Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics 85:1 2014 pp. 147–164 PUBLIC OWNER WITH BUSINESS DELIVERY MODE IN CHINA: CASE STUDY OF THE SHANGHAI PUBLIC BUS SYSTEM by Huanming WANG * Dalian University of Technology, P.R. China Mildred E. WARNER Cornell University, USA Yuanhong TIAN Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R. China and Dajian ZHU Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R. China ABSTRACT: Since 2008, some of China’s municipal governments have reversed the privatization of market-led reform in the bus transport field. But this reversal is not a return to the direct public monopoly delivery model of the past. Instead the new structure is a hybrid of public control with business delivery. This mixed model at- tempts to balance government, market and social groups. This mode is a contracting network where government plays a lead role to organize the stakeholders to achieve common goals. This paper uses the Shanghai municipality bus service as a case to illustrate this new mode. It argues that the contract between government and op- erators and the participation of social groups helps balance the control of the gov- ernment. This mixed network mode of management reduces information asymmetries and promotes shared goals to ensure a higher quality, more responsive service. While not a mixed firm in the sense found in Europe, this mixed public-public contracting * The research presented here was supported in part by The Key Program of National Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12AGL010), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71303028), Philosophy and Social Science Founda- tion of Liaoning Province (Grant No.L12BGL007) the Support Science Foundation from DUT (Grant No. DUT12RC[3] 87). We are thankful for their support. E-mails: whm715@163.com; mew15@cornell.edu; tianyuanhong@hotmail.com; dajianzhu@263.net. © 2014 The Authors Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics © 2014 CIRIEC. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA