It has worked that way for several decades, but as you say, an authoritarian state can change direction quickly. There are some indications that Xi's ideology is very similar to Mao's: total domination of everything by the guy at the top. Will it be a surprise when everyone starts carrying around a little red smartphone?
The interesting thing is that Xi seems smarter and wiser than Mao ever was. Well, in matters of war, Mao was really smart, and hopefully, we'll never have to see Xi tested that way because if we do, it'll probably be during a world war. But in terms of economic decisions, I'd say he absolutely tops Mao. The question is whether there's any situation where he wins in the long run because the responsibility of running China is basically being dealt a really bad hand; the issues are perhaps more complex and risky than corresponding issues when running the US.
I highly doubt Xi is smart in economics or whatever else, even compared to Mao, and he seems partly sincere in his belief in his methods, which raises some worries. One can argue whether Mao was really ideological or just supremely egotistical and corrupted by power. After all he was rather pragmatic in the beginning.
What is true though is that institutionally China is much smarter about economics and less ideological than in Mao's era, but that is predicated on retaining institutional norms and memory past Xi and his ostensibly tactical rollback. It could totally work out in a worse way.
