ABSTRACT
A firm with goals other than the attainment of maximum or satisfactory profits.
These can exist in the private sector as charities, clubs, mutual insurance societies and households. In the public sector they can be government departments, but are especially public corporations. It is generally not expected that the aim of governmental and quasi-governmental organisations will be the pursuit of profit. As the aim of production in the public sector is the supply of merit goods, the provision of enough at a desired level of quality will be the goal. Britain’s nationalised industries, for example, when set up in the late 1940s were expected to break even, rather than maximise profits, over a five-year period: in practice some made persistent deficits and others increased their profitability.
