Market Structure, Ownership Structure, and Performance of China’s Construction Industry

Abstract

The construction industry is an important material production sector and plays a key role in Chinese national economy. However, most construction companies currently have low performance. A literature review showed that most research efforts have been placed at the project and company level, whereas studies based on the industry level are often neglected. To address this issue, a study was conducted to investigate the performance of China’s construction industry at the industry level. The market structure, ownership structure of the construction industry, and associated industry performance under the market economy system with Chinese characteristics were studied. The results show that both structure and performance are positively correlated, and performance is more greatly affected by market structure than by ownership structure. This paper studies the construction industry performance from the industrial organization perspective in China. The results of this research can provide useful information to other developing countries that have similar structures of market and ownership.