The State, the Financial Market and the Rise and Decline of Diversification Strategy in China: A new institutional perspective on corporate strategy

本文采用社会学新制度主义组织分析的理论框架,强调外部制度环境(国家和资本市场)在塑造大公司内部结构和战略中的作用,尤其是权力和合法性在组织变革中的关键角色。基于676家中国上市公司2000-2007年间的财务和公司治理数据以及相关深度访谈资料,本研究发现,国家政策和资本市场强有力地形塑了上市公司的多元化或专业化战略。尽管多元化对业绩不利,但我国公司仍热衷多元化并由此使我国成为世界上公司多元化程度最高的国家之一。国家和资本市场利用其政治和市场权力推行的“最佳”公司战略和组织形式,经由三种“制度同构”机制被企业采纳。本文主要考察了强制性制度同构机制在多元化和回归专业化过程中的作用,并以此揭示了我国公司进行战略抉择时的制度和社会原因。

Based on the data of 676 Chinese publicly-traded companies ( 2000- 2007) ，this paper examines the causes and consequences of corporate diversification． Different from conventional efficiency-based studies on corporate strategy， this research examines diversification from an institutional perspective and investigates how institutional environment shapes corporate strategy． Specifically，the author focuses on the role of state and financial market in the construction and diffusion of diversification strategy in China． The study finds that both the high level of diversification and later de-diversification of Chinese firms are largely driven by state policies． The result also shows that Chinese institutional investors have substantial influence on firm strategy． This paper finds significantly negative effects of diversification on stock return and firm growth． Despite the negative relationship between diversification and performance，Chinese firms have diversified to the highest level among the major economies in the world，implying that diversification was spread more through institutional than economic processes in China．

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