“Organizational economics may play a significant role in helping enterprises realize the major tasks of structural reform,” said Nie Huihua, a professor of economics from Renmin University of China.

Organizational economics studies internal governance within and external relations between organizations using game theory and econometrics, he said.

Ping Xinqiao, a professor of economics from Peking University, said organizational economics is inevitably cross-disciplinary since the issues require knowledge of economics, management, enterprise strategy, human resources, as well as behavioral science and statistics.

An economic organization in classical economics is abstracted as a particle that has no individuality or motivation to behave, said Li Shijie, a professor of economics from Hainan University. However, viewed from the perspective of management, an organization has a clear target, sophisticated structure and voluntarily coordinated dynamic system, and it connects closely with the external environment, he said.

To some extent, this different view of organization distinguishes economic theory from management theory, and organizational economics no doubt bridges this gap, Li said.

The economic development and transformation in China provides the studies on organizational economics with various cases regarding reforms toward a mixed-ownership economy, cooperation models for foreign direct investment as well as Chinese investments abroad, Ping said.

The corresponding explanation system of China’s economic theory still needs improvement, Nie said, adding that there is an opportunity for organizational economics to develop a localized form in China.

Organizational economics in China should pay more attention to such issues as property rights reform in state-owned enterprises and monopolies in the market, Li said. Another major concern is how the interaction between industrial policy and company behavior affects and distorts resource allocation, he said.