Managing Firms across Borders: Operating Organisations′ Behaviour and Strategy Formulation in Public Enterprises

Public sector enterprises show distinct differences in structure, management philosophy, and perfomance when compared to private sector enterprises. This becomes more evident when one compares the performance of developed – versus developing‐country public enterprises. In particular, they are a dominant force for the socio‐economic and technological development of developing economies. In recent years, public enterprises have enlerged as important income contributors and a potent technology source to developing countries through their active internationalisation efforts. After two to three decades of home country‐based operations, public enterprises have begun to enter and operate in international markets, due to the impact of home country push and host country pull factors. The purpose of this article is to examine the internationalisation process of public sector enterprises from developing countries. In particular, their structures, operational methods and procedures, organisational behaviour and strategy formulation issues important to operations in overseas markets are examined for orderly decision‐making purposes. Public sector enterprise development for international markets is studied conceptually as well as analytically, and a number of effective strategies with contemporary examples are discussed.