income distribution and the potential for social unrest and this is where our book begins.