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The loss of public values when public shareholders go abroad

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  • Clifton, Judith
  • Fuentes, Daniel Diaz
  • Warner, Mildred

Abstract

Governments emerged as “international public shareholders” when publicly-owned utilities developed into some of the world's largest multinationals. This article enquires whether these international public shareholders maintain their public values when operating abroad. Taking a public values approach, we assess whether public values were transferred across borders focusing on five core dimensions: financial, economic, social, technical and environmental. We analyze the internationalization activities of two large public utilities, Vattenfall and Endesa - strategically selected for representing strong and weak public values – in their major markets in Europe and Latin America. We find that, irrespective of the relative strength of the initial public values legacy of the public utility, the lure of financial success trumped other competing objectives associated with the public shareholder abroad.

Suggested Citation

  • Clifton, Judith & Fuentes, Daniel Diaz & Warner, Mildred, 2016. "The loss of public values when public shareholders go abroad," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 134-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:40:y:2016:i:c:p:134-143
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2015.11.003
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    3. Homsy, George C. & Warner, Mildred E., 2020. "Does public ownership of utilities matter for local government water policies?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Antonio Estache, 2016. "Institutions for Infrastructure in Developing Countries: What We Know and the Lot We still Need to Know," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2016-27, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Daniel Chavez & Lavinia Steinfort, 2022. "The Future is Public! The Global Reclaiming and Democratization of Public Ownership Beyond the Market," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 65(2), pages 207-216, December.

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