Life After Privatization

Life After Privatization offers a refreshing and original theoretical conceptualization of what happened to state-owned enterprises after they were privatized from the late 1970s onwards. Some privatized firms have become today's European and global giants, 'Alphas', merging with or acquiring other firms, whereas other firms, 'Beta's, have been taken over by Alphas or other sectoral leaders. The book raises questions such as which privatized firms in the airline, automobile, and the electricity sectors in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are Alphas and Betas today? And why? Building on a variety of themes from both Political Science and Business Studies, it considers a comprehensive set of explanations both internal and external to the firm, to analysis why a firm may become an Alpha or a Beta. The evidence shows that while internal factors are important, the more external, political, factors are necessary and sufficient to explain why a firm becomes an Alpha or a Beta. This includes the impact of liberalization, the roles of states, and the actions of regulators that are lobbied by firms. Based on the evidence, Life After Privatization concludes with a novel inductive theory, which offers a significant step forward for social science scholars' and practitioners' understanding of the 'politics' businesses face in global markets.