This introductory chapter defines the term "corporate ecosystem," explaining why an ecosystem approach is the most suitable way to understand the behavior of Chinese corporations and their interactions with the broader political system in China. The chapter contrasts "corporate ecosystems" with "business ecosystems" and with the narrower, yet more common, corporate governance concerns of many previous accounts discussing Chinese business firms.

This chapter follows on from the previous one, evaluating the Chinese Communist Party's recent attempts to transition toward an ecocivilization and to address China's ecological and public health crisis through a new approach toward balanced economic growth. The chapter finds that while the intentions and accompanying legal reforms are admirable, implementation will likely fail due to continuing misalignment between official/corporate incentives (especially at the local level) and central policies, compounded by the fragmented political structure and subversive elements within the corporate-political system that we identified in Chapters 4–7. The chapter also critically analyzes the recent introduction of public interest environmental lawsuits brought by procurators, which, while filling a major gap in legal enforcement against polluters, too often appear to result in opaque settlements with local governments rather than strong penalties against offenders.