The performance issues of state-owned enterprises have been concerned by common people. In order to improve state-owned enterprises¡¦ performance effectively, the government should understand their regular operation efficiency adequately and then establish an appropriate evaluation system. However, the roles and functions of state-owned enterprises have changed significantly since the environment changed and economics progressed in Taiwan. As a result, the views and means toward performance assessment are kind of imbalanced. Therefore, this study researched Taiwan state-owned enterprises¡¦ performance assessment system to assess and review the related problems about existing evaluation methods. The aspects include indicators of evaluation, functions of evaluation and executing the system practically. According to document analysis, this study reviewed literature about performance evaluation, and analyzed rules, methods, indicators and overall report of performance assessment from RDEC (Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, Executive Yuan) over the years to realize the meaning of existing performance assessment system and the challenges of implementing the system. Three comments toward this evaluation system are as follows. First, regulate the relationship between the government and each state-owned enterprise appropriately to avoid or reduce government organizations¡¦ improper interference with state-owned enterprises. Then, there will be more objective and more correct evaluation outcomes. Second, the existing grading mechanism may let importance of evaluation indicators be diluted by subordinate ones. The grading mechanism should be established based on operation features of state-owned enterprises and their budget plans. Third, the existing evaluation emphasizes annual short-term performance and lacks of consideration of long-term development and innovation ability. So, the study suggests that government may apply BSC (Balanced Score Card) to adjust the contents of evaluation standards and items. Key words: State-owned enterprises, Performance assessment system, Performance evaluation

Even though empirical studies show that political institutions affect various economic policies, standard economic models do not evaluate the effects of government ideology on the performance of state firms. I argue that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more efficient under center-right governments, while state firms under center-left cabinets show weaker performance. A modified Stackelberg oligopoly competition model that analyzes the proposed connection is developed. I, then, test implications from the model empirically using the case of Lithuania.

This thesis explores, first, the evolvement and implementation of competition policy in China, where a competition culture was largely missing for decades; and second, the extent to which the government has resolved the inherent contradiction between preserving state control and promoting competition. The main aim is to evaluate how a competition law, which is essentially a product of capitalist free market economy, is being applied in China, a socialist country where predominant state-owned enterprises (SOEs) together with their owner – the Chinese government – generate the most distortions to market competition. To achieve this aim, the thesis studies, first, the ongoing economic transition and the historical development of Chinese competition policy; second, the prolonged drafting process of the Anti- Monopoly Law (AML); third, the substantive and institutional aspects of the enforcement of the AML, and the outstanding problems of the current competition system; and fourth, the role of the government in the interplay between competition policy and SOEs. The thesis also studies the European Union (EU) competition regime, which had substantial influence on the adoption of the AML and the design of China’s competition system. This discussion intends to use the experiences of the EU in modernising its competition system and in handling competition-related issues involving public enterprises to provide some meaningful answers to certain problems concerning the application of the AML and to possible reform of competition system in China.

Magister Legum - LLM / Corporate governance reform is an important aspect of broader reforms aimed at securing an environment attractive to both domestic and foreign investors and that enhances the benefits of investment to society. Of particular relevance is the relation between corporate governance practices and the increasingly international character of investment. If a country decides to reap the full benefits of the global capital market, and if it decides to attract long-term patient capital, good corporate governance arrangements must be credible, well understood across borders and adhere to internationally accepted principles. Equally important is the underlying importance of institution building for developing countries. In most cases poverty goes hand in hand with the lack of proper institutions, a vicious circle of mismanagement, inefficiencies, expropriation and corruption. The lack of properly functioning State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as institutions or corporations, impacts directly on growth by limiting the availability of debt and equity investment. It also impacts on the distribution of income within a society. With more transparency and accountability the directors and executives will have less of an opportunity to fatten their bank accounts at the expense of all the other stakeholders and the society as a whole. The review of corporate governance reforms done in this research includes statutory reforms, development of codes of conduct and best practice, and institutional reforms will give a better evaluation of South Africa‘s corporate governance reforms within its own SOEs structures that will be judged against internationally accepted standards to consider the best interests of South Africa and its citizens. The positive and negative consequences that can stem from strengthening corporate governance regulations and assist in determining the best possible model for South African SOEs will form part of the recommendations of this research.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / China has embarked on a wide range of economic reforms in the past thirty years. One of the major reforms was to restructure state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into public listed companies (PLCs) to improve the performance and quality of corporate governance of SOEs. However, the unique phenomenon of China’s equity market is that the state continues to hold a controlling stake in PLCs with less than 40% of shares tradable in the stock market. This seriously affects the performance and quality of corporate governance of China’s PLCs. This mini-thesis investigates the effects of split-share structure reform on SOEs in China, with particular focus on an analysis of the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance of listed companies. By using a sample of the top 50 companies based on the ranking of the 2004 Fortune top 100 PLCs, a negative correlation was found between the state ownership structure and firm performance of China PLCs before the announcement of split-share structure reform. However, by using the same samples and techniques, the analysis shows that the improvement in the diversified ownership structure had a positive impact on firm performance in China PLCs after the reform.

While state-owned enterprises play an instrumental role in economic development, they are a significant fiscal risk to the state. This occurs through state-guaranteed loans that have more lax credit monitoring, and soft budget constraints, where stateowned enterprises can increase their debt levels without fear of liquidation or bankruptcy. This study empirically investigated the relationship between Eskom’s financial performance and its own debt and government debt, using the utility’s financial statements and government debt data from 1985 to 2017. The study used two models, namely, the Vector Autoregression (VAR) Model and the Error Correction Model (ECM) to analyse the data. In terms of the VAR, according to the impulse response functions, a one standard deviation shock to the debt-to-GDP ratio has a minimal impact on the electricity price, Eskom’s revenue and Eskom debt. Therefore, an innovation to the debt-toGDP ratio explains a large proportion of itself, as one standard deviation shock to the electricity price has a positive response from Eskom’s revenue and its debt. Similarly, a one standard deviation shock to Eskom’s revenue has a positive response from the electricity price and Eskom’s debt, and a one standard deviation shock to Eskom’s debt has a positive response from the electricity price and Eskom’s revenue. The forecast error variance decomposition analysis shows that up to 9,17% of the forecast error variance of the debt-to-GDP ratio is explained by the electricity price. Government debt relative to GDP explains 32,9% of the forecast error variance in the electricity price. The electricity price explains 29,51% of the forecast error variance in Eskom’s revenue. The forecast error variance for Eskom debt is explained by government debt/GDP which is up to 30,34%. The ECM shows that a long run relationship exists between Eskom’s debt relative to government debt, Eskom’s revenue relative to the electricity price and Eskom’s staff numbers. The study shows that Eskom’s increase in revenue is largely attributed to tariff hikes, stateguaranteed loans and equity injections, rather than increases in sales. A large proportion of government debt is comprised of Eskom debt. The proposed avenue as a way forward is partial privatisation or fiscal consolidation. / Economics

A reform of the constitutional bases of the oil and gas industry in Mexico took place in 2013 (with sweeping changes to secondary legislation through 2014). Private and foreign production of hydrocarbons became legal after almost six decades of national monopoly --and 75 years after the revolutionary regime nationalized the assets of foreign producers. A wholesale market for electricity was also put in place. These legal reforms started to crystallize in 2018, as private producers started to have access to the networks carrying electricity and gas across the nation. This research presents a retrospective examination of 23 years of policy implementation in the natural gas industry of Mexico (1995-2018). The dissertation pays central attention to the patterns of state intervention that have characterized the national economy and that have contributed to shape the outcome of two policy packages pursuing liberalisation (one starting in 1995 and the other in 2013 and 2014). The research is based on a classical political economy approach, drawing on the literature on Varieties of Capitalism and Varieties of State Capitalism. The study centers on the relations between the players in the sector: their constraints and resources, against a backdrop of other economic policies affecting energy. Importantly, this study considers regulation as a mechanism of economic coordination. As a process-tracing case study, this thesis sets out to elucidate the distinctive factors that contributed to produce the current organization of the natural gas sector in Mexico --one where, ironically, liberalisation has been possible thanks to the deployment of a new state-owned enterprise. Three factors stand out as characteristic in the Mexican trajectory towards liberalisation: the strength of the national oil company as an obstacle of upstream liberalisation for almost two decades after 1995; the absence or weakness of constituencies supporting the restructuring of the sector (large industrial consumers, local distributors), and the sudden restructuring of supply and demand patterns, with the state-owned electricity enterprise emerging as a dominant trader. The new centrality of the electricity SOE and an Independent System Operator (also an SOE) underscores the limits of the new, more competitive, structure of the Mexican natural gas industry.

The People’s Republic of China (“China”) claims absolute immunity for itself but embraces a concept of state for immunity purposes that excludes state-owned enterprises (“SOEs”). This position has led to confusion and frustration in international litigation against China and Chinese SOEs, particularly when massive Chinese foreign investments are led by SOEs, including those made under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Yet, the immunity status of Chinese SOEs is unclear. Against this backdrop, this thesis examines Chinese SOEs’ ability to claim sovereign immunity under the customary international law of restrictive immunity as expressed and built on in the 2004 United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (“UNCSI”), the 1976 United States Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“US FSIA”) and the 1978 United Kingdom State Immunity Act (“UK SIA”). In investigating the immunity status of the 97 SOEs in which the Chinese central government has direct and full/majority ownership, this thesis answers two questions: (1) under what circumstances would these 97 Chinese SOEs be treated as part of the state for immunity purposes under the UNCSI, the US FSIA and the UK SIA; and (2) under what circumstances would these 97 Chinese SOEs attract jurisdictional and execution immunities thereunder. A critical part of this analysis involves developing an understanding of Chinese SOEs’ dual identity as defined by the Chinese political economy. Chinese SOEs’ dual identity has two levels of meaning. First, it reflects the fact that some Chinese SOEs are categorized as commercial SOEs and others are categorized as public welfare SOEs in the current SOE reform. Secondly, commercial Chinese SOEs have a dual identity, i.e., a commercial and a sovereign aspect in their operations. While commercial SOEs’ primary goal is to pursue commercial interests, they also implement the state’s social, political, and economic policy goals. This sovereign aspect—primarily reflected as the sovereign purpose in their commercial transactions—adds complexity, but is necessary, to our assessment of Chinese SOEs’ “state” status and immunity under the customary international law of sovereign immunity. The three regimes studied in this thesis—the UNCSI, the US FSIA, and the UK SIA—not only take distinctive approaches toward the definition of the state, but also to the commercial exceptions to jurisdictional immunity and execution immunity. Their different analytical frameworks take us to different conclusions about Chinese SOEs’ “state” status and immunity in some cases. Under the UNCSI and the UK SIA, in principle, Chinese SOEs are unlikely to acquire “state” status to claim immunity in their commercial capacity, and consequently, unable to attract jurisdictional immunity and execution immunity for their assets as separate entities. But public welfare SOEs and some commercial SOEs can potentially attract jurisdictional immunity and execution immunity for their assets because to the extent that the purposes of their conduct—which are often related to inherently sovereign functions like the military or the public welfare—are considered in the overall context, the nature of the commercial transaction could be converted into a sovereign one. Under the US FSIA, Chinese SOEs—either commercial or public welfare ones—are state agencies/instrumentalities for immunity purposes, thus, have “state” status. But, in contrast with the UNCSI and the UK SIA, Chinese SOEs are less likely to attract jurisdictional immunity for their commercial activities or execution immunity for their assets under the US FSIA because the US statute applies a broad commercial exception that only considers the nature of the conduct in characterizing whether a transaction is a commercial one. This thesis’s investigations and conclusions have commercial, sovereign, and policy implications for Chinese SOEs’ international business transactions, China’s sovereign immunity position, and litigation involving China and Chinese SOEs in jurisdictions where restrictive immunity is upheld. First, in commercial terms, the analysis in this thesis will better enable commercial parties and states that have commercial relations with Chinese SOEs to understand the dual identity of Chinese SOEs defined by the Chinese political economy and understand under what circumstances Chinese SOEs can potentially attract jurisdictional and execution immunities. Second, in sovereign terms, my research enables states to assess their diplomatic and economic relationships with China from a foreign relations law perspective as China asserts absolute immunity in foreign domestic courts. As this thesis suggests, litigation against China and its emanations and execution against their assets in states where restrictive immunity is applied could give rise to sensitive political clashes in light of China’s absolute immunity position. The ongoing pandemic litigation between the State of Missouri and China in the US court is an example. In line with its practice, China refused to appear in this and other similar cases. My thesis work could provide legal researchers and practitioners with a better informed legal perspective on these highly political disputes. Third, in policy terms, my Chapter on China’s sovereign immunity and my findings that some commercial and public welfare SOEs can potentially attract jurisdictional and execution immunities under the UNCSI and the UK SIA provide China some reasons to not only embrace restrictive immunity but to clarify the definition of the state for immunity purposes thereunder. Ratifying the UNCSI, in my view, would allow China’s position to conform to international law on the one hand; and allow China to contribute to the development of the law of sovereign immunity on the other hand.

This study aims to examine the attitudes of the Saudi undergraduate college students toward the anticipated effects of privatization on the employment system of the Saudi privatized SOEs. Using survey questionnaire data collected in May 2002 from 672 Saudi undergraduate college students, the study results reveal varied attitudes. On the one hand, large percentages of the respondents prefer working under close supervision of Saudi management, having a salary based on productivity, being promoted based upon performance (rather than seniority), and adhering to prescribed procedures in executing job tasks. On the other hand, high percentages of the study respondents tend to dislike the concepts of putting forth more effort to meet management's plans, of working on nights and weekend, and of compromising job security in return for a higher salary. In addition, while the majority of the study respondents believe that privatization of state-owned enterprises is best for the local economy, their support for privatization is qualified by their insistence or desire that it not negatively impact their own interests. The statistical significance and association analyses reveal that the effects of academic majors and province on respondents' attitudes toward promotion criteria, teaming, and management's nationality are indeed significant. In addition, gender, SES, living areas prior to college entry, and adherence to religion are significantly related to respondents' attitudes toward privatization in general and toward some of its potential effects on the employment system. Recommendations are provided. / Ph. D.

Pioneered by Bernard et al. (1995) and Melitz (2003), recent advances in the international economics literature emphasizing the role of firm-level productivity differences has shed new light on the dynamics of international trade. Despite gaining significant traction in the international economics literature, firm-level analysis in the agricultural economics literature is comparatively rare, particularly in an emerging, industrialized economy such as China. This dissertation consists of three essays that provide firm-level analysis on Chinese agricultural trade since China's accession to the world trade organization (WTO). In the first essay, I segment by ownership structure to examine the role of different firm types in Chinese agricultural trade and find that domestic, private firms dominate Chinese agricultural trade and contribute 60%, or $96 billion, of the agricultural trade growth over the 2000-2016 period. Furthermore, the results show that although the economic weight of the state sector is declining, the share of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in strategically important commodities, such as wheat, corn, and rice imports are consistently high. In the second essay, I develop an empirical strategy to break down China's agricultural import trade growth. The findings reveal that China's agricultural import growth is highly concentrated among a small group of firms, where the top 10% of Chinese agricultural importers account for nearly 90% of the country's agricultural imports. I also find evidence of significant agri-food product importer turnover as over 40% of new firms entering China's agricultural import market exited after just 1.7 years during our sample period. In the last essay, I evaluate the efficiency of a specific Chinese non-tariff measure (NTM), the tariff rate quota (TRQ), using Chinese firm-level data. Two key findings emerge from this analysis. First, unlike results from country-level analyses, I find that SOEs import quantities are more sensitive to price changes. Additionally, more SOEs import grains when the price differential between domestic and world markets increases. Second, I fail to find any causal difference in the SOE share of TRQ imports before and after the two previously mentioned policy events were implemented to promote the market orientation of Chinese grain imports / PHD