Employee Ownership in Privatization  

Summary

To successfully privatize an enterprise through employee ownership, the state must be willing to sell, the employees must be interested in buying, the managers must be competent, there must be a market for its products or services, the operation must be competitive, labor-management cooperation must be achievable, and sufficient financing should be available. The paper goes on to recommend ways in which these necessary components of success can be enhanced in a given privatization situation. The challenges as well as the recommendations are the fruit of a year of discussion facilitated by the Capital Ownership Group and funded by the Ford Foundation. The discussion included both professionals and novices with direct experience in privatization from over twenty countries around the world.