State-owned enterprises (SOEs) tend to be providers of essential public services, such as electric power companies, water utilities, ports, and transportation networks, but SOEs also engage in an array of commercial activities involving airlines, banks, basic commodity plantations, textile manufacturing, and vehicle assembly plants. Given this magnitude of SOE activity, during the immediate post-conflict period, especially that first 6 months when organizations such as Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) can be used for the initial screening, prioritization, and selection of SOE revitalization candidates, planners should not neglect the need for institution-building, which usually requires medium- and long-term expertise typically found in economic development agencies. The need is pertinent given that SOEs can be national in scope of operation and scale of resources, and the effective management of the SOEs and their operations can significantly affect national-level economic development. Therefore, agents engaged in stability operations should work with development planners to encourage mid- to long-term institutional capacity building that enhances the conflict-prone country's broader capacity for sustained growth. The intended end state of SOEs in stability operations should be functioning entities that can attract new investment, perhaps by privatization when and where appropriate. Although revitalizing SOEs can be complex and ambiguous, the task can be a useful, intermediate objective on the road to a post-conflict sustainable economy.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play significant roles in developing economies in Asia and SOE performance remains crucial for economy-wide productivity and growth. This book looks at SOEs in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, and Viet Nam, which together present a panoramic view of SOEs in the region. It also presents insights from the Republic of Korea on the evolving role of the public sector in various stages of development. It explores corporate governance challenges and how governments could reform SOEs to make them efficient drivers of the long-term productivity-induced growth essential to Asia's transition to high-income status.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) tend to be providers of essential public services-such as electric power companies, water utilities, ports, and transportation networks-but SOEs also engage in an array of commercial activities involving airlines, banks, basic commodity plantations, textile manufacturing, and vehicle assembly plants. Given this magnitude of SOE activity, during the immediate post-conflict period-especially that first 6 months when organizations such as Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) can be used for the initial screening, prioritization, and selection of SOE revitalization candidates-planners should not neglect the need for institution-building, which usually requires medium- and long-term expertise typically found in economic development agencies. The need is pertinent given that SOEs can be national in scope of operation and scale of resources, and the effective management of the SOEs and their operations can significantly affect national-level economic development. Therefore, agents engaged in stability operations should work with development planners to encourage mid- to long-term institutional capacity building that enhances the conflict-prone country's broader capacity for sustained growth. The intended end state of SOEs in stability operations should be functioning entities that can attract new investment, perhaps by privatization when and where appropriate. Although revitalizing SOEs can be complex and ambiguous, the task can be a useful, intermediate objective on the road to a post-conflict sustainable economy.

Prior to the COVID-19 shock, the key challenge facing policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia region was how to generate strong, sustainable, job-rich, inclusive growth. Post-COVID-19, this challenge has only grown given the additional reduction in fiscal space due to the crisis and the increased need to support the recovery. The sizable state-owned enterprise (SOE) footprint in the region, together with its cost to the government, call for revisiting the SOE sector to help open fiscal space and look for growth opportunities.

This Toolkit provides an overall framework with practical tools and information to help policymakers design and implement corporate governance reforms for state-owned enterprises. It concludes with guidance on managing the reform process, in particular how to prioritize and sequence reforms, build capacity, and engage with stakeholders.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are present in key sectors of the economies around the world. While they can provide an important public service, there is widespread concern that their activities are negatively affected by corruption. However, there is limited cross-country analysis on the costs of corruption for SOEs. We present new evidence on how corruption affects the performance of SOEs using firm level data across a large number of countries. One striking result is that SOEs perform as well as private firms in core sectors when corruption is low. Taking advantage of a novel database reforms, we also show that SOE governance reforms can generate significant performance gains.