行业协会商会是处于同一行业、同一地域的企业主体自发组成的社会组织，目的是为了维护组织成员的共同利益。我国已经建立起体系完整、数目可观、覆盖领域全面的商协会体系，在促进行业发展、经济社会发展中扮演重要角色。自上个世纪90年代以来，行业协会商会与行政机关脱钩历程前后经历了3个阶段，至2020年底如期基本完成脱钩改革目标任务。机构、人事、财务、职能等的剥离只是“充分发挥行业协会商会在经济发展新常态中的独特优势和应有作用”的必要不充分条件。面对脱钩后全新的外部环境，行业协会商会需要经历重新的培育过程，才能发展成为成熟的、市场化运作的社会组织。当前仍有很多行政职能经法律法规授权由行业协会商会承担，行政机关也被鼓励向符合条件的行业协会商会购买服务，还有一部分行业治理职能因历史沿革或经法规授权一直由某一些行业协会商会承担。在这些场景中，政府与行业协会商会构成稳定的委托代理关系，对其转型发展产生影响。“规范行政委托关系”“切断行政机关和行业协会商会之间的利益链条”尚未真正实现。论文以委托代理理论为分析工具，分析政府在委托决策、商协会选择、监督管理等各环节的行为模式如何影响行业协会商会效能发挥，分析什么样的互动模式对行业协会商会转型是有益的。研究发现，政府与行业协会商会建立委托代理关系并未经历市场化的选择，而是经由法律、非竞争性购买、历史沿革等方式被确认，委托代理关系趋于固化，行业资源被特定行业协会商会占据，导致发展缺乏动力，“一业多会”格局培育受限。而行业协会商会转型发展迟滞和“一业多会”进程缓慢也将反过来影响委托代理关系的市场化转变。两者互为因果，成为转型困境的组成因素之一。研究表明，应加快推进相关立法进程、打造买方市场、规范委托流程、建立激励机制，对商协会能力进行事后确认，构建顺畅的进入和退出机制，让能力更强的行业协会商会获得提供公共产品、不断发展壮大的机会。
Industry associations and chambers of commerce are social organizations formed spontaneously by business entities located in the same industry or the same region, with the aim of safeguarding the common interests of organizations’ members. China has established a complete, substantial, and comprehensive business association system, playing an important role in promoting industry development and economic and social development. Since the 1990s, the process of decoupling industry associations, chambers of commerce with administrative agencies has gone through three stages, and by the end of 2020, the goal of decoupling reform has been basically completed as scheduled. The separation of institutions, personnel, finance and functions is only a necessary but insufficient condition for "giving full play to the unique advantages and due role of industry associations and chambers of commerce in the New Normal of economic development". Faced with the new external environment after decoupling, industry associations and chambers of commerce need to undergo a new process of cultivation in order to develop into mature and market-oriented social organizations. Currently, there are still many administrative functions authorized by laws and regulations to be undertaken by industry associations and chambers of commerce. Administrative agencies are also encouraged to purchase services from eligible industry associations and chambers of commerce. There are also some industry governance functions that have been undertaken by certain industry associations and chambers of commerce due to historical evolution or regulatory authorization. In these scenarios, the government and industry associations and chambers of commerce form a stable principal-agent relationship, which has an impact on their transformation and development. The goal of "regulating administrative delegation relationships" and "cutting off the chain of interests between administrative agencies and industry associations and chambers of commerce" has not yet been truly achieved. The paper uses the principal-agent theory as an analytical tool to analyze how the government‘s behavior patterns in various aspects such as decision-making, selection of business associations, supervision and management affect the effectiveness of industry associations and chambers of commerce. It also analyzes what interactive models are beneficial for the transformation of industry associations and chambers of commerce.Research has found that the establishment of a principal-agent relationship between the government and industry associations and chambers of commerce has not undergone market-oriented choices, but has been confirmed through legal, non-competitive purchasing, historical evolution, and other means. The principal-agent relationship tends to solidify, and industry resources are occupied by specific industry associations and chambers of commerce, resulting in a lack of motivation for development and limited cultivation of the "one industry, multiple associations" pattern. The slow transformation and development of industry associations and chambers of commerce, as well as the slow process of "multiple associations in one industry", will in turn affect the market-oriented transformation of agency relationships. The two are mutually causal and have become one of the constituent factors of the transformation dilemma. Research has shown that it is necessary to accelerate the legislative process, create a buyer‘s market, standardize the decision-making process, establish incentive mechanisms, confirm the capabilities of business associations after and establish smooth entry and exit mechanisms, so that stronger industry associations and chambers of commerce can have the opportunity to provide public goods and continuously develop and grow.
