市场化是指用市场作为解决社会、政治和经济问题等基础手段的一种状态，意味着对经济的放松管制，对工业产权的私有化。市场化的工具有许多种，比较低程度的市场化就是外包，比较高程度就是完全出售。

Marketization or Marketisation is a restructuring process that enables state enterprises to operate as market-oriented firms by changing the legal environment in which they operate.

This is achieved through reduction of state subsidies, organizational restructuring of management (corporatization), decentralization and in some cases partial privatization. These steps, it is argued, will lead to the creation of a functioning market system by converting the previous state enterprises to operate under market pressures as state-owned commercial enterprises.