Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides historical overviews of the role of corporatisation in microeconomic reform and public administration. It develops the idea of a political cycle in the governance of public services, oscillating over time between efficiency and public interest concerns. The book analyses in more detail the Australian experience with government owned corporations (GOC) in the microeconomic reform processes. It also analyses how the behaviour of a corporatised firm varies with the degree of corporatisation. It describes the agency costs of governance, in particular the difficulty of enforcing the governance parameters established to delineate the role of the Ministerial shareholder and the management of the GOC. The book continues that theme by demonstrating the problems arising in various areas of the substantive law applicable to the corporate governance of the GOC, when the organisation crosses the public-private divide.