《西方國企的興衰》013:國企如何應對全球化和地方主義的挑戰?

作者:吳剛梁

導語

:西方國家在私有化之後,又面臨著新的形勢在外部,全球化興起;在內部,地方利益衝突變得更加複雜。在這種情況下,管家型政府是如何主導經濟發展的呢?又到了老吳帶您讀原著的時間。

《西方國企的興衰》013:國企如何應對全球化和地方主義的挑戰?

The entrepreneurial state survives, even without (or with reduced) ownership, as a fundamental actor in economic development and responds to the two challenges posed to the nation-state by the contemporary political economy:

即使國有經濟消失或者比重下降,“管家型”政府仍在發展經濟中發揮積極的作用,並應對“民族國家”面臨的兩項挑戰:

(1) the need to reidentify the national identities of companies, verifying the consistency of private and collective interests and strategies in a globalized economy, and (2) the need to manage the territorial fragmentation of policy making into a number of overlapping and uncoordinated policy levels (typically, supranational, national, regional, and local)。

一是全球化,需要重新界定某個企業是哪個國家的,並確保私人與集體的利益及策略保持一致;二是區域化,需要管理協調各個區域政策(包括國際、國家和地方的政策)造成的分割和混亂。

老吳註釋:“民族國家”是指共享單一價值和歷史文化,使用共同語言的國家。完全符合這種條件的國家極少,一般認為,冰島與日本的其他少數民族比例極低,接近民族國家。民族國家與傳統的帝國或王國不同,民族國家的公民效忠的物件,是有著共同認同感的“同胞”及其共同形成的體制。

全球化的挑戰

Common sense suggests that state ownership is at odds with globalization。 Although state-owned companies have sometimes demonstrated a remarkable ability to manage complex internationalization strategies, their nationalist imprint has been a serious handicap in their participation in the global economy。

人們的常識是,國有制與全球化格格不入。儘管在應對複雜的國際化戰略時,國有企業經常有非凡的表現,但其民族主義烙印一直阻礙它們參與經濟全球化。

Managers have often been among the first to point out the extent to which their domestic structure limited international operations and made them suspect and unwelcome in foreign eyes。

最先站出來抱怨的往往是國企的管理層,他們指出國記憶體在的問題是如何限制他們開展國際業務的,又如何使他們在國外飽受懷疑,不受歡迎。

Privatization is a frequent credibility condition for international investors。 Privatization guarantees the absence of an unfavorable public sector within the economy and the commitment of political institutions to respect the basic rules of the market economy。

對國際投資者來說,私有化更容易獲得信任。因為私有化可以確保沒有公共部門的不當干擾,確保政府部門承諾尊重市場經濟的基本規則。

The process of privatization is also clear evidence of a country‘s openness to international investors, both in terms of proactive, promotional attitudes of government bodies and agencies and in terms of the avoidance of discriminatory behavior or arbitrary means of control of the “golden share” kind。

私有化本身也是一個國家對國際投資者進行開放的過程。這不僅體現在政府部門的積極態度上,也體現在政府避免歧視行為、避免隨意行使“金股”權利上。

老吳註釋:“金股”是指西方國家在將某個國企私有化之後,政府仍在該企業象徵性地保留“黃金一股”,可以行使一票否決權。當然,金股只能否決涉及國家安全和公眾利益的事項,不得否決企業的正常經營決策。

The state’s ability to disregard the rules of the global economy is severely limited by competition from other countries and regions in attracting investment。 The need to comply with the requirements of international capital is an expression of limited sovereignty characterizing present-day nation-states。

由於其他國家相互競爭,爭相引資,各國政府也不敢完全無視國際經濟規則。如今的民族國家,都要遵守國際資本的要求,可以視為民族國家的主權受到一定限制。

An even more important consequence follows from the decline of state ownership。 This decline furthers the trend toward company “denationalization。” Denationalization does not mean the full loss of national reference of an imaginary “Cosmocorp” (Ball 1967)。

國有經濟比重下降的另一個後果是,進一步加劇了公司“非國籍化”的趨勢。當然,非國籍化並不意味著對一家“超級公司”而言,它屬於哪個國家是毫無意義的事情(Ball 1967)。

Rather, the “who are we?” syndrome shows that it is impossible to define the

nationality of companies within the global economy in terms of the location of headquarters or plants or the nationality of owners or workers (Reich 1991)。 There is no obvious relationship between the company and collective interests in the global economy。

只是說,“我們是誰”綜合症表明,我們不能根據一家公司的總部和工廠在哪裡,或者所有者和工人是誰,來判定這家公司是哪個國家的(Reich 1991)。在經濟全球化背景下,公司與利益相關者之間的聯絡並不明顯。

Privatization implies that nation-states give up those remaining companies that are unambiguously identifiable as national, and underscores the real dilemmas and trauma associated with the “who are we?” syndrome。 This happens especially where privatized companies are located in strategic sectors。

私有化意味著民族國家要放棄那些地地道道的國家企業,經歷“我們是誰”綜合症之痛,對於那些具有戰略意義行業的私有化,更是如此。

Dependency rhetoric then rehearses the well-known and usually dubious or instrumental mix of economic and security arguments, with the addition of

updated arguments related to the linkage between development and the localization of cumulative, path-dependent learning processes, especially regarding innovation。

於是,熟悉的“依賴論”再次登場,儘管它通常是可疑的,夾雜著經濟安全的論調,強調只有透過本土的自我提升和不斷積累才能發展當地經濟,才能搞創新。

State-owned companies can be seen as a stronghold resisting the “hollowing out” of industrial corporations and its negative impact on localized(national) systems of innovation。

國有企業被當作抵制產業“空心化”的堡壘。空心化對民族創新體系不利。

Here again a change of analytical perspective is appropriate: “the question is not whether or not the Nation State is compatible with international firms, but what functions the Nation State is likely to continue to perform, in an era of international capital, whether all Nation States will be similarly affected, and how ‘international’ will international institutions be” (Murray 1971, 286)。

在此,我們要換個分析角度:即問題不在於國家與跨國公司是否相容,而是在資本國際化的時代,國家要繼續承擔什麼樣的職能;是不是所有的國家都將受到相同的影響,以及國際組織到底“國際化”到什麼程度?(Murray 1971年,286)。

From this perspective, privatization contributes to shifting the role of the state to that of the provider of “club goods” - public goods whose fruition is limited to a limited number of subjects: “national” companies。

從這個角度看,私有化有助於將國家的角色轉變為“俱樂部產品”的提供者。“俱樂部產品”是一種公共產品,其實現程度受到“國家公司”的限制。

老吳註釋:俱樂部產品是經濟學上的概念,它指一種介於私人產品與公共產品之間的產品種類。它們在一定程度上具有準公共產品的特徵,但其受益範圍比公共產品小,如一些會員制的運動俱樂部、讀書社、行業協會等。

The companies are national only because their strategies are seen as compatible with and functional for the interests of national communities, irrespective of the legal nationality of the companies。

這些公司之所以具有國家屬性,不是因為他們具有法律上的國籍,而是符合國家利益。

Club goods are by no means irrelevant to global companies。 Some of them are quantitatively significant in terms of the financial resources provided to companies in the form of subsidies or tax breaks。

跨國公司也可能生產俱樂部產品。一些跨國公司還得到了大額的政府補助和稅收減免。

Some of them are still monopolized by the state, as in the case of domestic and international security, enforceable regulations, and so on。 Some, although in the private domain, are still managed by state bodies with legitimacy and know-how, such as diplomacy, unattainable in the private sector。

有些跨國公司仍然由政府壟斷,例如,在涉及國內和國際安全、執法方面的企業。有些跨國公司雖然屬於私營領域,但仍然由合法的專業性國家機構負責管理,例如,跨國公司不能搞外交行為。

Further, the state maintains a pivotal role as the main actor in the strategic positioning of the country‘s economic apparatus in global networks as well as in engineering country-specific competitive advantages,

此外,政府在國家經濟職能及競爭優勢的戰略定位上,繼續扮演著主要行動者的角色,

both in terms of the propensity to innovate (by contributing decisively to the establishment of innovation systems) and in terms of providing a “global platform” to global companies (Lundvall 1993; Porter 1990)

包括打造創新體制,以及為跨國公司提供一個“全球性平臺”(Lundvall 1993; Porter 1990)。

What is crucial is the relationship between the interest of the company in the “goods” provided by the state and the ability of the latter to provide them not only within its own territory but even beyond, through political and economic diplomacy and influence in international or supranational organizations。

更為重要的是,政府不僅可以在國內給企業提供各種服務使其受益,而且有能力透過政治、經濟、外交及對國際組織施加影響等手段,也在國外為其提供這些服務。

In conclusion, privatization pushes the state even further away from the inertia of considering nationally owned companies as the depository of the industrial future of the country and toward dynamic participation in globalization。

總之,私有化促使政府進一步擺脫了一種思維慣式:把國有企業視為未來產業發展的儲備,轉向積極參與全球化。

《西方國企的興衰》013:國企如何應對全球化和地方主義的挑戰?

地方主義的挑戰

Still, ownership is not meaningless。 Nation-states, and increasingly regional and local levels of government, consider it an appropriate lever for guaranteeing benefits from economic activities。

不過,所有制並非毫無意義。民族國家以及越來越多的地區和地方政府,把所有權當作保證經濟利益的手段。

Ownership, then, does not so much reflect the desire for absolute control and the subjection of company decisions to political imperatives as it allows formal participation in the decision-making processes of companies。

因此,獲得所有權並不是為了絕對的控制權,也不是讓企業的決策屈從於政治需要,而是可以正式參與公司的決策過程。

As shareholders, governments feel better able to receive and convey reliable information。 When necessary, they can “vote” for strategies that are consistent with Ideal development policies; alternatively, they can use veto powers to prevent or slow down strategies that involve delocalization of plants, decreased R&D activities, decreased local content of manufactured goods, and so on。

因為作為股東,政府覺得能夠更好地接收和傳達資訊。必要時,他們可以“投票”透過符合政策要求的公司戰略;或者說,他們可以行使否決權來阻止或延緩一些決議,這類決議有:工廠遷出本地、削減研發活動、減少產品的本土特色,等等。

The German Lander have always combined direct and indirect ownership with political aims。 This case shows the need for the addition of a multilevel dimension to the privatization process。

德國的蘭德地區總是把所有權制度與政治目標結合起來。這個案例說明在私有化程序中,需要考慮多層次的所有權制度。

This attitude has clear historical roots: state ownership in nineteenth and twentieth century Germany was an expression of the defense of other German states’ remaining sovereignty in the face of Prussian dominance。

它有著深刻的歷史根源:在19世紀和20世紀,在普魯士的統治面前,各州透過國有制來捍衛其殘存的主權。

The Lander have interfered in the privatization policies of the federal government, especially in the identification of the new ownership structure, or have themselves strengthened regional champions by selling their own assets。

蘭德人對聯邦政府的私有化政策進行了抵制,特別是在確定新的股權結構方面,還通過出售自己的資產來增強地方骨幹企業的實力。

Lander representatives, often top-level representatives (such as the Ministerprdsidenten), regularly appear as major players in the corporate governance of major German companies。

蘭德的代表,通常是高層代表(如部長),經常作為主要人物出現在德國大公司中。

Their role is most important when changes in companies threaten to affect industrial activities within Lander territories。 A good example is provided by the Daimler Benz-Messerschmitt Boelkow Blohm (MBB) merger in 1989。

當企業發生的變化威脅到蘭德地區的工業發展時,他們將發揮最重要的作用。1989年戴姆勒-賓士與MBB的併購案就是一個很好的例子。

The city states of Hamburg and Bremen, which were both shareholders in MBB, led what the press described as a “revolt” of the northern Lander (Hamburg, Bremen, Niedersachsen, and Schleswig-Holstein) against the merger。

漢堡州和不萊梅州是MBB的兩大股東,它們帶頭髮起了所謂的北方各州的“叛亂”,反對合並事宜。北方各州包括漢堡、不萊梅、Niedersachsen, and Schleswig-Holstein。

Thanks to their veto power, they managed to postpone the merger for several weeks, and eventually obtained assurances that the operation would not involve the much-feared relocation southward of some of the most important military and aerospace industry plants and research centers, such as those at Bayern and Baden- Wurttemberg。

由於他們行使否決權,導致合併推遲了幾周。他們最終還獲得得保證:合併後,一些重要的軍事類和航空航類工廠及研究中心不會南遷。

Multilevel state ownership implies that different sensitivities toward privatization coexist within the same country。 The difference in the level of government (and thus sensitivity to the territorial consequences of industrial adjustments) is nearly always a more powerful variable than government ideology。

多個層級的國有制意味著在一個國家範圍內,各方對私有化的反應是不一樣的。不同層級政府的態度往往是比政府意識形態還更重要的因素,特別是在產業的區域調整方面。

Adding levels of government increases the likelihood of different sensitivities。 In the new eastern Lander of Germany at an earlier stage privatization policies were formulated in a vacuum, as the newly established regional governments were an absolute, scarcely rooted novelty。

增加政府的層級,可能會使問題變得更具敏感性。在早期的德國的東部地區,私有化政策基本上是在“真空”中制定的,因為剛設立的地方政府是全新的,沒有任何根基。

Later on, the strengthening of the new political bodies, which faced the territorial costs of structural adjustment, led to a more diversified range of privatization procedures, allowing for some kinds of direct support by the Lander to potentially competitive companies (Seibel 1994)。

後來,新政府機構的力量不斷加強,導致了更加多樣化的私有化程式,一些潛在競爭力強的公司得到地方政府的直接支援(Seibel 1994)。

Decentralization processes seem to provide an irresistible temptation to regional governments to opt for the direct ownership of strategic ventures, even when central governments are engaged in privatization。

在權力下放的過程中,地方政府選擇擁有戰略性企業的股權,儘管中央政府正忙於搞私有化。

A good example is provided by the case of Spain。 In 1996 the Autonomias held shares in 298 companies, including the industrial holding of the Catalan government, Eplicsa (established 1985); the telecommunications company of the Basque country, Euskaltel; and the Instituto de Fomento de Andalucia。

西班牙就是一個很好的例子。1996年各自治區政府共持有298家公司的股權,包括Catalan自治政府持股Eplicsa(1985年成立),Basque自治政府持有電信公司,等等。

Moving to subnational levels of government does not imply merely lower-level duplication of traditional patterns of state ownership。 In most industrially advanced and less advanced countries, a plurality of semipublic, quasi-nongovernmental entities bears witness to the effectiveness of state ownership as a way of supporting the state as entrepreneur。

在地方政府層面,它們並不僅僅是在較低層面複製傳統國有制模式。在大多數發達和欠發達國家,許多半公共的、準非政府的實體組織,也成為政府管理經濟的有效手段。

These entities range from regional development agencies to semipublic organizations providing services to companies (Bianchi and Bellini 1991; Halkier, Danson, and Damborg 1998)。 They introduce new actors whose function is to guide or support the evolution of the industrial apparatus through the provision of innovative (and mostly intangible) assets。

這些實體機構,包括區域性政府部門和半官方組織,都向公司提供相關服務 (Bianchi and Bellini 1991; Halkier, Danson, and Damborg 1998)。它們引入了新的行動者,透過提供創新資本,指導和支援產業的發展。

In most cases these new actors are designed and organized as companies, partly out of respect for the neoliberal stereotype and partly out of a genuine search for policy market conformity。 Managerial attitudes are required of their governing bodies, which are rewarded or punished on the basis of performance。

在大多數情況下,這些新的行動者被設計和組建成為公司,部分原因是出於對新自由主義教條的尊重,部分原因是出於真正追求市場化政策。管理層的態度體現了治理主體的要求,他們根據業務表現獲得獎賞與懲罰。

The markets provide the final assessment of their work by occasional formal reference to self-financing ratios, although this assessment is somewhat inefficient because of the nature of their products。 The option to privatize is open as soon as their mission is completed and the services they provide can be sufficiently produced and efficiently sold through market mechanisms。

根據市場表現對他們的工作進行最終評估,有時候要考察自籌資金的比率。由於各家企業的產品的性質不同,這種評估不一定有效。一旦他們的任務完成,公司能夠透過市場機制充足地生產和有效地銷售,他們就可以選擇私有化。

Once again, the state enters the field to share the risks of “cautious, sagacious capitalists, both citizens and foreigners”: ownership is just one of the means the state has of serving an essential and historically lasting function in economic development。

總之,政府再次進入市場領域,分擔“國內外那些謹慎而又明智的資本家”的風險。國有制只是國家服務經濟發展的手段之一,而發展經濟是政府根本的、永恆的職能。

《西方國企的興衰》013:國企如何應對全球化和地方主義的挑戰?

老吳點評

本文探討了在經濟全球化和地方利益崛起的背景下,政府如何利用國企來管理和發展經濟。

在參與國際競爭方面,國企並不受歡迎。如文中所述,國際投資者不喜歡國企與政府之間存在的千絲萬縷的聯絡。當前,我國國企在“走出去”的過程中,也面臨著類似的問題。例如,在海外投標方面,一些國家拿“競爭中性”原則說事,非難中國企業,懷疑國企享受政府的補貼,或者在融資方面得到政府的隱性擔保。他們提出,招投票應該是企業之間的競爭,而不是一個企業和另一個國家搞競爭。

儘管我們可以澄清相關事實,找各種理由來回應這些指責,但本文也提出,由於國際競爭的壓力,任何主權國家都不敢完全無視國際經濟規則。

在地方利益方面,中國同樣也存在多層次的國有制,即中央企業與各級地方國有企業。由於中央企業的利潤和部分稅源不在當地,但開發的是當地資源,汙染的是當地的環境。因此,地方政府對中央企業的態度比較微妙。

據媒體報道,2018年,為爭奪礦權,當地國企——陝西延長石油有限責任公司與中石油長慶油田發生過多次衝突。8月31日,雙方各出動100多人形成對峙。次日,中石油護礦隊員準備進入井場時,與60多名延長石油人員發生直接衝突。造成長慶油田人員1人被燒傷、4人被打傷。這是中央企業與地方國企之間利益衝突的典型案例。

因此,如何處理中央企業與地方國企的之間關係,也是我們面臨的一個問題。近期以來,國資委探索了“央地合作模式”,即中央企業與地方國企進行重組,交叉持股。著名的案例有寶武鋼鐵集團重組馬鞍山鋼鐵集團,廣東三地方政府增資南航集團。

本節是本書第二部分的最後一節。下節咱們進入第三部分:國企的績效。

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