The Government Corporation: Organization and Controls

Abstract

T HE great increase in the number of stateowned-and-operated business enterprises during the last decade has confronted almost every nation with a basic dilemma: how can the operating and financial flexibility required for the successful conduct of a business enterprise be reconciled with the need for controls to assure public accountability and consistency in public policy? Attempts to resolve this dilemma have taken many different forms and met with varying degrees of success. Even within any single country there are substantial differences among the various enterprises in organizational and legal status, operational authority, and financial independence. The differences between countries are even more striking, since each nation must necessarily seek an organizational solution compatible with its constitutional system, political traditions, governmental structure, and economy. While no standard organizational plan for public enterprises has emerged, nonetheless certain general trends are now discernible throughout the world.