Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises: the Turkish Case

Abstract

As a developing and multi-side interested topic, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises takes attention of both academicians and practitioners at national and international level. Turkish state-owned enterprises (SOEs), historically played important roles in Turkish economy, operate in many key industries even following a few decades of active privatization policy. Like their international counterparts, the Turkish SOEs are subject to both criticism and appreciation from different interest groups for their economic and governance performance. Aimed at framing the corporate governance of the SOEs in Turkey, the research adopts a descriptive approach based on qualitative analysis of deep interview and secondary data. The article shows that i) it was not a question of being public or private enterprise but a decision of having the investment or not that leaded to the establishment of Turkish SOEs, ii) Turkish SOEs played important roles in the development of institutional framework, iii) in order to improve the corporate governance performance of Turkish SOEs necessary amendments include implementation of the state’s active shareholding policy, restructuring board composition, empowering the boards and performance appraisal. Although the results are valid for Turkish context, practical implications may provide insights for other emerging countries.

Keywords: Corporate governance, State-owned enterprises, Turkish SOEs, State ownership.