China Deepens SOE Reform to Boost High-Quality Development in 14th Five-Year Plan’s First Year

2025 marked the final year of the in-depth improvement campaign for state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform, and 2026 is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. This year’s government work report clearly states that "a plan for further deepening the reform of state-owned assets and SOEs will be formulated and implemented, and the optimization of the layout and structural adjustment of the state-owned economy will be promoted". Relevant proposals have emphasized the need to further deepen SOE reform to unlock development momentum.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, relevant enterprises have firmly focused on the key points of reform and stimulated internal vitality through institutional changes. They have fully implemented the term system and contractual management for the management team, achieving full coverage of differentiated assessment and directly linking managers’ positions with operating performance. At the same time, mechanisms such as competitive selection for management positions have been implemented, with the competitive selection ratio of management personnel in various units reaching 90%, fostering a strong atmosphere of dedication and entrepreneurship. Through systematic reform, the management level has been reduced to within four levels.

It is proposed that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, efforts should be made to continuously deepen the reform of state-owned assets and SOEs to promote high-quality development of enterprises. Institutional reform should be adhered to and deepened, improving the employment mechanism that allows personnel to be promoted or demoted, hired or dismissed, and paid higher or lower salaries. The term system and contractual management should be further improved and expanded, more efforts should be put into cultivating reserve listed resources, and the market value management of listed companies should be strengthened.

In terms of organizational structure and resource allocation, the reform of the organizational structure of grass-roots units should be completed, the construction of a value-creating headquarters should be steadily advanced, and the level of professional, large-scale and intensive management should be improved. Internal integration and restructuring should be promoted, and a "one-on-one" assistance mechanism for difficult enterprises should be established.

In line with the requirements for the development of new quality productive forces, the pace of digital transformation should be accelerated, management processes should be deeply restructured and optimized, an innovation atmosphere involving all employees should be created, and the digital literacy of all employees should be comprehensively improved. The continuous deepening of SOE reform will further optimize the layout of the state-owned economy, inject strong vitality into enterprise development, and lay a solid foundation for high-quality economic development in the new period.