What are State-Owned Enterprises?

Abstract

State-owned enterprises are recognized by many names and, as well as the name, the definition also often varies across countries. Despite the efforts made by international and professional organizations from all over the world, but also by researchers, until now there is no unanimously accepted definition. The aim of the paper is to examine the understanding of state-owned enterprises’ concepts in various research areas and to offer a definition that includes a multitude of research streams. In achieving the objective of this research, a qualitative analysis was conducted. Through descriptive and thematic investigations, our review provides an interdisciplinary and international overview of the current understanding of the stateowned enterprises’ appellations, and characteristics. Through our proposed layout which comprises the main characteristics of SOEs, we offer support to governments in delineating the boundaries of their sectors.

Keywords

• state-owned enterprises
• public entities
• hybrid organisations
• public sector entities definitions