China's listed companies, despite their improved performance, are less competitive than unlisted ones as a whole, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Major overhauling is needed to improve the system of firms going public and the nation's stock market, said the report.

Going public is actually a privilege for companies to raise funds in China, and the pressure for effective capital utilization will ease substantially after the listed companies obtain the privilege, said Jin Bei, vice director of the CASS industrial department.

"Listed companies regard the funds raised from the market as their income, which is a wrong concept and seriously impairs the companies' competitiveness," Jin said.

According to Jin, uplifting management and human resources, especially high-level personnel, usually lags far behind the requirements triggered by the rapidly expanding scale of capital.

As a result, many listed companies possess huge capital but lack the ability to make effective uses of funds.

Jin suggested that China should initiate substantial system reform so as to force listed companies to regard going to public as getting into debt rather than merely as a privilege.

Otherwise, fading away of public firms' competitiveness cannot be radically reversed, Jin said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2005)