From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A government corporation, government-owned corporation or government business enterprise is a legal entity created by a government to exercise some of the powers of the government. Some government corporations may resemble a not-for-profit corporation as they have no need or goal of satisfying the shareholders with return on their investment through price increase or dividends, while other government corporations are established as for-profit businesses, for example Australia Post.

In Western Europe there was a massive nationalization throughout the 1900s, especially after World War II to ensure Government control over natural monopolies and to some extent industry. Typical sectors included telecommunications, power, petroleum, railways, airports, airlines, public transport, health care, postal services and sometimes banks. Many large industrial corporations were also nationalized or created as Government corporations, including among many British Steel, Statoil and Irish Sugar. Starting in the late 1970s and accelerating through the 1980s and 1990s many of these corporations were privatized, though many still remain wholly or partially owned by the respective governments.

In the United States, businesses that are government owned include AMTRAK, Tennessee Valley Authority, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the United States Postal Service. Many states have government owned businesses for operations as well. Generally speaking, a statute passed by a legislature specifically sets up a government owned company in order to undertake a specific public purpose with public funds or public property.

In the People's Republic of China, there are a number of different corporate forms which result in a mixture of public and private capital. In PRC terminology, a state-owned enterprise refers to a particular corporate form, which is increasingly being replaced by the listed company.

In monarchical Commonwealth countries, particularly Canada, country-wide government corporations often use the style "Crown corporation." Equivalent terms include State-Owned Enterprises and Crown entities in New Zealand, and Government Business Enterprise (GBE) in Australia. Examples of Crown corporations include the CBC in Canada and Air Canada before it underwent privatisation. Cabinet ministers (Ministers of the Crown) often control the shares in such public corporations.

At the level of local government, territorial or other authorities may set up government corporations such as "Local Authority Trading Enterprises" (LATEs). Many local authorities establish services such as water supply as separate corporations or as a business unit of the authority.

In Japan, Japan Post was reorganized into Japan Post Group in 2007 as a material step of the postal privatization. It is currently wholly owned by the government, but is planned to be sold into private ownership. Japan Railways Group (JR), Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) were formerly owned by the government.

In most OPEC countries, the governments prefer to own the oil companies operating on their soil. A notable example is the Saudi national oil company, Saudi Aramco, which the Saudi government bought in 1988 and changed its name from Arabian American Oil Company to Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The Saudi government also owns and operates Saudi Arabian Airlines, and owns 70% of SABIC, as well as many other companies. They are, however, being publicized gradually.

• Government-linked company
• Crown corporations of Canada
• Nationalization
• Privatization
• Public company (public corporation)
• Public Sector Undertaking (Indian state enterprise)
• Public ownership
• Statsforetak (Norwegian state enterprise)
• Stock exchange
• Stock market
• State-Owned Enterprises of New Zealand
• Unitary Enterprise (Russian state enterprise)
• Volkseigener Betrieb (East German state enterprise)

• The Public Firm with Managerial Incentives by Elmer G. Wiens.