Mutual Guarantee Systems of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in China: An Application of Self-Organization Theory

Mutual guarantee systems (MGS) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are complex system mainly serving the SMEs, including the mutual guarantee institutions formed by SMEs, financial institutions, industry associations and credit re-guarantee institutions. From the perspective of system theory, this paper illuminates the self-organization mechanisms and the self-organization characteristics of openness, far-from-equilibrium, nonlinearity and fluctuation of mutual guarantee systems of SMEs. The implication of self-organization theory is that under some conditions, mutual guarantee systems have the internal tendencies of autopoietic, self-evolution and evolution from disorder to order and from low level to high level to solve SMEs’ financing problems. Using self-organization theory, this paper proposes suggestions and measures to improve the operation efficiency of mutual guarantee systems in China. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0276-2.ch018