ABSTRACT

This chapter outlines the general framework for a discussion on how ownership influences transformation. It argues that ownership stands out as a crucial factor when it comes to the question of company transformation. The chapter draws on the literature concerned with the effects of ownership on performance, points to the relationship between the principal and the agent, and the ability and possibility for principals to achieve goals through agents. It focuses on the role of owners as principals and the powers or lack of power embedded in that role. Considering the impact of ownership has been done primarily along three dimensions: the effect of ownership on company performance, the effect on management and organisation, and finally the effect of ownership on processes of organisational transformation. Portraying ownership in economic terms of designing effective institutions capable of controlling firms' management does not capture the ambiguity of the role and the effect of state ownership in different periods.