IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/10820.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What Happens When the State Is Bossing around Markets ? An Analysis of the Performance Differentials between Businesses of the State (BOS) and Private-Owned Enterprises (POEs)

Author

Listed:
  • Sanchez Navarro,Dennis

Abstract

This paper studies the performance differentials between privately-owned enterprises and businesses of the state. Businesses of the State (BOS) are firms with 10 percent or more direct or indirect state participation. By analyzing firm-level data across 16 European countries between 2011 and 2020, the paper finds evidence that state ownership matters for operational and financial performance and sheds light on how and when it matters. The analysis disentangles the multiple forms of state participation and its effects on firms’ performance by exploring the heterogeneity across sector type, levels of state participation, and degree of separation (direct versus indirect shareholding). It also analyzes the early response of businesses of the state to the COVID-19 shock. The results suggest that businesses of the state underperform in terms of labor productivity, profitability, and return on investments, although the effects are heterogeneous depending on the level of state participation, degree of separation, and type of sector. Businesses of the state appear to be more financially leveraged vis-à-vis their private counterparts, suggesting potential soft budget constraints. Wider differentials in profitability and return on investments are evidenced when the state operates in fully competitive sectors that are viable for private participation, underscoring the opportunity costs of state ownership in those sectors. Furthermore, the findings show that mixed ownership with the private sector can drive better results when compared to fully owned businesses of the state. Similarly, a higher degree of separation from the state seems to improve performance, highlighting the role of corporate governance and ownership reforms to foster independence. Finally, businesses of the state demonstrated greater resilience in preserving jobs in the short term during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanchez Navarro,Dennis, 2024. "What Happens When the State Is Bossing around Markets ? An Analysis of the Performance Differentials between Businesses of the State (BOS) and Private-Owned Enterprises (POEs)," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10820, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10820
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099123406252440384/pdf/IDU149dc671915bcb141051b0d4105d073392111.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Álmos Telegdy, 2016. "Employment adjustment in the global crisis," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 24(4), pages 683-703, October.
    2. David Dollar & Shang-Jin Wei, 2007. "Das (Wasted) Kapital: Firm Ownership and Investment Efficiency in China," IMF Working Papers 2007/009, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Yasir Shahab & Collins G Ntim & Farid Ullah, 2019. "The brighter side of being socially responsible: CSR ratings and financial distress among Chinese state and non-state owned firms," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 180-186, February.
    4. Ilya Okhmatovskiy, 2010. "Performance Implications of Ties to the Government and SOEs: A Political Embeddedness Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 1020-1047, September.
    5. Parida, Meenakshi & Madheswaran, S., 2021. "Does ownership matter? Empirical evidence from the performance of Indian state and private coal mining companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Paul H. Malatesta & Kathryn L. DeWenter, 2001. "State-Owned and Privately Owned Firms: An Empirical Analysis of Profitability, Leverage, and Labor Intensity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 320-334, March.
    7. J. Kornai & E. Maskin & G. Roland, 2004. "Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 11.
    8. Sun, Qunyan & Zhang, Anming & Li, Jie, 2005. "A study of optimal state shares in mixed oligopoly: Implications for SOE reform and foreign competition," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-27.
    9. Phi, Nguyet Thi Minh & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Tu, Chuc Anh & Yoshino, Naoyuki & Kim, Chul Ju, 2019. "Performance Differential Between Private and State-Owned Enterprises: An Analysis of Profitability and Leverage," ADBI Working Papers 950, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    10. William A. Andrews & Michael J. Dowling, 1998. "Explaining Performance Changes in Newly Privatized Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 601-617, September.
    11. Miklós Szanyi, 2016. "The Reversal of the Privatisation Logic in Central European Transition Economies (An Essay)," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 66(1), pages 33-55, March.
    12. Kang, Young-Sam & Kim, Byung-Yeon, 2012. "Ownership structure and firm performance: Evidence from the Chinese corporate reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 471-481.
    13. Jeffry M. Netter & William L. Megginson, 2001. "From State to Market: A Survey of Empirical Studies on Privatization," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 321-389, June.
    14. Ngo My Tran & Walter Nonneman & Ann Jorissen, 2014. "Government Ownership and Firm Performance: The Case of Vietnam," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(3).
    15. Bartosz Kabaciński & Jarosław Kubiak & Katarzyna Szarzec, 2020. "Do State-owned Enterprises Underperform Compared to Privately owned Companies? An Examination of the Largest Polish Enterprises," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(13), pages 3174-3192, October.
    16. Bartosz Kabaciński & Jarosław Kubiak & Katarzyna Szarzec, 2020. "Do State-owned Enterprises Underperform Compared to Privately owned Companies? An Examination of the Largest Polish Enterprises," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(13), pages 3174-3192, October.
    17. Eskil Goldeng & Leo A. Grünfeld & Gabriel R. G. Benito, 2008. "The Performance Differential between Private and State Owned Enterprises: The Roles of Ownership, Management and Market Structure," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7), pages 1244-1273, November.
    18. Halkos, George, 2002. "State owned enterprises, privatization and the public interest: evidence of S.O.E. performance in the Greek manufacturing," MPRA Paper 39604, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. A. Abramov & A. Radygin & M. Chernova & R. Entov, 2017. "State ownership and efficiency characteristics," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 4.
    20. Boardman, Anthony E. & Vining, Aidan R. & Weimer, David L., 2016. "The long-run effects of privatization on productivity: Evidence from Canada," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1001-1017.
    21. Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Bent Sorensen & Carolina Villegas-Sanchez & Vadym Volosovych & Sevcan Yesiltas, 2015. "How to Construct Nationally Representative Firm Level Data from the Orbis Global Database: New Facts and Aggregate Implications," NBER Working Papers 21558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Bogart, Dan & Chaudhary, Latika, 2015. "Off the rails: Is state ownership bad for productivity?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 997-1013.
    23. Boardman, Anthony E & Vining, Aidan R, 1989. "Ownership and Performance in Competitive Environments: A Comparison of the Performance of Private, Mixed, and State-Owned Enterprises," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 1-33, April.
    24. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Guo, Lin & Khaksari, Shahriar & Tehranian, Hassan, 2010. "The impact of state ownership on performance differences in privately-owned versus state-owned banks: An international comparison," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 74-94, January.
    25. Boubakri, Narjess & Chen, Ruiyuan (Ryan) & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Nash, Robert, 2020. "State ownership and stock liquidity: Evidence from privatization," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    26. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    27. Funkhouser, Richard & MacAvoy, Paul W., 1979. "A sample of observations on comparative prices in public and private enterprises," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 353-368, June.
    28. repec:wbk:wbrwps:10261 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Tran Thai Ha Nguyen & Massoud Moslehpour & Thi Thuy Van Vo & Wing-Keung Wong, 2020. "State Ownership and Risk-Taking Behavior: An Empirical Approach to Get Better Profitability, Investment, and Trading Strategies for Listed Corporates in Vietnam," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-21, June.
    30. Xiaozu Wang & Lixin Colin Xu & Tian Zhu, 2004. "State‐owned enterprises going public The case of China," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(3), pages 467-487, September.
    31. Abramov, Alexander & Radygin, Alexander & Chernova, Maria, 2017. "State-owned enterprises in the Russian market: Ownership structure and their role in the economy," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 1-23.
    32. Thai-Ha Le & Donghyun Park & Cynthia Castillejos-Petalcorin, 2021. "Performance comparison of state-owned enterprises versus private firms in selected emerging Asian countries," Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(1), pages 26-48, December.
    33. Bai, Chong-En & Li, David D. & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2000. "A Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 716-738, December.
    34. Wu, Hsueh-Liang, 2011. "Can minority state ownership influence firm value? Universal and contingency views of its governance effects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 839-845, August.
    35. Davies, David G, 1977. "Property Rights and Economic Efficiency-The Australian Airlines Revisited," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 223-226, April.
    36. Sangeetha Gunasekar & Jayati Sarkar, 2019. "Does Autonomy Matter in State Owned Enterprises? Evidence from Performance Contracts in India," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 763-800, July.
    37. Birdsall, Nancy & Nellis, John, 2003. "Winners and Losers: Assessing the Distributional Impact of Privatization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1617-1633, October.
    38. Matuszak, Piotr & Kabaciński, Bartosz, 2021. "Non-commercial goals and financial performance of state-owned enterprises – some evidence from the electricity sector in the EU countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 1068-1087.
    39. Sørensen, Bent E & Kalemli-Özcan, Sebnem & Volosovych, Vadym & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina & Yesiltas, Sevcan, 2015. "How to construct nationally representative firm level data from the ORBIS global database," CEPR Discussion Papers 10829, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    40. Vining, Aidan R & Boardman, Anthony E, 1992. "Ownership versus Competition: Efficiency in Public Enterprise," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 205-239, March.
    41. Lawson, Colin, 1994. "The Theory of State-Owned Enterprises in Market Economies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 283-309, September.
    42. Shirley, Mary & Walsh, Patrick, 2000. "Public versus private ownership : the current state of the debate," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2420, The World Bank.
    43. Amighini, Alessia A. & Rabellotti, Roberta & Sanfilippo, Marco, 2013. "Do Chinese state-owned and private enterprises differ in their internationalization strategies?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 312-325.
    44. A. Abramov & A. Radygin & M. Chernova & R. Entov., 2017. "State ownership and efficiency characteristics," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 4.
    45. Rosa Chun, 2009. "Ethical Values and Environmentalism in China: Comparing Employees from State-Owned and Private Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(3), pages 341-348, February.
    46. Campos, Jose Edgardo & Esfahani, Hadi Salehi, 1996. "Why and When Do Governments Initiate Public Enterprise Reform?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 451-485, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bozec, Richard, 2004. "L’analyse comparative de la performance entre les entreprises publiques et les entreprises privées : le problème de mesure et son impact sur les résultats," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 80(4), pages 619-654, Décembre.
    2. Szarzec, Katarzyna & Dombi, Ákos & Matuszak, Piotr, 2021. "State-owned enterprises and economic growth: Evidence from the post-Lehman period," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Filippo Belloc, 2014. "Innovation in State-Owned Enterprises: Reconsidering the Conventional Wisdom," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 821-848.
    4. Richard Bozec & Mohamed Dia & Gaétan Breton, 2006. "Ownership–efficiency relationship and the measurement selection bias," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(5), pages 733-754, December.
    5. Eskil Goldeng & Leo A. Grünfeld & Gabriel R. G. Benito, 2008. "The Performance Differential between Private and State Owned Enterprises: The Roles of Ownership, Management and Market Structure," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7), pages 1244-1273, November.
    6. Chi, Wei & Wang, Yijiang, 2007. "Ownership, Performance and Executive Turnover," MPRA Paper 15302, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2009.
    7. Ciprian Stan & Mike Peng & Garry Bruton, 2014. "Slack and the performance of state-owned enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 473-495, June.
    8. Ahn, Daniel P. & Ludema, Rodney D., 2020. "The sword and the shield: The economics of targeted sanctions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    9. Walter E. Block, 2014. "Justifying a Stateless Legal Order: A Critique of Rand and Epstein," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 29(Spring 20), pages 21-49.
    10. Chi, Wei & Wang, Yijiang, 2009. "Ownership, performance and executive turnover in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 465-478, September.
    11. De Haas, Ralph & Guriev, Sergei & Stepanov, Alexander, 2022. "State Ownership and Corporate Leverage Around the World," CEPR Discussion Papers 17300, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Alvaro CUERVO-CAZURRA & Luis Alfonso DAU, 2008. "Structural Reform And Firm Profitability In Developing Countries," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp940, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    13. Wolf, Christian, 2009. "Does ownership matter? The performance and efficiency of State Oil vs. Private Oil (1987-2006)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2642-2652, July.
    14. Christian Wolf & Michael G. Pollitt, 2008. "Privatising national oil companies: Assessing the impact on firm performance," Working Papers EPRG 0805, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    15. Walter E. Block, 2017. "Radical Privatization: Oceans, Roads,Heavenly Bodies," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 12(2), pages 41-56, June.
    16. Walheer, Barnabé & He, Ming, 2020. "Technical efficiency and technology gap of the manufacturing industry in China: Does firm ownership matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    17. Veysel Avsar & Cem Karayalcin & Mehmet Ali Ulubasoglu, 2013. "State-owned Enterprises, Inequality, and Political Ideology," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 387-410, November.
    18. Mike W. Peng & Garry D. Bruton & Ciprian V. Stan & Yuanyuan Huang, 2016. "Theories of the (state-owned) firm," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 293-317, June.
    19. Sumit K. Majumdar, 2008. "Why Privatize? The Decline of Public Ownership in India and its Impact on Industrial Performance," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 9(2), pages 293-336, September.
    20. Anna P. I. Vong & Duarte Trigueiros, 2014. "Reversal in the relative performance of state- and legal person-owned companies during the Chinese split share structure reform," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(15), pages 1728-1750, May.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10820. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.