Public‐to‐private organizational transition : A reconceptualization of conventional paradigms

Argues that conceptually, privatization entails changing organizational status from public to private and from a monopoly to a competitive situation. In practice, the outcome may be different. Many privatized utilities conform to neither the traditional notion of the public nor the private enterprise. The broad dichotomy of the public‐private model of enterprise classification no longer provides an adequate insight to the workings of organizations in today’s environment. The new challenges emanating from the increasingly complex nature of modern environment require a new philosophy of organizational classification ‐ a reconceptualization of conventional paradigms. Based on the UK’s privatization experience, offers a framework for identifying and delineating the boundaries of an emergent organizational type ‐ the national enterprise. It is suggested that a clear articulation of the national enterprise concept might be useful to governmental strategists in planning the process of transforming state‐owned enterprises.