Government Has No Business Being in Business: Evidence to the Contrary

Abstract

The study interrogates theoretical the maxim, ‘Government has no business being in business' and was instigated by, not only the historic and current catalogue of failures of private sector-led models but also the moral burden of acceptance of the reality of corporate failure in the private sector led business typology as evidenced by the predictive models of failure documented in the extant stock of knowledge. Also, the menacing dominance of SOEs in the Chinese outward investments model, leading to the current trade war is a clear signal that the maxim needs revisiting. The study also observed that the new PPP model espoused and the failure of private businesses to self-regulate leading to the resurgence of various regulatory frameworks, further underscored by the massive bailout of failing private forms of property, is an indication of evidence to the contrary. Thus, the study concludes that the absolutism strand of the maxim as espoused earlier on that informed the massive privatization policy of SOEs in several national domains did not pan out ultimately. Therefore, state involvement is advocated via commercialisation like the Chinese model for emerging economies. Taming the monster of individual greed via instilling citizenship behaviour modification would enshrine the attribute count of prioritizing communal good, which is the ingredient required for exuding the private ownership business behavioural disposition in SOEs.