| At present,China is in the critical period of economic transformation.Under the interwoven influence of various factors at home and abroad,the economic operation is facing great downward pressure.2021 is the first year of my country’s second centenary goal and the "14th Five-Year Plan".In order to achieve high-quality economic development and enhance China’s international competitiveness,it is urgent to transform and upgrade the economy to break through the shackles of the existing development model.As Xi Jinping has pointed out,"Looking around the world,we are facing profound changes unseen in a century." In this context,the supply-side structural reform has become an important strategy of current economic reform and macro-control.However,while the extensive economic expansion model relied on in the past leads China’s rapid economic growth,the accumulated structural contradictions have become increasingly prominent,which has become an important obstacle to the high-quality development of China’s economy.Zombie companies that are chronically insolvent and rely on banks and the government to keep them alive are coming to the fore and attracting a lot of attention.On the one hand,most zombie enterprises have low production efficiency and their product quality needs to be upgraded,which is difficult to match with the consumption upgrade of the demand side,exacerbating the structural dislocation of supply and demand.On the other hand,zombie enterprises occupy a large amount of capital,land,labor and other scarce resources for a long time,crowding out the innovation input of other efficient enterprises,not only causing the efficiency loss of resource allocation,but also destroying the fair market competition environment,resulting in the phenomenon of "bad money drives out good money".In China,zombie enterprises are linked with overcapacity.Zombie companies generally exist in industries with overcapacity such as steel,coal,cement,and non-ferrous metals.The existence of zombie companies will not only aggravate overcapacity,in turn,overcapacity can also lead to the formation of zombie companies.The vicious circle between the two has not only restricted the rise of emerging enterprises and the conversion of old and new kinetic energy,but also hindered the high-quality development of China’s economy.Only by properly dealing with zombie enterprises,reducing ineffective supply in the market and speeding up the clearing of backward production capacity can we provide more suitable development space for the cultivation and expansion of those strategic emerging industries,thus accelerating the transformation of old and new driving forces and promoting the transformation and upgrading of China’s industrial structure.As the main tool of macro-control,fiscal subsidy plays an important role in optimizing resource allocation and alleviating market failure.However,in the disposal of zombie enterprises,the effectiveness of fiscal subsidies has been widely questioned.It is generally believed that the government’s continuous financial subsidy of blood transfusion is the main cause of zombie enterprises.It is the financial subsidies provided by local governments to companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy and should have left the market that have kept them alive and turned them into zombie companies.This paper holds that the main reason for the above invalid conclusion is that the government does not allocate subsidies reasonably.The effect of the tool depends on the essential intention of the user of the tool.Judging from the current actual situation,the government’s excessive subsidies to zombie companies are just to keep them from failing to avoid a large number of unemployment and a decline in economic growth.Under the role of promotion incentives,the essential intention of government subsidies is to maintain short-term economic stability,and does not consider the governance effects of zombie companies based on the goal of long-term growth.Such allocation of fiscal subsidies not only ignores the reasons for zombie enterprises’ stagnation,but also fails to provide reasonable subsidies according to the reasons of zombie enterprises,which eventually leads to the invalid state between fiscal subsidies and zombie enterprises.It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish.The key to the resurrection of zombie companies is not to blindly transfuse them,but to clarify the reasons why the companies are in business difficulties,so as to adopt corresponding policies to alleviate the main problems faced by the companies,guide the companies to restore their own vitality,and help them get out of the rigid dilemma.For different types of zombie companies,a properly designed fiscal subsidy policy may help zombie companies to achieve transformation and upgrading,from zombie companies to normal companies,and ultimately improve the efficiency of government subsidies.While achieving high-quality economic growth,it is also important to maintain the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.The stability of the industrial chain and supply chain is not only a necessary condition for the construction of China’s new development pattern and the realization of the domestic cycle,but also an effective pillar for the smooth international double cycle.The "14th Five-Year Plan Outline" clearly pointed out that realizing the effective connection of upstream and downstream,production,supply and marketing is an important guarantee for smoothing the domestic cycle.With the deep integration of industrial chain,the interdependence of resources,information and trade between upstream and downstream enterprises is greatly increased,and the connection between enterprises is closer.At the same time,the commercial credit based on the trade between enterprises and the production network associated with the common financial risk exposure between enterprises also provide the possibility of risk transmission in the supply chain.The risk characteristics of zombie companies are easily transmitted to upstream and downstream companies through the supply chain,causing wider risk fluctuations.How to effectively prevent and control the potential risks of the industrial chain and supply chain,enhance the international competitiveness of China’s supply chain,so as to ensure the effective flow of the economic double cycle,is one of the key issues in the construction of China’s new development pattern.Based on this,from the perspective of financial subsidies,this paper systematically analyzes the formation,harm and corresponding governance strategies of zombie enterprises in China,trying to clarify the internal relationship between zombie enterprises and financial subsidies,and draws the following conclusions:First,from the perspective of the causes of zombie enterprises,the selective fiscal subsidy policy is one of the main reasons for the formation of Zombie enterprises in China.With the increasing intensity of selective fiscal subsidy policies measured by the degree of fiscal subsidy concentration,the possibility of enterprise zombie also increases accordingly.Selective fiscal subsidies affect the formation of zombie enterprises mainly through excessive investment.Local governments adopt selective fiscal subsidy policies to intervene in the investment decisions of enterprises and induce enterprises to over-investment.With the blind expansion and excessive investment of enterprises,the profitability of enterprises has gradually declined,and the overcapacity of the industry has been increasing,which ultimately increases the risk of enterprise zombie.More importantly,state-owned enterprises are more likely to become zombie enterprises under the incentive of selective fiscal subsidy policies.However,with the improvement of industry competition and the improvement of legal system,the negative impact of selective fiscal subsidy policy will be significantly reduced.Second,from the perspective of negative externalities,zombie corporate risks have contagious effects in the supply chain.When a customer becomes a zombie enterprise,the zombie probability of corresponding upstream suppliers increases significantly.The transmission of zombie risk is mainly based on the capital chain based on commercial credit and the product chain based on inventory.On the one hand,zombie enterprises will pass risks to upstream suppliers through commercial credit default and default,and on the other hand,zombie customers will cause suppliers to face a large number of inventory overstocking,unsalable products,extended sales cycle and other problems.Under the effect of the above combined forces,the financing constraint level of upstream suppliers increases,the profitability of enterprises decreases,and the zombie risk of enterprises eventually increases.Moreover,the negative externalities of this zombie risk are mainly borne by the private sector.The closer the relationship with customers,the greater the spillover effect.Finally,the zombie risk of customers will not only be transmitted to the corresponding upstream enterprises,but also continue to spread to higher-level suppliers along the supply chain,thus bringing about a wider range of risk diffusion.Third,from the perspective of the governance strategy of zombie companies,financial subsidies for international capacity transfer can effectively manage zombie companies in industries with overcapacity.Fiscal subsidies for international capacity transfer,mainly exports and foreign direct investment,can significantly increase the probability of zombie companies’ resurrection.This governance effect is mainly realized based on direct transfer of production capacity and reverse technology effect.In addition,financial subsidies for technological transformation and upgrading aimed at improving the quality of enterprise product supply and optimizing the structure of production capacity can also effectively control zombie companies in industries with overcapacity.Technological innovation subsidies can stimulate enterprises’ technological innovation ability and improve capacity utilization rate,so as to solve the dilemma of zombie enterprises.Finally,from the perspective of risk prevention before taking action,reducing the GDP growth pressure of local governments can also effectively reduce the zombie problem of enterprises caused by selective fiscal subsidy policies.When local governments face less economic growth pressure,their internal motivation to intervene in the market economy and encourage enterprises to over-invest will be smaller,and the possibility of enterprises becoming zombie will decrease accordingly.This study has certain reference significance for the optimization of China’s industrial policy and the risk prevention and governance of zombie enterprises.The key to the resurrection of zombie enterprises is not to blindly transfuse blood to them,but to clarify the reasons why enterprises fall into management difficulties and adopt corresponding policies to guide enterprises to recover their vitality and help them get out of the rigid predicament.In addition,designing effective industrial policies to promote economic development is an important embodiment of the modernization of China’s governance capacity.Although in the early stage of economic development,government intervention is necessary to stimulate the rapid economic growth,but with the improvement of market mechanism,the invisible hand of government should be gradually weakened and its intervention in the market should be reduced.The research in this article also has important practical significance for strengthening the stability of the supply chain of the industrial chain and forming a new development pattern of domestic and foreign dual cycles.Maintaining the sustainable security and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain is the foundation of building a new development pattern,and also the key guarantee to enhance the international competitiveness of China’s industrial chain and supply chain.Customers occupy a core position in the supply chain,and their own risks may spread along the supply chain to the outside.How suppliers can reduce the external spillover effects of zombie customers by strengthening the management of the capital chain and product chain,thereby preventing the formation of a wider range of risk spread,which is vital to the stable development of China’s economy,and the research conclusion of this paper provides some reference ideas. |