Privatization: The thatcher case

This paper reviews the process of privatization under successive British governments. It concludes that the Thatcher experiment has had an effect in reversing the previous trend towards nationalization. This has been part of a continuing worldwide swing away from government enterprise. The major result has been an increase in internal efficiency (as distinct from allocative efficiency) of the enterprises concerned. Purchases of shares by management and workers of privatized firms has created an important lobby which will oppose renationalization by a future government.     

Does divestment matter for firm performance?: Evidence from the Indian experience

We employ data on federal government-owned public enterprises since the 1980s that encompass the partial privatization program to examine its impact on a gamut of performance measures. The analysis indicates that fully government-owned firms are significantly less profitable than partially privatized ones. The evidence also indicates that while the improvements in profitability largely occur during the one to three years just before privatization, the progress in terms of leverage and employment are typically spread out over a much longer period. Finally, the results indicate that the auction method of privatization maximizes government revenues, after controlling for the state of economic activity and other macroeconomic factors.     

国有企业民营化的环境影响研究

十九大提出要深化国有企业改革,加快发展混合所有制经济。基于2007—2015年我国A股上市公司数据,从企业环境表现的视角研究国有企业进行民营化改革的非经济性后果。研究发现,国有企业民营化后,企业的环境表现会有所下降,但这种现象只在政府环保补贴少的企业和环境监管力度弱的地区中存在。上述研究从环境表现的视角提供了国有企业民营化改革后果的经验证据,对丰富国有企业民营化改革的认识、更好地完善民营化企业的环境治理具有借鉴意义。     

Capacity utilization of the Kazakhstani firms and the Russian financial crisis: A panel data analysis

This paper examines the evolution of capacity utilization for Kazakhstani enterprises over a 7 year period. Three main theoretical propositions are tested through panel data regressions. The results show that the Russian financial crisis (August 1998) substantially reduced capacity utilization throughout 1999 and that only from 2000 onwards did enterprises recover from the crisis. Moreover, the Russian financial crisis led to a permanent change in enterprises’ behavior, in that only after the crisis enterprises became responsive to market signals. Finally, we also find evidence of a differential impact of the Russian financial crisis for different enterprise characteristics, including ownership, size, sector and location.     

An Assessment of the Performance of Indian State-Owned Enterprises

We examine the determinants of performance of 68 Indian state-owned enterprises in the manufacturing sector for a five-year period: 1987 to 1991. Relative performance is determined using data envelopment analysis, with variations in performance patterns subsequently explained using regression analysis. We note that the performance of firms in the Indian state-owned sector is characterized by both, low performance, as well as significant and systematic variations in the performance parameters. Size is positively associated and age negatively associated with efficiency. Further, economic liberalization and reforms aimed at improving the performance of state-owned firms induces efficiency gains over time. This heterogeneity within the state-owned sector has policy implications, which we discuss. In countries which have privatized large numbers of their state-owned firms, it is often the larger establishments which have been sold to the public. The state-owned firms in the manufacturing sector that can be candidates for privatization are the smaller and older manufacturing firms. These firms may also be easier to dispose of to private investors. This finding reinforces our central thesis that firm-level analysis within the state-owned sector is useful and important for generating pragmatic policy guidelines.     

Russia's Evolving Corporate Governance in the Cultural Context

Abstract

The paper explores evolution and current state of the Russian corporate governance in cultural context. Russia has a relatively short history of corporate governance, and securities market and stock capital play a less significant role, compared to the West. The evolution of culture and corporate governance is analyzed in a comparative setting. Under the Soviet framework, business and corporate developments were non-existent or severely restricted. The post-Soviet capitalism is characterized by dynamic and turbulent developments in corporate governance and business culture. The paper examines the Russian findings from the recent international studies of culture and explores cultural impact on corporate governance in the country.     

The effects of ownership concentration on investment and performance in privatized firms in Russia

This paper provides new survey evidence on effects of concentrated ownership on restructuring and performance in privatized firms in Russia. The major findings are that large‐block shareholding is negatively associated with the firm's investment and performance, and this relationship does not depend on the identity of controlling shareholders. These results are consistent with the assumption that when minority shareholders' rights are not adequately protected, the entrenched controlling shareholders may be engaged in extracting ‘control premium’ before pro rata distribution of dividends. The issues raised have relevance to other transitional economies where the privatization process has been followed by an increase in ownership concentration. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employee ownership motivation and individual risk-taking behaviour: a cross-level analysis of Taiwan's privatized enterprises

Privatization has long been a prevailing strategy worldwide for promoting economic liberalization. During privatization of state-owned enterprises employees are often encouraged, as part of policy design, to become equity shareholders through buying priority shares reserved for them with the goal of expediting privatization and building employees' organizational identification. Using risk-taking behaviour as a lens to observe individual-level entrepreneurial orientations after privatization, this study, in a sample of 328 employees in 14 privatized firms in Taiwan, aims to examine the behavioural consequences of two distinct types of motivation behind employee ownership and the contextual influences on such relationships. Because of the hierarchical nature of the individual- and firm-level data, we use the hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) method to test the hypotheses and find that intrinsic motivation ex ante for employee ownership can cultivate innovative behaviour ex post, whereas extrinsic motivation yields the similar effect only in the presence of a climate of self-determination and the absence of environmental hostility.     

PARTIAL PRIVATIZATION UNDER ASYMMETRIC MULTI‐MARKET COMPETITION

Under the assumption that a public firm provides goods or services to two markets and that a private firm provides goods or services to one market only, this study examines whether public firms should be privatized. It also investigates how the production quantity of a private firm changes when its degree of privatization increases. We find that when the market share of a duopoly market is large (small), partial privatization (nationalization) is socially preferable. We also find that the quantity produced by the private firm does not always increase along with the degree of privatization.     

Privatization and economic performance throughout the UK business cycle

Since 1979, many state-owned industries in the UK have been sold to private shareholders. Initial studies of the impact of privatization on performance were unable to distinguish once-and-for-all shake-out effects and those that were part of a continuing process. Moreover, the immediate post-privatization period often coincided with the boom conditions of the late 1980s. Using two standard performance ratios, this paper examines these issues by tracking the record of eleven firms that were privatized in the 1980s. The results make it difficult to sustain the hypothesis that private ownership is unequivocally more efficient than nationalization.     

Investment and Capital Structure of Partially Private Regulated Firms

We develop a model that examines the capital structure and investment decisions of regulated firms in a setting that incorporates two key institutional features of the public utilities sector in many countries: firms are partially owned by the state and regulators are not necessarily independent. Among other things, we show that regulated firms issue more debt, invest more, and enjoy higher regulated prices when they face more independent regulators, are more privatized, and when regulators are more pro‐firm. Moreover, regulatory independence, higher degree of privatization, and pro‐firm regulatory climate are associated with higher social welfare.     

企业降本增效工作实践与思考

＂节能降耗、降本增效＂是党中央、国务院应对国际金融危机所提出的一项重要措施,也是企业永恒的课题。企业只有抓住＂降本增效＂这个生存发展之本,才能在市场竞争中立于不败之地。但是,在实际工作中很多企业包括大型知名企业都走进了一个误区,认为只有＂降本＂才能＂增效＂,一味地追求降低成本而忽视内在质量和服务,最终给社会带来严重危害,导致企业的倒闭。所以,＂降本增效＂是双刃剑,用好了才能使企业获得最佳经济效益。     

Determining the contribution of technical change, efficiency change and scale change to productivity growth in the privatized English and Welsh water and sewerage industry: 1985–2000

The water and sewerage industry of England and Wales was privatized in 1989 and subjected to a new regime of environmental, water quality and RPI+K price cap regulation. This paper estimates a quality-adjusted input distance function, with stochastic frontier techniques in order to estimate productivity growth rates for the period 1985–2000. Productivity is decomposed so as to account for the impact of technical change, efficiency change, and scale change. Compared with earlier studies by Saal and Parker [(2000) Managerial Decision Econ 21(6):253–268, (2001) J Regul Econ 20(1): 61–90], these estimates allow a more careful consideration of how and whether privatization and the new regulatory regime affected productivity growth in the industry. Strikingly, they suggest that while technical change improved after privatization, productivity growth did not improve, and this was attributable to efficiency losses as firms appear to have struggled to keep up with technical advances after privatization. Moreover, the results also suggest that the excessive scale of the WaSCs contributed negatively to productivity growth.     

Expect the unexpected: examining the shaping role of entrepreneurial orientation on causal and effectual decision-making logic during economic crisis

ABSTRACT

While many firms operate in dynamic environments, the competitive conditions faced by firms during an economic crisis are especially unstable and turbulent. We examine firm strategic decision-making in this distinctive context and investigate the question of whether causal and effectual logic provide similar paths to performance during such challenging economic times. Further, we examine the potential impact that a firm’s level of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has upon the relationship between managers’ predominant decision-making logic and their firm’s overall performance in this crisis. To test these relationships, we employ a robust national random sample of 447 Russian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) collected from 2015 to 2016 during a period of economic crisis. Our results indicate that EO plays an important moderating role, shaping the nature of the relationships between managers’ decision-making logic and financial performance. Moreover, additional analysis identifies the presence of a non-linear relationship between both logics and the performance of SMEs.     

公共危机中平台型企业的社会责任治理 ——基于携程的案例研究

平台型企业作为实现新时代高质量发展的市场主体,其作用与影响力日益增强.在公共危机事件中,平台型企业积极履行社会责任,对保障行业稳定、引导社会舆论、降低危机负面影响等具有重要意义.采用单案例研究法分析了平台型企业在公共危机中的社会责任治理问题,从独立运营的企业主体、平台治理者、社会资源配置者三重维度研究了公共危机中平台型...     

民营化对上市公司业绩与会计师\n事务所选择影响的研究

采用1996年-2007年在沪深两地上市的178个民营化企业为样本,研究分析民营化对上市公司绩效和会计师事务所选择的影响后,发现民营化带来企业业绩的提高.企业最终控制人的特征影响民营化效应:当收购者具有专业背景时,民营化带来业绩的提高;而收购者具有政府背景或为本公司管理层时,民营化前后企业业绩没有显著差异.当收购者具有专业背景或管理层收购时,民营化上市公司更可能新聘请高质量的会计师事务所;而收购者是有政府背景的个人时,民营化不会带来会计师事务所的更换.聘请新的高质量会计师事务所,民营化之后上市公司业绩显著提高.     

企业降本增效工作实践与思考

节能降耗、降本增效是党中央、国务院应对国际金融危机所提出的一项重要措施,也是企业永恒的课题。企业只有抓住降本增效这个生存发展之本,才能在市场竞争中立于不败之地。但是,在实际工作中很多企业包括大型知名企业都走进了一个误区,认为只有降本才能增效,一味地追求降低成本而忽视内在质量和服务,最终给社会带来严重危害,导致企业的倒闭。所以,降本增效是双刃剑,用好了才能使企业获得最佳经济效益。     

Ownership structure, corporate governance and productive efficiency in China

This paper investigates whether and to what extent ownership structure and corporate governance affect productive efficiency in a sample of 744 publicly listed manufacturing firms in China between 1999 and 2006. The paper finds that firm efficiency, as estimated using stochastic frontier analysis and data envelopment analysis, is negatively related to state ownership while positively related to public and employee share ownership. In addition, the relationship between ownership concentration and firm efficiency is U-shaped, indicating that the largest shareholder may engage in tunneling activities. As the identity of the largest shareholder changes from government, government-controlled legal entity to other types of legal entity, firm efficiency significantly improves. These results provide strong evidence that political interferences have reduced firm efficiency. Moreover, firms with more independent board are more efficient, supporting the argument that board of directors can be an effective internal governance mechanism. Furthermore, provincial market development, a proxy for the strength of external governance mechanism, is positively related to firm efficiency. Overall, the findings illustrate that restructuring state-owned enterprises via improvements in corporate governance has enhanced firm efficiency, but partial privatization without transfer of ownership and control from the state to the public remains a major source of inefficiency in corporate China.     

管理学稳定论

我国经济在快速发展的同时存在着各种各样不成熟现象，在这样特殊的历史备件下我国企业需要找到一个正确的管理方向。“稳定论”把美国提倡的“流动”，日本提倡的“长久用人”原则的优点结合起来形成中国式管理理念。该理论的核心思想是企业的管理实现由重视企业员工生活、非正式组织、企业文化、企业员工之间关系等稳定条件转变为即使企业条件有限企业员工也能自己争取长期稳定的工作，最终使企业员工自觉和企业一起解决问题，达到“要求流动人不动”目的．促进社会和谐与发展．