In both the developed world and the third world public enterprise has come to assume considerable importance in the structure and development of national economies. Originally published in 1984, this book, by an acknowledged international authority on public enterprise, explores this concept in both the major and the developing economies. He analyses how public enterprise functions and demonstrates how it may be integrated into both traditional Western mixed economies and third world economies with a much high level of state control.
A guide to analysing and improving relations between government and public enterprises. The book is divided into 15 operational exercises, each one dealing with one aspect of the relationship and suggesting an approach to take in practice.
In many parts of the world public enterprise is in crisis. Privatisation programmes are being widely touted as the solution to many of the problems of inefficiency and slow rates of growth associated with public enterprise. This book discusses the underlying causes of those problems, and critically examines some of the solutions that have been adopted. Its geographical coverage is wide and it cuts across the political spectrum. The experiences of countries in four continents are analysed in an attempt to shed light on current dilemmas. Recurrent patterns are found; problems are frequently seen to be political as much as economic, and bureaucracy and administrative confusion is often found to be at the heart of poor financial performance.Yet since political aims, economic environment, and administrative and managerial capabilities vary so widely, universal solutions remain more difficult to define than universal problems.
Sustaining High Performing Public Enterprises presents steps taken by National Water and Sewerage Corporation of Uganda, a typical public enterprise, to sustain a high performance momentum after over 15 years of successful utility reforms. Specifically, the author pinpoints key achievements during the period 2013–2018 including growth in geographical coverage from 23 to 240 towns, increase in connections from 310,000 to about 600,000; revenues growing more than three times and network growth improving from 80kms per year to over 2000kms per year. The concept of new public management (NPM) is used to set the scene for a case description of various initiatives and innovations implemented. A balanced scorecard framework is used to characterize the various activities. The book highlights a shift from over-emphasis on positive cash-flows alone to a balanced approach to ‘water for all’ citizens. The need to balance technical work and political aspirations is highlighted. Also featured is the nexus between utility operations and environmental protection to ensure sustainable water supply. The cardinal role of aligning staff needs to organizational needs and working for win-win solutions is also highlighted. Sustaining High Performing Public Enterprises presents strong lessons and conclusions for utility leaders and policy makers intending to reform their utilities to create value for citizens. It is also of value to academicians and researchers for scholarly studies in water and sanitation governance and management.
Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top†? of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play significant roles in developing economies in Asia and SOE performance remains crucial for economy-wide productivity and growth. This book looks at SOEs in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, and Viet Nam, which together present a panoramic view of SOEs in the region. It also presents insights from the Republic of Korea on the evolving role of the public sector in various stages of development. It explores corporate governance challenges and how governments could reform SOEs to make them efficient drivers of the long-term productivity-induced growth essential to Asia's transition to high-income status.
This book provides an introduction to, and assessment of, the theories and principles of the new public management and compares and contrasts these with the traditional model of public administration.
Presenting a topical analysis of the challenges and achievements of enterprise, Enterprise and Economic Development in Africa examines contributions to economic development on the continent, as well as exploring implications for policy dimensions.
Originally published in 1984, this book grew out of the papers (and discussions) presented at the Seminar conducted at London Business School during March-June 1983, with a focus on the problems of public enterprise in the context of the developing world. Essentially, three facts of thought emerged: first, on the working of public enterprises in developing countries; second, on joint ventures and consultancies involving public enterprises in the two groups of countries; and third, on the value and relevance of experience of public enterprises in developed countries, particularly in the UK, for the developing countries. Broadly, the Chapter 1 belongs to the first category, Chapters 6 and 7 to the second and Chapters 8 to 13 to the third. The concluding review seeks to highlight some of the major issues that deserve notice in the light of the views expressed in the papers and the discussions that took place on them.
