Analysis On Mechanism Of China's Industrial Associations Under The Framework Of Commercial Diplomacy

Commercial Diplomacy is diplomacy with a commercial twist which is designed to influence foreign relations through trade and investment. It contains complex game and cooperation among all stakeholders during the decision of trade policy. These stakeholders come from both home and abroad, including mainly governments, enterprises, interest groups, industrial associations, consumers and so on. Nowadays, the main developed countries are taking commercial diplomacy as a strategy to realize their global objects. It is also time for developing countries like China to consider establishing commercial diplomacy strategy.In the framework of commercial diplomacy, industrial organizations such as interest groups and industrial associations play key roles. In China, it is now very urgent to promote the development of industrial associations, because China is now facing more and more international trade problems associated with anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and special safeguard. In the next stage of development of industrial associations, two key aspects stand out: first, China needs to build up an effective industrial association mechanism for collective actions; second, China's industrial associations should work as an independent agent aside from government and drive government to involve industrial interest in trade policy making.The author intends to analyze the working mechanism of industrial associations under the framework of Commercial Diplomacy, and check the organization situation of China's industries based on the political economy of trade protection. The author also tries to discuss the building of future commercial diplomacy mechanism of China's industrial associations, after checking their present development and analyzing the main three models of foreign industrial associations.The thesis consists of seven parts. Part I is an introduction to the thesis, which clarifies the background and the methodology of this thesis. PartⅡreviews the theories and literatures on commercial diplomacy, collective actions and interest group.PartⅢanalyzes the working mechanic of industrial associations under the framework of Commercial Diplomacy. First, they can effectively coordinate industrial group activities, protect industrial interest and also discipline enterprises. Second, they can, through pressing the national governments, strongly influence both national and foreign trade policies, and sometimes even international trade mechanic. Besides, they help to promote international communication and cooperation, and also play an essential role in dealing with international trade conflicts.Based on the political economy of trade protection, partⅣconducts empirical analyses on organization situation of China's industries and estimates the influence of industry interest on trade policy making. This part is the main innovation of the thesis. The results shows that, out of 39 China's industries, 18 are politically organized for trade protection purposes and most of them are key industries that have government resources or industries with comparative advantages. Meanwhile, the weight on industrial interest in the government's objective function is comparatively low.PartⅤfocuses on the development situation of China's industrial associations and provides case studies on successful as well as losing cases. It is concluded that effective collective actions which are realized through selective incentives and believable promises are the basis of success of industrial associations.In partⅥafter reviewing the main three models of foreign industrial associations as those in United States, France and Japan, the author concludes that high degree of social legitimacy, fully autonomy, wide participation in policy making and strong ability to serve are the most significant points for reference of those foreign associations. Moreover, among the three models, Japan's and France's Corporatism Model is comparatively closer to China's situation.PartⅦdiscusses the future framework of commercial diplomacy mechanism for China's industrial associations, basically from four aspects: industrial associations -government, industrial associations-enterprises in the industry, industrial associations -foreign governments and industry interest, and industrial associations-industrial associations.