Restructuring of Public Enterprises as Source of Increasing Competitiveness in Serbia and South-Eastern Europe Region

Abstract

In this paper we will try to identify key characteristics of public enterprises restructuring processes and analyze their contribution to overall economic competitiveness in Serbia and some neighboring countries, such as Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special attention will be paid to public enterprises in the Republic of Serbia, where no major restructuring activities have been observed so far. Consequently, this sector in Serbia still faces low level of competitiveness. At the same time, a lot of challenges and open issues concerning mostly rationale for and against privatization, legal and regulatory practices, government oversight and corporate governance, transparency and accountability are present in Serbia. Last, but not least, we will try to identify key factors, on national as well as regional level, which could help increasing public enterprises competitiveness. This paper consists of five parts. The first part gives brief introduction as of changes which occurred in the region. The second part deals with the analysis of basic characteristics and some problems of public enterprises in the four observed countries. The third part analyzes the relation between the public enterprise sector and the source of national competitiveness. The fourth part treats the efforts made by the Republic of Serbia so as to restructure the sector of public enterprises, while the fifth part gives conclusions.