ABSTRACT
During the last decades of the twentieth century, in order to survive and prosper,
the world’s leading firms underwent a revolutionary transformation in
organisational structure and business capabilities. During the same period,
China’s large enterprises undertook large-scale evolutionary change and
encountered many internal difficulties. At the beginning of the twenty-first
century, China joined the World Trade Organisation. As the country begins to
closely integrate with the world economy and business system, China’s ambition
to build up large competitive firms appears to be as strong as ever. In addition to
their internal difficulties, large Chinese corporations will encounter sharply
increased competitive pressure on the ‘global level playing field’, which is now
coming to China. The relationship between large Chinese corporations and large
global firms has been immensely complicated, involving both competition and
co-operation. In this process, China’s large firms face great challenges.
