Governing the hybridity of state-owned enterprises

What differentiates state-owned enterprises (SOEs) around the world? Some SOEs are subject to special treatments and centralized control, while others operate more like private enterprises under loosely defined ownership structures. This mix of state and market ingredients creates unique SOEs in each country. We focus on the concept of governance hybridity as a mix between private and public logics and provide a factor analysis of how hybridity arrangements affect SOEs in each country. The analysis shows two salient dimensions (factors): the influence of government in SOE governance, tax treatment, and financial support of SOEs and restricted market mechanisms for SOEs. We categorise countries into four clusters based on their scores on these factors. We find that countries where SOEs play a lesser role tend to adopt a hybrid governance approach, combining public and private elements. However, the country scores vary significantly, supporting the need for further research on the conditions under which hybridity of governance is effective and when it is not.