Reform without a Theory: Why Does it Work in China?

Abstract

The gradualism—radicalism debate on China's reform is misleading. The reform can alternatively be seen as one without a theory. The question is why a no-theory `strategy' was `selected' by the Chinese elite, `accepted' by the Chinese people and `worked' in the Chinese context. An investigation based on a Confucian conceptual framework suggests that reform-without-a-theory was facilitated by a set of historically specific structural factors, factors full of complementarities and tensions that skilled actors were able to exploit to pursue sectional interests. The implications of China's reform for organization studies are explored along three interrelated lines: structural plurality and strategic change, structural transformation and differential agency, and situated entrepreneurship and unintended consequences.