Doing Business In Newly Privatized Markets

During the past decade, thousands of former state-controlled companies in more than 100 different countries have entered the private sector. These firms range in size and commercial significance from small family-owned kiosks in Russia to some of the largest, most influential corporations in Western and Central Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Miller provides a comprehensive, business-oriented perspective on the origin and geographic expansion of the privatization movement, and describes the methods that governments use and the objectives they hope to achieve in the divestment of state assets. He identifies the formative influences on these new companies, as well as the operating needs created by the privatization process. Privatization-intensive markets are examined in relation to their importance, type of companies involved, and the challenges they present. Miller's book also discusses alternate methods of market expansion, such as reaching newly privatized firms through a strategic marketing program. His book will be essential reading for academicians and graduate students in international business and world trade, as well as their practitioner counterparts in corporations and multilateral development agencies.

Political upheaval in Eastern Europe, crippling debt in Latin America, and a volatile North American economy have created a climate in which privatization has emerged as a dramatic new business opportunity. While providing governments with a chance to cut losses and quickly generate much-needed cash, privatization offers new investment opportunities with strong upside potential for businesses.

As import-substitution industrialization yields to increasing market liberalization in Latin America in the 1990s, privatization assigns new roles to both the public and private sectors. After the decade of the debt crisis, a much weakened State will reorient its policy efforts to the difficult issues of limited fiscal and monetary choices, regulation of newly privatized firms, and long-postponed social programs. However, privatization represents a mhallenge for the private sector as much as it is an issue for the public sector. Foreign and domestic capital will be asked to play a critical role in revitalizing battered economies. New players, from penny-capitalists to pension funds, and new institutions, including dramatically altered banking systems and suddenly thriving stock markets, have recently appeared. The changing roles of public and private sectors and the implications of these developments are the focus of this book.

The privatization efforts of most developing countries are inhibited by embryonic financial markets, weak regulatory capacity, and a public sector that accounts for a large share of GDP. Many, particularly those with low per capita income, lack some of the main ingredients for a successful privatization, such as capital, entrepreneurs, and competent managers. But some of these countries have large markets and fast economic growth rates, features that make the success of government divestiture more likely. This Note describes the results of a study that set out to determine whether privatization is beneficial in the economic environments and institutional settings of these countries by examining how privatization affects firms' financial and operating performance in a broad set of developing countries.

The authors' view is that any privatisation is better than none, regardless of whether a stable, competitive environment has been established first. However, private companies started from scratch perform best, followed by newly privatised firms run by outsiders, either local or foreign. Privatised companies dominated by insiders do less well, but even they regularly outperform state enterprises. Without an appropriate market environment though, managers may spend more time lobbying the government for support than undertaking painful restructuring measures.

Much is written about the various efforts aimed at reforming China’s state-owned enterprises. But in all this literature the Chinese government’s determined effort to use the equity capital markets as a tool of enterprise reform has been virtually ignored. The fact is that during the past decade this has been, and will continue to be, the principal thrust with regard to the reform of state-owned enterprises. On-again, off-again, noises about bankruptcy, M&A solutions and asset management companies are only sideshows in the process. Carl E. Walter is a Managing Director of JP Morgan and Chief Operating Officer of its China businesses. Prior to joining JP Morgan in 2001, Mr. Walter was a Managing Director and member of the Management Committee of China International Capital Corporation. He was Chief Representative in Beijing for Credit Suisse First Boston from 1993-8. During his decade in China, Mr. Walter has participated in a number of pathbreaking international and domestic share listings and debt issues for Chinese companies, banks and the Ministry of Finance. He holds a PhD from Stanford University and a graduate certificate from Beijing University. Fraser Howie is an independent financial analyst located in Beijing. Over the past ten years he has worked in Hong Kong trading equity derivatives at Bankers Trust and Morgan Stanley. After moving to China in 1998 he worked in the Sales and Trading Department of China International Capital Corporation then with a domestic retail financial services company and most recently with China M&A Management Company.

Doing Business in Emerging Markets: Entry and Negotiation Strategies is an authoritative and timely guide for executives who are contemplating business in these markets. Including numerous exhibits and real-world examples, the authors explore analysis and evaluation of market potential, management of the negotiation process, and the recognition of important regional business styles and cultural issues. Students and professors in MBA or Ph.D. programs in international management, marketing, and strategy will also find this an invaluable aid to understanding emerging markets.

List of Tables and Figures; List of Acronyms; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Thinking Big Again; Chapter 1: From Crisis Ideology to the Division of Innovative Labour; Chapter 2: Technology, Innovation and Growth; Chapter 3: Risk-Taking State: From 'De-risking' to 'Bring It On!'; Chapter 4: The US Entrepreneurial State; Chapter 5: The State behind the iPhone; Chapter 6: Pushing vs. Nudging the Green Industrial Revolution; Chapter 7: Wind and Solar Power: Government Success Stories and Technology in Crisis; Chapter 8: Risks and Rewards: From Rotten Apples to Symbiotic Ecosystems; Chapter 9: So.