Governance in State-Owned Enterprises Revisited : The Cases of Water and Electricity in Latin America and the Caribbean
This paper studies the governance structure of state-owned enterprises in the water and electricity sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean. Through a unique dataset, the paper compares 44 leading state companies of the region based on an aggreg...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Language: | English |
Published: |
2012
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110801150940 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3508 |
Summary: | This paper studies the governance
structure of state-owned enterprises in the water and
electricity sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Through a unique dataset, the paper compares 44 leading
state companies of the region based on an aggregate measure
of corporate governance and six salient aspects of their
design: board, chief executive officer, performance
orientation, management, legal framework, and
transparency/disclosure. The results indicate the need for
improvement in areas such as the selection and appointment
of directors to the board and the performance-orientation of
the enterprises. The paper also highlights the importance of
discussing the management of state-owned enterprises in the
wider context of public sector governance, with particular
focus on accountability. Moreover, it recognizes the role of
accountability as central in the management of state-owned
enterprises, recommending a better understanding of
regulation and performance management. The paper finds a
positive correlation between corporate governance and the
utilities' performance. Among the different aspects of
corporate governance, performance orientation and
professional management seem to be the highest contributors
to well-performing state-owned enterprises. State-owned
enterprises in the electricity sector show higher governance
levels than those in the water sector. |
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