Privatisation has gained increased attention throughout the world since its emergence in the 1970s. It is argued that countries have adopted different privatisation programmes due to two main ...reasons; poor economic conditions and low performance of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Privatisation has been studied from different perspectives: in privatisation theories and the drive behind privatisation in prices and entry in interurban coaching, in the methods and benefits of privatisation and in regulations, liberalisation, and reforms that are associated with the privatisation process. Moreover, researchers have looked at the privatisation of certain industries such as communications, energy, water, steel, and transportation. Nevertheless, the focus was primarily economic and financial, while, limited work has been carried out on the implementation phase of privatisation, as most of the work has looked into the pre and post stages of privatisation. Therefore, it is the aim of this research to investigate the privatisation implementation phase of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), which started in 2000 and is still not complete. Also, the transformation process, from the public to private sector, is complex in nature, as changes imposed on privatised firms influence and possibly challenge the core and deeply embedded objectives, values, and culture that public firms hold. Thus, this research is structured on three pillars: privatisation, the change process, and employees, looking at the organisation from three different angles to gain as much understanding as possible of the context, and in turn, the implementation phase. Furthermore, since the privatisation project in Saudia is still ongoing, utilising a processual approach is of significance as it will provide insights on the change process and how change has evolved and developed with time. A qualitative approach (in-depth, semi-structured interviews) was utilised in the study as the research seeks to investigate the implementation of privatisation and how change occurs and unfolds as the firm transforms from public to private sector. The research significance lies in its exploration of the privatisation process and how it has evolved over time, hence, adopting a processual approach. In addition, the research focuses on enriching the literature on the Arab world, as it has a unique cultural context that is less explored. In addition, the Islamic perspective on privatisation and other organisational aspects is incorporated in this study, which contributes to the literature on the topic, while at the same time providing a platform of knowledge which other Islamic countries may wish to consider or follow. The research results encompass three angles; the privatisation of Saudia, the change process, and employees. The findings show several key areas that have directly impacted all three elements, whilst overlooking certain aspects related to culture and religion has impacted the transformation process, resulting in the slow progress of the project. In addition, the results accentuate the importance of communication and HRM role in the transformation process, while reflecting on their limited practice within SOEs. Also, the processual approach enabled the context to be portrayed in a chronological way, which signifies the start and evolution of the project while unveiling different factors that influenced the change process.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) competed to shape the global pension reform agenda. Inspired by the privatisation of Chile’s pension ...system in 1981 and its spread across Latin America, the World Bank promoted a partial privatisation of public pension systems across the globe. It was vehemently opposed by the ILO. The World Bank was able to use its lending capacity as leverage into the pension reform debates of the countries of Central Eastern Europe during their transition to market-based capitalism. It supplanted the ILO as the dominant international organisation in the pension reform arena as most countries in the region adopted the World Bank’s preferred pension model. However, at the onset of the of the global economic crisis, the trend went into reverse. Most countries in Latin American and Central and Eastern Europe either scaled back on their privatisation or completely abandoned it. This thesis investigates the impact of these reversals on global pension policy. It draws on an analysis of 104 pension documents and 25 elite interviews from senior policy makers in the World Bank, ILO and Central and Eastern Europe to analyse global pension policy. It deploys an Agency, Structure, Institutions, Discourse (ASID) framework to explore the process of pension reform and counter-reform in Central and Eastern Europe, the development of the pension policies of the ILO and World Bank, and the relationship between them. The thesis tells the story of how the ILO has managed to reassert itself in the global debate and international agenda-setting process through the promotion of its flagship national social protection floors. It now works much more closely with the World Bank, which abandoned its pension privatisation campaign and works closely with the ILO to extend pensions coverage.
When the tough-on-crime politics of the 1980s overcrowded state prisons, private companies saw potential profit in building and operating correctional facilities. Today more than a hundred thousand ...of the 1.5 million incarcerated Americans are held in private prisons in twenty-nine states and federal corrections. Private prisons are criticized for making money off mass incarceration-to the tune of $5 billion in annual revenue. Based on Lauren-Brooke Eisen's work as a prosecutor, journalist, and attorney at policy think tanks,Inside Private Prisonsblends investigative reportage and quantitative and historical research to analyze privatized corrections in America.From divestment campaigns to boardrooms to private immigration-detention centers across the Southwest, Eisen examines private prisons through the eyes of inmates, their families, correctional staff, policymakers, activists, Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees, undocumented immigrants, and the executives of America's largest private prison corporations. Private prisons have become ground zero in the anti-mass-incarceration movement. Universities have divested from these companies, political candidates hesitate to accept their campaign donations, and the Department of Justice tried to phase out its contracts with them. On the other side, impoverished rural towns often try to lure the for-profit prison industry to build facilities and create new jobs. Neither an endorsement or a demonization,Inside Private Prisonsdetails the complicated and perverse incentives rooted in the industry, from mandatory bed occupancy to vested interests in mass incarceration. If private prisons are here to stay, how can we fix them? This book is a blueprint for policymakers to reform practices and for concerned citizens to understand our changing carceral landscape.
In the 1980s and 1990s, market reforms swept the world. It is widely believed that the reformist wave can be partly explained in terms of the lessons learned from policy failures of the past. Whereas ...this interpretation of events is well established, it has never been empirically proved. Learning, Policy Making, and Market Reforms is the first study that tests the impact of policy learning on economic policy choices across time and space. The study supports the popular explanation that, on average, governments around the world adopted privatization and trade liberalization, and sustained open capital accounts, as a result of learning from the experience of others.
We investigated the effects of privatization on hospital efficiency in Germany. To do so, we obtained bootstrapped data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency scores in the first stage of our analysis ...and subsequently employed a difference-in-difference matching approach within a panel regression framework. Our findings show that conversions from public to private for-profit status were associated with an increase in efficiency of between 2.9 and 4.9%. We defined four alternative post-privatization periods and found that the increase in efficiency after a conversion to private for-profit status appeared to be permanent. We also observed an increase in efficiency for the first three years after hospitals were converted to private non-profit status, but our estimations suggest that this effect was rather transitory. Our findings also show that the efficiency gains after a conversion to private for-profit status were achieved through substantial decreases in staffing ratios in all analyzed staff categories with the exception of physicians and administrative staff. It was also striking that the efficiency gains of hospitals converted to for-profit status were significantly lower in the diagnosis-related groups (DRG) era than in the pre-DRG era. Altogether, our results suggest that converting hospitals to private for-profit status may be an effective way to ensure the scarce resources in the hospital sector are used more efficiently.
Almost 27% of the CEOs in a sample of 790 newly partially privatized firms in China are former or current government bureaucrats. Firms with politically connected CEOs underperform those without ...politically connected CEOs by almost 18% based on three-year post-IPO stock returns and have poorer three-year post-IPO earnings growth, sales growth, and change in returns on sales. The negative effect of the CEO's political ties also show up in the first-day stock return. Finally, firms led by politically connected CEOs are more likely to appoint other bureaucrats to the board of directors rather than directors with relevant professional backgrounds.
Over the past three decades, market reforms have transformed public services such as education, health, and care of the elderly. Whereas previous studies present markets as having similar and largely ...non-political effects, this book shows that political parties structure markets in diverse ways to achieve distinct political aims. Left-wing attempts to sustain the legitimacy of the welfare state are compared with right-wing wishes to limit the state and empower the private sector. Examining a broad range of countries, time periods, and policy areas, Jane R. Gingrich helps readers make sense of the complexity of market reforms in the industrialized world. The use of innovative multi-case studies and in-depth interviews with senior European policymakers enriches the debate and brings clarity to this multifaceted topic. Scholars and students working on the policymaking process in this central area will be interested in this new conceptualization of market reform.
This study considers a free licensing strategy with passive ownership and investigates the interaction with ex-post privatization policy in a mixed oligopoly where free licensing can be announced ...before the government selects its optimal degree of privatization. We examine and compare foreign and public licensors and explore the relationships between the foreign share of passive ownership in domestic firms and the incentive of free licensing strategies. We show that free licensing strategies always yield more privatization and higher welfare. By contrast, free licensing between the foreign and public licensors depends on the share of passive ownership and technology gap. We further consider open technology and fee licensing strategies and provide contrasting findings on the optimal degree of privatization and welfare consequences.
•We examine free licensing strategy and privatization policy with passive ownership.•Ex-post privatization induced by free licensing can increase welfare.•Free licensing and passive ownership can be complementary in a mixed oligopoly.•Open technology hinders (aids) privatization under foreign (public) licensing.•Foreign licensors prefer fee licensing; a public licensor may choose free licensing.
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