ABSTRACT
This chapter begins to explore the question of what, if anything, one can usefully say about how governments can increase the probability that their public enterprises will be more enterprising. Public enterprises are viewed as means of creating enterprising behaviour. The chapter suggests ways in which, keeping ownership public, the influence of market relations may be increased – not by attempting a simulation of market relationships within the existing government – public enterprise structure, but by altering organisational boundaries. The key point about successful influence on the set of public enterprises is using evidence coming from relevant comparisons, as far as possible ensuring like with like to monitor performance. For much of the UK nationalised industries’ history, caps on salaries, determined by a political need to cram the chairman’s salary into the government’s own official salary scales, has inhibited recruitment.
