[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-113069-en":3,"doc-seo-113069-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},113069,687197100911,"Himbo","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/a000239b6f1da00475?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1782698725881665579",8,"Research & Report","The Business of the State - A Practitioner’s Guide for When (Not) to Use BOSs","A practitioner-focused guide explains how evidence on businesses of the state (BOSs) can inform policy decisions about when to rely on them as development tools and when to avoid them. The framework distinguishes good, bad, and ugly outcomes and links differences to soft-budget constraints, non-profit objectives, and supportive regulation, shaped by interactions with market imperfections and institutional failures. It provides five engagement principles, including mapping and monitoring, subsidiarity, strong sector regulation, competitive neutrality, and phase-out strategies, supported by transparency and accountability checks.","Public Disc losure Authorized  \n6. A Practitioner’s Guide for When (Not) to Use BOSs  \nPub lic Disc losure Authorized  \nIntroduction  \nNew evidence generated for this report and findings from previous studies provide guidance to practitioners on whether and how (not) to rely on businesses of the state (BOSs) as tools for development policy. The objective here is to support policy makers in getting the most from BOSs and at the same time highlight potential risks and propose reform options to improve expected outcomes. This chapter offers principles and practical checks on how to proceed.1  \nState ownership of enterprises is part of the toolkit that governments use to correct market imperfections and institutional failures. But, as this report argues, the best policy response rarely requires mobilizing state ownership. Fiscal and regulatory policies can provide incentives to private firms so that they provide universal access to services or protect the environment. And, when confronted with macroeconomic fluctuations or crises, governments often find that fiscal policy and monetary policy are better suited for stabilizing an economy.  \nIn reality, reliance on BOSs can create good, bad, or ugly outcomes, as illustrated with the following examples:  \n■ Good outcomes. Some BOSs perform well. They effectively meet valid policy objectives, create markets, and innovate. BOSs with majority private ownership can provide market discipline that contributes to higher productivity.  \n■ Bad outcomes. A bad outcome could be that some BOSs’ good performance is driven by preferential treatment. This can enable them to meet their objectives but can be inefficient and costly and prevent crowding in private investment.  \n■ Ugly outcomes. An ugly outcome—a worst-case scenario—can occur when some BOSs underperform and do not have a social mandate justifying state ownership. These entities may fail to fulfill their intended social objective, become a fiscal drain, engage in anticompetitive practices, or are heavily protected from competition. Such BOSs can inhibit innovation by private investors or suffer from political patronage and corruption.  \nEvidence in this report confirms that outcomes across markets can indeed be good, bad, and ugly, providing motivation to revisit policy approaches. The features that distinguish BOSs from private firms—the soft-budget constraint, the nonprofit  \nobjectives, and the favorable regulatory environment—affect those outcomes. And the way BOSs affect outcomes depends on how they interact with market imperfections and institutional failures in the rest of the economy. Because BOSs are unlikely to go away, it helps to clarify when relying on them can be viable.  \nFive Guiding Principles for Engagement with BOSs  \nThe impact state participation in markets has on an economy is shaped by three factors: the type of public-private ownership characterizing BOSs, the structure of the markets they operate in, and the broader policies and institutions that regulate state ownership. Hence, when policy makers decide whether to rely on BOSs to attain specific development objectives, they should be guided by principles that bring to the surface the least visible parts and risks of the state’s involvement in business at the country, sector, and enterprise levels.  \nThis report proposes five principles for government engagement with BOSs:  \n1. Develop a nationwide mapping of BOSs under various line ministries and agencies and in different sectors, and monitor their performance and fiscal cost.  \n2. Apply the subsidiarity principle economywide, which calls for a limited role of the state if private firms are interested and capable of supplying goods and services that fulfill demand adequately.  \n3. Put in place strong institutions to regulate sectors and address the risk of capture by insiders.  \n4. Ensure competitive neutrality of regulations and policies and their enforcement, including labor regulations, the separation between ","cbCaifCCv0q3qkHe","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifCCv0q3qkHe","pdf",719005,1,24,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# Five Guiding Principles for Engagement with BOSs\n## Principle 1: Ensure Transparency and Monitoring of the Entire State\n## Principle 2: Apply the Subsidiarity Principle Economywide","[{\"question\":\"What is the objective of this practitioner’s guide on BOSs?\",\"answer\":\"It helps policy makers get the most from BOSs while highlighting risks and proposing reform options to improve expected outcomes.\"},{\"question\":\"What kinds of outcomes can reliance on BOSs create?\",\"answer\":\"Outcomes can be good, driven by effective performance and market discipline; bad, when performance reflects preferential treatment and harms private investment; or ugly, including underperformance, fiscal drain, anticompetitive practices, and corruption.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the five guiding principles for engaging with BOSs?\",\"answer\":\"They include mapping and monitoring BOSs’ performance and fiscal cost; applying subsidiarity; building strong institutions to prevent capture; ensuring competitive neutrality and correct roles and support; and preparing phase-out strategies for BOSs no longer needed.\"}]",1784499703,60,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-business-of-the-state-a-practitioners-guide-for-when-not-to-use-boss","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-business-of-the-state-a-practitioners-guide-for-when-not-to-use-boss/113069/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What is the objective of this practitioner’s guide on BOSs?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"It helps policy makers get the most from BOSs while highlighting risks and proposing reform options to improve expected outcomes.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What kinds of outcomes can reliance on BOSs create?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Outcomes can be good, driven by effective performance and market discipline; bad, when performance reflects preferential treatment and harms private investment; or ugly, including underperformance, fiscal drain, anticompetitive practices, and corruption.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What are the five guiding principles for engaging with BOSs?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"They include mapping and monitoring BOSs’ performance and fiscal cost; applying subsidiarity; building strong institutions to prevent capture; ensuring competitive neutrality and correct roles and support; and preparing phase-out strategies for BOSs no longer needed.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,100,104,108,113,118,121,126,129,133],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":28,"slug":107},5,"Comic","comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},30,"research-report",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":125},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":128},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":132},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]