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This study explores the transition of public libraries to administrative corporations through the lens of stakeholder theory. It positions public libraries as pivotal institutions harboring extensive collections vital for fostering educational and cultural growth. Focusing on the Kaohsiung Public Library in Taiwan as a case study, this research highlights successful tactics adopted during its shift toward administrative corporatization. Such a transformation aligns with the strategic objectives of governments, stakeholders, and communities at large. By applying stakeholder theory, the study investigates the broader societal contributions of administratively corporatized public libraries, their role in advancing public library services amidst organizational changes, and their capacity to augment the distinctiveness of urban landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia and the UK, commercialization and corporatization of assisted reproductive technologies have created a marketplace of clinics, products, and services. While this has arguably increased choice for patients, 'choice', shaped by commercial imperatives may not mean better-quality care. At present, regulation of clinics (including clinic–corporations) and clinicians focuses on the doctor–patient dyad and the clinic–consumer dyad. Scant attention has been paid to the conflicts between the clinic–corporation's duty to its shareholders and investors, the medical profession's duty to the corporations within which they practice, and the obligations of both clinicians and corporations to patients and to health systems. Frameworks of regulation based in corporate governance and business ethics, such as stakeholder models and 'corporate social responsibility', have well-recognized limits and may not translate well into healthcare settings. This means that existing governance frameworks may not meet the needs of patients or health systems. We argue for the development of novel regulatory approaches that more explicitly characterize the obligations that both corporations and clinicians in corporate environments have to patients and to society, and that promote fulfilment of these obligations. We consider mechanisms for application in the multi-jurisdictional setting of Australia, and the single jurisdictional settings of the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Public Money & Management is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We teach in tumultuous times. Some legislative bodies are placing constraints on what we teach. Various publics are expressing outrage over course content. Privately funded groups are orchestrating attacks on curriculum and faculty. The majority of the professoriate is contingent, and the corporatization of education has continued unabated. These are a few aspects of the current sociohistoric context. In this address, I ask and attempt to answer three questions surrounding teaching in these times: (1) Are these times so different from the past? (2) Has the current context in which we teach influenced what we do in the classroom? (3) What, if anything, are we to do about it? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International & Comparative Education is the property of International & Comparative Education Editorial, Beijing Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Governments engage in corporatization by creating corporate entities or reorganizing existing ones. These corporatization activities reflect an interplay between political agency and environmental pressures, including (changing) notions of state-market relations. This paper discusses two ideal-typed organizational models of corporatization: the state as a marketizer and the marketization of the state. Whereas the first emphasizes the role of political design and agency in corporatization, the second emphasizes the role of (actors in) the environment for corporatization. Both models are assessed across five corporatization episodes in Norway and Sweden, where we also demonstrate the interplay between political agency and environmental pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the relevance of governance structure for efficient revenue collection by Brazilian water utilities (WUs). Data were collected from the National Information System on Sanitation (SNIS) for 127 Brazilian WUs, covering a balanced longitudinal panel from 2018 to 2022. The governance structures evaluated included ownership (public or private) and corporatization (publicly traded or not). We searched scientific databases and did not find any studies on the efficiency of specific WUs in collecting customer bills for services rendered and its relationship with this type of governance; thus, this is the main innovative contribution of this study to the literature. In the first stage, this study utilized the dynamic slack-based model (DSBM) to assess revenue collection efficiency. In the second stage, an econometric model with generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to explain the efficiency. The findings revealed a global average inefficiency in revenue collection of 50.47%. Corporatization was linked to higher collection efficiencies, while ownership type was significantly linked with lower collection efficiency. Factors such as tariff accessibility, urbanization, and the COVID-19 pandemic also influenced efficiency. This study suggests that regulatory bodies should consider these insights to implement policies that prevent inefficiencies from affecting the tariff system for services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how the reorganization of the service-delivery 'machine' is resulting in a hybridization of NPM and post-NPM principles. We compare reform trajectories in Italy and Spain to illustrate and interpret a combination of reorganization recipes that, from both the provision and production sides, affected service delivery; and how the NPM and post-NPM principles have been followed. Our analysis of how organizational structures for public service delivery have been reformed shows that reformers are increasingly induced to adopt a shopping-basket approach, leading them to use different menus and ingredients, mixing them, to create recipes that are better suited to domestic tastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the corporatisation of local public services has gained substantive momentum over the past decades. However, there is a research gap concerning the functioning of governance bodies, particularly boards, in municipally owned corporations as hybrid organisations. In this study, analysing German municipally owned corporations, we investigate the relationship between supervisory board efficacy, as attributed by chief executive officers, and perceived organisational performance. We do not find a direct relationship; instead, we find evidence for a 'catalyser' relationship: board efficacy alleviates managerial role dilemmas, thus removing obstacles to organisational performance. The results imply that particular attention needs to be paid to the enhancement of competencies of board members and their collaboration. Limitations are outlined. Points for practitioners: • 'Good governance' of hybrid organisations requires effective boards, which – albeit indirectly – ultimately result in better corporate performance. • Board efficacy alleviates managerial role dilemmas, thus removing obstacles to performance. • The results imply that particular attention needs to be paid to the enhancement of competencies of board members and their collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments increasingly create and use corporate forms of organization to provide public services. While there is growing evidence on the factors influencing such corporatization, less is known about what leads some local governments to bring corporatized services back in-house. This paper investigates financial, socioeconomic, political and organizational drivers of reverse corporatization among 62 Arms-Length Management Organizations (ALMOs), wholly owned nonprofit organizations created by local governments in England to provide social housing services. Survival analysis for the period 2003–2019 suggests that reverse corporatization is more likely to occur in left-wing local governments and in those with more financial reserves, but is less likely if ALMOs have operated for a longer time and have a large board of directors. Points for practitioners: Understanding of the drivers of reverse corporatization can help local politicians and public managers improve their decisions about the appropriate mode of delivery for local public services. This paper highlights that good fiscal health may be essential for efforts to bring corporatized service back in-house, but that well-established municipal corporations may be better left to continue operating. It is also important for policymakers to recognize the role that political ideology (and socioeconomic circumstances) can play in shaping a commitment to reversing corporatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses different modes of provision for household waste collection and changes in that by Dutch municipalities in the period between 1998 and 2018. Based on a transition matrix, the shifts in the mode of waste collection are made transparent. In more than half of the municipalities, shifts took place, 56% towards outside production and 44% towards inside production and in later periods, inside production has become important. Furthermore, in the most recent time, reverse privatisation is preferred. We find that ideological factors have an influence on choices of provision modes and that municipalities with a more political fragmented board are less likely to corporatize or privatise waste collection. Finally, there is evidence that municipalities with a relatively negative financial position are more likely to go outside and that in pre-election years there is some hesitation to corporatize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the article is to present the results of research on the construction of cross-border mega-regions, specifically Cali-Baja, based on their nature and role in industrial development linked to global production networks, which promotes economic complementarity, and despite the process of corporatization that occurred at some point, the territorial dynamics itself prevailed. In methodological terms, semi-structured interviews were applied to key actors and information generated from other tools such as focus groups was recovered. It is concluded that the construction of the mega-regions located along the U.S.-Mexico border is the result of multiple factors, but ends up being a social construction of those who inhabit and live in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do local governments create and reform public service companies, given their uncertain economic benefits and potential damage to accountability and service transparency? Taking an extended transaction cost perspective, we argue that corporatization—the provision of public services by publicly owned companies—is a function of fiscal hardship, the decision maker's economic orientation and the level of operator transparency. Using a two-way fixed effects regression, we test this expectation on 680 investment reports of 34 German cities from 1998 to 2017, representing 11,062 year-corporatized entity combinations. We show that the drivers of corporatization are sensitive to the depth of local ownership analyzed. In doing so, we highlight the theoretical need and potential for conceptual differentiation between ownership levels along a corporation's lineage. Exploiting the data's panel structure, we also find that the intensity of corporatization has heightened since the late 1990s, largely due to increasingly complex corporate structures of indirect ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporatization has gained scholarly attention in recent years, yet little is known regarding why many corporations are eventually terminated, and what happens to their form and functions thereafter. Reinternalizing services is one option local governments may pursue. This paper focuses on the impact of tensions (systemic contradictions) on this final resolution reached: Do local governments choose or refuse reinternalization? Conducting machine learning, I predict termination outcomes based on an original dataset of 244 ceased English and German companies (2010–2020). The results show that macrosystemic tensions are more relevant for resourcing decisions and reinternalization is less likely to be caused by formal ownership issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privatization processes present a multifaceted challenge, especially in countries with fragile market institutions. This article delves into the complex dynamics of privatization, emphasizing the importance of balancing different interests with a particular focus on the role of competition law. While asset maximization has traditionally dominated privatization discussions, this study advocates for a broader perspective that uses privatization to enhance market institutions. As a base study and drawing on the Brazilian experience of the steel sector privatization, the article unravels the consequences of partial privatizations and the risk of common ownership and interconnected influence through the state. Ultimately, the article contributes to a comprehensive understanding of privatization's role in competitive markets and economic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-truth has become a widespread but malevolent force throughout Latin America. While it has received attention from sociologists and philosophers, its spatial dimensions have been overlooked. This essay first outlines the fundamentals of post-truth. Second, it ties post-truth to neoliberalism. Third, it sketches the social bases of post-truth in Latin America, including the corporatization of media and the explosion of social media. It links post-truth to the hegemony of neoliberalism in the region. Then it offers a series of vignettes designed to illustrate that post-truth takes varying forms in different national contexts, including Donald Trump's border wall, Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil, Venezuela under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, and several other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an account of the undermining of collegial governance at the University of Alberta in relation to the restructuring of the university in 2020 by the senior administration and board on advice provided by the Australian consultancy firm, the Nous Group. The current president of the university has publicly promoted the restructuring in venues including the Times Higher Education supplement as a model for other universities. The model, a disastrous one for collegial governance, demands widespread attention along with the means by which it was achieved. As Bill Readings declared in his 1997 book The University in Ruins, "the changing institutional form of the university is something that intellectuals cannot afford to ignore." At the University of Alberta, that changing form is being determined by fossil-fuelled academic capitalism. The account of what has happened is provided by a professor who has served on the university's senior academic body, the General Faculties Council, for almost a decade. It concludes with several concrete recommendations for bolstering collegial governance at universities in Alberta, elsewhere in Canada, and possibly worldwide--wherever collegial governance is being undermined by restructuring, the corporatization of the academy, academic capitalism, or the disrespect of university boards for the authority of faculty and the academic mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the special issue of REPCS dedicated to the analysis of the restructuring of higher education in Alberta, Canada. It describes the acceleration of the processes of commodification of education and research and the corporatization of institutional governance under the government that took office in April 2019. The Alberta case is situated within the political economy of this petro-state, governed by a right-wing populist party, as well as in relation to the global trends in post-secondary education driven by neoliberal regimes. Further, the article highlights the cracks in the foundations of modern universities that have deeper historical origins than neoliberalism, and that are widening as the governance and raison d'etre of these institutions are challenged by global socio-ecological crises and Indigenous-led decolonization and climate justice movements. Drawing upon firsthand knowledge, as a participant in the struggles at the University of Alberta, as well as extensive research into the government's restructuring agenda and the impacts on the post-secondary sector, the author outlines proposals for reform of the legislative framework governing the relationship between universities and the state, as well as the internal governance of the institution, and assesses the current terrain of agency for such transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract For decades, academic freedom and shared governance have stood as cornerstones of higher education in the United States, but these principles face unprecedented challenges. Recent developments point to a disturbing decline in these critical values, stirring debates on the future viability of the higher education system. This study delves into the problematic trajectory of modern higher education, spotlighting the rise of corporate practices within academic institutions, the swelling ranks of university administration, and the disproportionate weight given to student evaluations in assessing faculty. These factors have converged to push academia into an unstable transition, a liminal phase fueled by external and internal forces. This study examines the evolving landscape of academic freedom within the corporatized university model. Utilizing the concept of liminality, it explores the transitional challenges faced by academia in balancing traditional scholarly values with emerging market-driven paradigms, arguing that the corporatization of universities represents a liminal phase, wherein the identity and purpose of academic institutions are in flux, significantly impacting the notion of academic freedom. The shift toward a consumer-oriented ethos endangers the foundational principles of higher education, risking substituting educational substance with the mere transaction of educational services. The study concludes by issuing a call to action for all stakeholders in higher education to acknowledge and confront these detrimental trends, thereby safeguarding the principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and the educational system's overall integrity and dynamism.

Private equity has rapidly enlarged its presence in the health care sector, expanding its investment targets from hospitals and nursing facilities to physician practices. The incursion of private equity is the latest manifestation of a long trend toward the corporatization and financialization of medicine. Private equity pools investments from large private investors to buy controlling stakes in companies through leveraged buyouts or similar arrangements that use the companies' own assets to finance debt. These investors seek to earn handsome profits by rapidly increasing revenues before selling off the investment. Private equity's incursion into health care is especially concerning. The drive for quick revenue generation threatens to increase costs, lower health care quality, and contribute to physician burnout and moral distress. These harms stem from market consolidation, overutilization and upcoding, constraints on physicians' clinical autonomy, and compromises in patient care. Policymakers attempting to counter these threats can barely keep up. Like a cloud of locusts, private equity moves so quickly that by the time lawmakers become aware of the problem and researchers study the effects, private equity has moved on to other investment targets. While it remains unclear whether private equity investment is fundamentally more threatening to health policy than other forms of acquisition and financial investment--whether by publicly traded companies, conglomerate health systems, or health insurers-private equity presents a heightened threat of commercialization. Even if private equity is not uniquely harmful, it is extremely adept at identifying and exploiting market failures and payment loopholes. The emphasis on short-term returns and exit, the heavy reliance on debt, and the insulation from professional and ethical norms make private equity investors more avid to exploit revenue opportunities than institutional repeat players. Thus, this Article’s central claim is that the influx of private equity into health care poses sufficient risks to warrant an immediate legal and policy response. Public policy should primarily target market failures and payment loopholes and only secondarily curb private equity investment per se. The good news is that we already have many tools under federal and state law with the potential to address the harms of commercialization. These can be used or sharpened to address the particular concerns raised by private equity’s incursion into physician markets. Key tools include antitrust oversight, fraud and abuse enforcement, and state laws regulating the corporate practice of medicine and the terms of physician employment. In some instances, legislative or regulatory action may be needed to adapt existing laws. In other instances, new laws may be needed to close payment loopholes or correct market distortions. A leading example is the recent No Surprises Act, which curtails surprise outof- network medical billing. While the Article lays out a roadmap for additional legal and policy actions to protect the health system from the acute risks of private equity, these are patches rather than systemic solutions. If these patches fail to stave off the incessant march toward commercialization of health care, we may see renewed calls to fundamentally rethink the market orientation of the U.S. health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has a been a rapid and significant drop in the number of private practices in US radiology. Many factors have driven this change. One of the most important has been the corporatization of practices. In many cases, this involves third-party financing, one type of which is venture capital. This article will provide an introduction to the venture capital investment model for medical professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates privatization policy in mixed oligopoly when partial privatization changes a technological difference between semi‐public and private firms. It shows that when the degree of privatization is partial, privatization is insufficient. Furthermore, privatization is more likely to be insufficient as the market becomes more competitive. If the cost efficiency gain is captured by decreasing the degree of privatization, privatization is insufficient regardless of whether entry by private firms is restricted or free. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing is both affective and ecological. Consequently, effective writing instructors need a deep understanding of writing's affective and ecological aspects, making composition one of the most complex and challenging areas of pedagogical endeavor. This claim is especially true in institutions whose product-oriented epistemologies make writing potentially traumatizing for many student writers. To assist writing teachers in meeting student writers' needs, this article draws on a diverse body of research to explain writing affect, its role in ecological processes of composition within early collegiate humanities curricula, the relation of writing affect to writers' identities, and the impact collegiate corporatization may have on composition instruction. Subsequently, this article describes approaches for making writing pedagogy more process oriented, trauma informed, and equity centered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Film Studies / Türkiye Film Araştırmaları Derneği is the property of Turkish Journal of Film Studies / Turkiye Film Arastirmalari Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the funding deficit in the Algerian pension system and proposes structural reforms to address the issue. The system, which operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, is facing significant funding problems despite previous measures to reduce the deficit. The article suggests introducing a partially funded pension scheme, along with parametric changes, to rebalance the system in the short, medium, and long term. It also discusses the challenges posed by an aging population and the importance of reforming the pension system to ensure its sustainability. Additionally, the article explores the idea of a multi-pillar system that combines pay-as-you-go and funded pensions, and discusses the potential benefits and challenges of introducing pension funds into the Algerian pension system. [Extracted from the article]

The process of corporatization in public services has led to the emergence of new, more autonomous organizational forms. However, while these reforms have been centrally about the development of management capabilities in public sector organizations, we know surprisingly little about what this process involves. To address this concern, we draw on the literature on administrative intensity (AI) to frame hypotheses about the likely relationship between corporatization and investments in management and administration, and the consequences of these investments for performance. As an empirical case, we then focus on the effects of Foundation Trust status on AI and efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness in the acute care hospital sector in the English NHS. Based on a database of nine years (2008/09–2016/17) and dynamic panel data regressions, the results show that corporatization leads to a leaner administration and improved organizational efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness. In addition, the analysis reveals that lower levels of AI positively mediate the relationship between corporatization and performance, although only in relation to the efficiency dimension. These findings highlight the crucial, but previously misunderstood, importance of lean administration as part of the corporatization reform package, with implications for theory, research, and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physician turnover is costly to health care systems and affects patient experience due to discontinuity of care. This study aimed to assess the frequency of turnover by ophthalmologists and identify physician and practice characteristics associated with turnover. Retrospective cross-sectional study. Actively practicing United States ophthalmologists included in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician Compare and Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File between 2014 and 2021. We collected data for each ophthalmologist that was associated with practice/institution and then calculated the rate of turnover both annually in each year window and cumulatively as the total proportion from 2014 to 2021. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify physician and practice characteristics associated with turnover. We also evaluated turnover characteristics surrounding the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Ophthalmologist turnover, defined as a change of an ophthalmologist's National Provider Identifier practice affiliation from one year to the next. Of 13 264 ophthalmologists affiliated with 3306 unique practices, 34.1% separated from at least 1 practice between 2014 and 2021. Annual turnover ranged from 3.7% (2017) to 19.4% (2018), with an average rate of 9.4%. Factors associated with increased turnover included solo practice (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 9.59), university affiliation (aOR, 1.55), practice location in the Northeast (aOR, 1.39), and practice size of 2 to 4 members (aOR, 1.21; P < 0.05 for all). Factors associated with decreased turnover included male gender (aOR, 0.87) and more than 5 years of practice: 6 to 10 years (aOR, 0.63), 11 to 19 years (aOR, 0.54), 20 to 29 years (aOR, 0.36), and ≥ 30 years (aOR, 0.18; P < 0.05 for all). In the initial year (2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic, annual turnover increased from 7.8% to 11.0%, then decreased to 8.7% in the postvaccine period (2021). One-third of United States ophthalmologists separated from at least 1 practice from 2014 through 2021. Turnover patterns differed by various physician and practice characteristics, which may be used to develop future strategies for workforce stability. Because administrative data cannot solely determine reasons for turnover, further investigation is warranted given the potential clinical and financial implications. Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, countries across the Global South have been adopting expansionary health reforms and are increasingly doing so under the banner of promoting universal health coverage. But countries have taken notably different approaches regarding the inclusion of private actors in their expanding healthcare systems. In this article, we explore the political causes and consequences of partial privatization in the context of healthcare expansion. We conduct a case study of Turkey's 2008 health reform, which coupled substantial coverage expansion with the introduction of private options in provision and financing—and has since been branded as a global "success story" of achieving universal health coverage. Specifically, we seek to explain why Turkey introduced private options with its expansionary health reform and what kind of policy feedback effects this has triggered. We find that private options were incorporated into the reform as the result of persistent business lobbying and pro-market changes in the leadership of the health ministry and not because of any international coercion, e.g., by the World Bank. The introduction of these private options has since led to the growth of private hospital and insurance markets and the political entrenchment of partial privatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the optimal privatization policy in a polluting mixed duopoly when environmental taxes are used. Firms adopt clean technology to reduce emissions. We consider the situation of exogenous tax and find that (i) partial privatization is always optimal under low marginal damage, while full nationalization may be optimal under high marginal damage; (ii) the optimal privatization level always increases with tax rate under low marginal damage, while it may decrease with tax rate under high marginal damage. As an extension, we consider the endogenous tax situation and show that full nationalization may be optimal under sufficiently high marginal damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporatization is a trend in local public service delivery. However, research into how public values can be preserved after corporatization has lacked. This study analyses what factors underlie the presence of 'public values' in municipally owned corporations (MOCs). I find that the best predictor of stewardship to society in MOCs is their strategic managerial autonomy. This finding challenges the literature on public value failure, which argues that government by proxy should lead to lesser public values. Instead, it is plausible that increasing autonomy after corporatization can shield service delivery from political rent-seeking, which can protect public values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the disposal unit of waste management, targeting distance cover to dispose facilities in Ede town, Nigeria. Information was obtained through questionnaire administered on 259 household selected through stratified systematic random sampling. The three stratified zones based on socio-economic attributes are the core, intermediate and the transition. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyse the data collected. The study established that actual average distances residents covered to disposal sites are 200.6 m in the core, 80.2 in the intermediate and 120.3 m in the transition zones. Respective desired distances as obtained from the residents are 50, 60 and 82 m. The study also established that residents, irrespective socio-economic background and differences in physical environment currently dispose solid waste indiscriminately into road setback, drains, under- construction buildings and vacant plots. These practices are attributed to longer distance cover to access disposal facilities. The study concluded that disposal facilities are not sited within the desired distance from home of the residents across the three residential zones. Therefore, waste disposal was based on available physical conditions in each residential area. The study recommends creation of waste collection depots within the reach of the residents, tutoring environmental protection, partial privatization of solid waste management and enactment of enabling law on waste disposal using participatory planning approach. It is also recommended that residents should be enlighten on the important of reducing waste coming into city, reusing already used materials and recycling some waste components into new products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We need to know more about the financial accountability of corporatized public services. In this article, the authors analyse the audit fees of a large sample of English local SOEs from 2009–2017, assessing the impact of board composition and ownership structure on those fees. SOEs with more politicians on their boards of directors had higher audit costs and this was especially so for majority-owned SOEs. This article highlights the need for policy-makers to evaluate the consistency of auditing arrangements for the hybrid arm's-length organizations delivering public services. This article investigates the relationship between political control and audit fees for local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in England—hybrid public service organizations not subject to public sector audit. Panel regression techniques are used to analyse secondary data on 405 SOEs for 2009–2017 where major local authorities held an interest. Statistical results suggest greater political representation on boards of directors of local SOEs is associated with higher audit fees and positive relationship between political control and audit fees is stronger for majority public ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of reorganization on productivity within public-sector firms addressing the owners' composition, the board-management relationship, and the management's decision to outsource activities. Considering a large panel of 2,325 German municipally owned utilities between 2003 and 2014, firm-level productivity is estimated based on a control function approach. Contrary to public choice theory, I do not find support for the hypothesis that an increase in government owners' control over the firm, either through shares or the board's control rights, decreases productivity. Looking at reorganization invoked by the management, I find that outsourcing increases productivity, where effects are strongest for service outsourcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State governance in corporations controls the economy and employment to develop prosperity in China. Does privatization achieve both objectives? Privatization theory views that giving up state control benefits firms economically but is quite silent on the value of employment benefits. However, market mix theory (Sappington and Stiglitz, J Policy Anal Manag 6(4):567–582, 1987; Stiglitz, Whither Socialism? MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, and London, England, 1994) views that state control of firms to provide employment is valuable. It further implies that corporate performance and employment objectives can co-exist well together. We formalize Market Mix Theory to reveal its testable implications on dual objectives and performance. We test the notion that Chinese corporations pursue two objectives: maximizing economic value and employment, unlike the singular objective of value maximization in Western firms. As well, we test the benefit of partial privatization. First, we test the market mix theory by studying the relationship between state ownership and employment and financial performance as a combined objective. We show that mixed firms have the highest performance in wealth maximization and employment compared to private and state-controlled firms. Second, we examine Chinese SOEs' Employment with a large sample of 2536 public firms using panel regressions. We find that state ownership and firm employment have a positive relationship. State ownership is positively related to employment stability. Moreover, performance has a negative relationship with state ownership–employment. This result supports our over-employment hypothesis, meaning that economic performance is sacrificed to provide employment. Lastly, we show executive pay for SOE managers is positively related to employment. The employment objective is real in determining state control in Chinese corporations without conflicting to maximize shareholder wealth. Rather, the mixed form of ownership is optimal and vitally contributes overall to the stability and prosperity of China. Our formalization of market mix theory better reflects the reality of motivation, performance and benefits of partial privatization as exemplified in Chinese state-owned enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results reported in this article, on local implementation of mixed-ownership reforms and the corporatization of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) in the period 2008–2017, confirm that political and economic factors determine the possibility, objective, and pace of SOE corporate restructuring. With a starting point in a comprehensive review of the literature on Chinese SOE reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hypotheses on the effects of 1) market supporting institutions, 2) fiscal and financial stability constraints, and 3) social stability constraints on state sector ownership reforms were identified. Industrial economy statistics found in province-level statistical yearbooks were used to test the continuing relevance of these hypotheses and to provide the basis for an updated analysis of the ownership structure of local state-owned enterprises in a new phase of SOE reforms. Most of the firm-level findings reported here are consistent with those of previous studies. However, in contrast to earlier stages of SOE reforms, we find that fiscal pressure on local governments no longer functions as a driver of local-state-sector ownership restructuring. The analysis implies that the Chinese government's current SOE reform strategy, which this time focus on mixed ownership, is mainly relevant for high-performing SOEs located in rich provinces with well-developed market-supporting institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the theoretical perspective on gradual institutional change to the corporatization literature. This is achieved via a longitudinal case study on the institutionalization of the Danish state guarantee model (SGM) for transport infrastructure based on archival document studies of seven infrastructure projects and 31 interviews with elite actors and experts. The article explores with a detailed analysis how the gradual change mechanisms of layering, conversion and displacement coexist, are interrelated, and are coevolving over a long period. It contributes to the corporatization literature presenting the SGM as an alternative to public and private partnerships and government agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether discriminatory or uniform pricing is socially preferable in the context of introducing partial privatization: where a firm has a mixture of public and private ownership. To this end, we employ a model that assumes two asymmetric regions and two firms–one that is wholly private, and the other that can range from fully government-owner to wholly private–that compete on price in one of the two regions. We conclude that, under discriminatory pricing, partial privatization is socially preferable under certain conditions, whereas full government ownership is socially preferable under uniform pricing. In terms of comparing social welfare between the two options, when both firms have a different constant return to technology, discriminatory pricing is socially preferable; when both firms have a common decreasing return to scale technology, if the degree of differentiation between the two firms' product is large, uniform pricing is socially preferable; otherwise, discriminatory pricing is socially preferable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the perceived burden of transaction costs in externalising three local services in Poland -- transport, care services and water and sewage services. The tool for interpreting the results of the empirical study is the concept of transaction costs concerning the difficulties of monitoring services. The article poses questions about which of the analysed monitoring costs are perceived by local government officials as more painful and how this perception differs between the organisational forms of public service provision. The study found that contracts with a public agent are perceived as more expensive than contracts with a private agent. Administrative agreements and purchases from other local governments are important tools for providing services in Poland; they are used to adjust the structure used to provide the service to the size of the market and the resources needed to provide a given service. The effective monitoring of these contracts is a crucial element in building the quality of governance in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers strategic relations between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and privatization policy in a mixed duopoly. We investigate the impact of the order of sequential games and compare with simultaneous game to highlight the significant role of the foreign shareholding ratio of the CSR-firm. We show that the privatization-then-CSR case yields a lower (higher) degree of privatization while a higher (lower) level of CSR than the CSR-then-privatization case when foreign penetration is low (high). We also show that privatization-then-CSR case can be a unique equilibrium in an endogenous timing game, while it is socially desirable when foreign penetration is neither sufficiently low nor high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article analyzes the consequences of transformation in governance structures of stock exchanges on their CSR initiatives, in particular relations between their organizational forms and the number and nature of CSR initiatives as well as their influence on stock exchanges’ performance.

This study constructs a mixed oligopoly model that includes a public enterprise and two private enterprises. Game theory was adopted to explore the effects of carbon emission reduction policies. In addition, this study analyzes the optimal carbon emission trading prices and privatization decisions. The results show that the proportion of state-owned shares and the equity efficiency gap affect the equilibrium results for different carbon emission policies. Privatization increases the profits of public firms but does not necessarily increase social welfare. Different carbon emission reduction policies have different effects on the equilibrium results. Moreover, the emission reduction target is not completely consistent with the maximum social welfare target and should be comprehensively considered. The government can intervene by setting carbon emission trading prices and making privatization decisions. Full and partial privatization may be optimal decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the optimal privatization policy when firms endogenously choose their strategic variable. The level of privatization is shown to determine: (i) the choice of strategic variable, whereby an asymmetric equilibrium could emerge (either Cournot–Bertrand or Bertrand–Cournot); (ii) the stability of equilibrium when the partially privatized firm and the private firm choose quantity and price respectively as the strategic variable; and (iii) the level of welfare, whereby Cournot–Cournot and Bertrand–Cournot games could lead to a greater welfare than the Bertrand–Bertrand model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]