Chapter 4 Innovation and the State-Owned Sector

Beijing, China, June 2017

It was one of those rare and beautiful blue-sky days in Beijing—a reminder of just how magical the capital can be if its government would find a way to reduce the suffocating pollution that normally blankets the city. Under a brightly shining sun, the giggles of children running and jumping rope outdoors echoed through the streets.

Having sprained my knee the week before in a father-son basketball game against my son Tom’s team, I lumbered on crutches through the expansive training compound of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the parent company of PetroChina. China’s state-owned oil giant, CNPC was now the world’s third largest oil and gas company by revenue ...

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