The The Legal Framework for Effective, Innovative and Sustainable Governance of State-Owned Enterprise: A Comparative Analysis of Provisions in Selected Economies

Abstract

State-owned enterprises (hereinafter referred to as SOEs) play an important role in the worldwide economy. Despite the privatisation processes in place, they are still key participants in the economies of numerous countries. The study considers seven factors to analyse and compare selected cases (Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden). All of four countries are members of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which is an intergovernmental institution bringing together 43 countries to promote dialogue and cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region. This paper aims to compare the legal framework for corporate governance in selected economies to highlight the progress made so far as well as the shortcomings of the existing framework. The paper will also identify the differences between the systems of corporate governance in various countries and is divided into seven sections. Each section considers a particular aspect of the corporate governance framework as practiced in the selected countries. These are: national approaches to exercising the ownership function; board nomination and efficiency; equitable treatment of shareholders; implementation of the EU directive on non-financial and diversity information; rule of law; sustainable governance effectiveness and innovation score.