HELP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-TECH COMPANIES IN A PANDEMIC CONDITIONS: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

В статье анализируются проблемы развития высокотехнологичных быстрорастущих компаний, так называемых техногазелей, некоторые из которых могут вырасти в «национальных чемпионов» в России. Рассматривается их роль в инновационном развитии экономики и формы их поддержки государством. Российская практика поддержки этих компаний в период пандемии значительно скромнее той помощи техногазелям, которая выделяется во многих странах в надежде, что они помогут преодолеть кризисы периода пандемии. Автор обосновывает вывод о необходимости разработки и применения системной поддержки высоко- технологичных компаний как важнейших драйверов инновационного развития российской экономики. The article analyzes the development problems of high-tech fast-growing companies, the so-called "technogazelles", some of which may grow into "national champions" in Russia. Their role in the innovative development of the economy and the forms of their support by the state are considered. The Russian practice of supporting these companies during a pandemic is much more modest than the assistance to technogazelles, which is allocated in many countries, in the hope that they will help to overcome the crises of the pandemic. The author substantiates the conclusion about the need to develop and apply systematic support for high-tech companies as the most important drivers of innovative development of the Russian economy.

Sounds without borders: Exploring the cross-national expansion of commercial European Radio Groups

This article aims to study how private European radio is becoming commercially international through the expansion of radio brands beyond their national market. It is the first ever analysis of the expansion strategies of radio groups across Europe, including their footprint in each market in which they operate, from the political economy of cultural industries. The article maps the main radio groups in Europe, analyses cross-national champions in depth and establishes three main types. This study shows that, thanks to the possibilities of a deregulated market, strengthening the role of the brand and the format, and the agreements with other groups, broadcasting radio has overcome the obstacles that, historically, hindered its cross-border expansion.

China's Race to the Top: Regional and Global Implications of China's Industrial Policy

The paper examines the global and regional implications of China's revitalized state capitalism model through the sectoral lens of the Chinese automotive industry, which stands at the intersection of both traditional and green industrial policy. At the multinational level, China skillfully facilitates local policy implementation that creates excess capacity by propping up local and national champions through convenient compliance with the WTO. At the bilateral level, China closely links purchasing and coercive diplomacy with protections for Chinese players both at home and abroad. Key endeavors like the Belt and Road Initiative open up overseas markets to develop global champions and secure foreign footholds for Chinese champions. Additionally, China's increasing reliance on exclusionary diplomacy provides political justifications to discriminate against foreign competitors within the Chinese market while moving forward with industrial upgrading of domestic players. When linked together, these factors – all byproducts of China's approach to state-led capitalism – combine to explain China's efforts to create a race to the top.

National Champions, Reforms, and Industrial Policy in China

China’s economic reforms since the late 1970s have been characterized by a combination of market-oriented transition and persistent practices of statist industrial policy. A key dimension of China’s industrial policy is to transform and consolidate the backbone of its large state-owned enterprises sector into a group of globally competitive big businesses. The rise of China’s ‘national champions’, defined here as the giant central state-controlled corporations, business groups, and financial institutions in the ‘commanding heights’ sectors, has reshaped the landscape of China’s business system. This chapter reviews the origin and evolution of China’s national champions industrial policy. It examines how the Chinese state has restructured the core assets and enterprise units from the socialist command economy into a set of large state-controlled corporations and business groups viable in a predominantly market-oriented environment. This process has been driven by continuous organizational learning and capability building at both the government and enterprise levels. The current governance regime of China’s national champions can be characterized as a networked hierarchy that interweaves multiple mechanisms of institutional bridging and reciprocal control. Despite their remarkable size and growth, China’s national champions are still at an early stage of developing their international competitiveness.

The Prospect of Regulatory Alignment for an Interconnected Capital Market between the United Kingdom and China: A Takeover Law Perspective

The United Kingdom (UK) and China have launched the London–Shanghai Stock Connect Scheme to achieve an integrated capital market. In this article, the takeover market is used as an example to examine the extent to which regulatory alignment between the UK and China is possible. The focus is on the role of financial intermediaries in the two markets and how they may influence the governance model of the transfer of corporate control by an open offer to the shareholders of the target company (a takeover bid). This article argues that without regulatory alignment such an integrated market is unlikely to be realized. There are differences between the UK and China in the economic model, ownership structure, and institutional arrangements, which have been reflected in the differences in interests served by takeover law in the two regimes. The design of the framework for takeover law in the UK empowers financial market participants, so as to attract capital to the London markets. In contrast, China’s takeover law is mainly aimed at facilitating industrial restructuring and creating globally competitive national companies (national champions). Hence, the UK’s shareholder-centred takeover model, with a strong focus on financial intermediaries and international investors, would not be easily replicated in China. However, the UK model could provide lessons for China to develop its takeover market—that is, further its market structure reform, develop independent financial intermediaries, and also attract an increasing number of investors.

6 Industrial Policy and Competition Law Enforcement

This chapter examines the role of industrial policy in developing countries. On the one hand, industrial policy is arguably the antithesis of competition law and policy. Industrial policy substitutes government planning for competition and is vehemently opposed if not maligned by adherents of free market economics. Industrial policy as practiced in some countries such as Japan and Korea have entailed government-organized cartels and the grooming of national champions, both of which are direct affronts to the notion of competition. On the other hand, to the defenders of industrial policy, it has successfully lifted a number of Asian countries out of poverty and turned them into industrial and technological powerhouses. However, even the extent to which the success of these economies can be attributed to industrial policy is highly contested. There are hence two layers to the controversy. The first is whether industrial policy worked at all. The second is even if it did, whether a growth strategy relying on competition is superior to industrial policy, and if not, how competition law enforcement should accommodate industrial policy.