Guidance Note on State-Owned Enterprise Reform in Sovereign Projects and Programs

Strategy 2030 underscores the commitment of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform in its developing member countries (DMCs). This guidance note provides an overview of SOEs in Asia and the Pacific, explains the significance of reforms in implementing ADB’s corporate strategy, and discusses related requirements for ADB’s sovereign projects. It provides guidance on challenges that need to be addressed and areas to focus on in engagements with SOEs. Designed to help ADB staff in their work with SOEs, this guidance note is also a useful resource for officials from DMCs, and SOE board and management members.

China’s State-Owned Enterprise Reform Since 2013

Starting from the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in November 2013, China has begun another round of state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform. By examining policy documents, analysing the pilot SOE s and conducing an empirical study based on a unique dataset of control rights transfers between SOE s and privately owned enterprises in Chinese stock markets during 2014–2019, this study concludes that this round of SOE reform has made China’s SOE s stronger and possibly bigger. These findings are important to firms, scholars and policy-makers around the world and make further contributions to the debates on China’s SOE reform.