ABSTRACT
Seeking finance through listing on the stock exchange has been extremely restricted as far as private firms have been concerned. Many would wish to if possible. Those in hi-technology firms, in particular, see it as a means of providing incentives to key employees and managers in an industry that is knowledge-intensive. More generally however, the domestic stock market is eyed by private entrepreneurs much as it is by state enterprises, as a source of windfall finance from an institution characterised by price manipulation and speculative swings that makes little in the way of demands on those listed. So attractive has this proved that some firms have sought to circumvent barriers to entry through purchasing their way into state companies that have already listed, ‘borrowing the shell for the egg’.
