This paper examines the role that privatization can play within a wider strategy designed to overcome the problems associated with public enterprises. For this purpose, privatization is defined as a transfer of ownership and control from the public to the private sector, with particular reference to asset sales. It is therefore equated with total or partial denationalization. Economic efficiency is not only the key to improving the performance of the public enterprise sector, but is also the source of other gains often attributed to privatization, in particular, its favorable budgetary impact. To public enterprises that are subject to national or international competition, privatization offers the possibility of increased productive efficiency as government financial backing is withdrawn and bankruptcy and takeover become possibilities. The admissibility and desirability of privatization, as well as what types of enterprise should be privatized, ought to be determined by similar considerations in both industrial and developing countries.

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.

A number of public enterprise (PE) executives have long felt the need for a book which would provide necessary information and analysis of various dimensions of PE management and privatisation. The book provides at one place, a precise and authoritative account of the concept, policy, and analysis of major issues confronting PEs. Public ownership per se does not make PE performance sub-optimal. The operation of the Government system, of which PE is a sub-system, has not been conducive to performance. During the last six decades, inadequate political will and vested interests have come in the way of freeing PEs from excessive and throttling controls, and demoralising accountability. Not letting the managers manage with the freedom required in the liberalised and globalised set-up is the problem. The multifarious and complex managerial problems of PEs, which get compounded by faltering moves towards privatisation, cannot be wished away. These have been considered in the book at some length. The book, first published in 1980, continues to be a standard work on the subject. This latest edition has been revised by Dr. R.K.Mishra, Director, Institute of Public Enterprise,Hyderabad.

Public enterprises remain the most dominant medium of service provision in both developing and developed countries. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the outcry about poor performance of public enterprises was overwhelming. Nobody at that time and even now has managed to design a ‘blue print’ solution. And yet, the fact that service provision through public enterprises is here to stay is the blunt truth. In Making Public Enterprises Work - From Despair to Promise: A Turn Around Account, Dr. William Muhairwe, the Managing Director of National Water and Sewerage Corporation of Uganda, discusses the approaches used to turnaround an under-performing state enterprise into a remarkable success story. Drawing on decades of experience, taming ‘struggling’ institutions, Dr. Muhairwe enumerates practical steps taken to make a significant difference in service delivery, for the benefit of any form of enterprise. Combined with facts, simplicity and fun, this book presents a unique account of methods used for constructive engagement and dialogue with donors, government officials, workers, suppliers and, indeed, the public/customers. All chapters are interspersed with tested lessons that any enterprise can benchmark to address its service delivery challenges. It is a great handbook for those involved in re-engineering their businesses. Making Public Enterprises Work contains unique home-grown turnaround reform steps that can help to revamp under-performing enterprises. It is the first book to demonstrate that performance contracts combined with incentives can work wonders in public enterprises. The book discusses how incentive rewards can spread to all levels of staff and encourage wholesome teamwork. It also looks at how enterprises can work without industrial unrest in very difficult conditions. In addition the book demonstrates how public enterprises that have been listed for privatisation can provide alternative restructuring steps. Click here to read and share material related to this title on the IWA WaterWiki.

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.

Judith Clifton, Francisco Comín and Daniel Díaz Fuentes in Privatisation in the European Union reject the two dominant explanations provided in literature, which include a simple 'Americanisation' of policy and a 'varied' privatisation experience without a common driving force. Using a systematic comparative analysis of privatisation experiences in each country from the 1980s to the beginning of the twenty first century, the authors show how the process of European integration and the need for internationally competitive industries have constituted key driving forces in the quest for privatisation across the EU. As privatisation slows down at the turn of the millennium, what future can citizens expect for public enterprises? Privatisation in the European Union is essential reading for researchers, students and policy-makers interested in privatisation, EU policy and the history of public enterprises.

This global encyclopedic work serves as a comprehensive collection of global scholarship regarding the vast fields of public administration, public policy, governance, and management. Written and edited by leading international scholars and practitioners, this exhaustive resource covers all areas of the above fields and their numerous subfields of study. In keeping with the multidisciplinary spirit of these fields and subfields, the entries make use of various theoretical, empirical, analytical, practical, and methodological bases of knowledge. Expanded and updated, the second edition includes over a thousand of new entries representing the most current research in public administration, public policy, governance, nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, and management covering such important sub-areas as: 1. organization theory, behavior, change and development; 2. administrative theory and practice; 3. Bureaucracy; 4. public budgeting and financial management; 5. public economy and public management 6. public personnel administration and labor-management relations; 7. crisis and emergency management; 8. institutional theory and public administration; 9. law and regulations; 10. ethics and accountability; 11. public governance and private governance; 12. Nonprofit management and nongovernmental organizations; 13. Social, health, and environmental policy areas; 14. pandemic and crisis management; 15. administrative and governance reforms; 16. comparative public administration and governance; 17. globalization and international issues; 18. performance management; 19. geographical areas of the world with country-focused entries like Japan, China, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe, North America; and 20. a lot more. Relevant to professionals, experts, scholars, general readers, researchers, policy makers and manger, and students worldwide, this work will serve as the most viable global reference source for those looking for an introduction and advance knowledge to the field.

This is the the first comprehensive and authoritative work covering the entire public sector in India, including public sector enterprises such as banks, insurance companies, railways and so on.

The book examines all major issues related to public enterprises through which their performance could be evaluated. The book also discusses the privatisation issue, its limitations, the Indian experience and the role of the Disinvestment Commission.

Deregulation, privatization and marketization have become the bywords for the reforms and debates surrounding the public sector. This major book is unique in its comparative analysis of the reform experience in Western and Eastern Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Leading experts identify a number of key factors to systematically explain the similarities and differences, map common problems and together reflect on the future shape of the public sector, exploring significant themes in a lively and accessible way.