Patricia Bachiller

Effect of ownership on efficiency in Spanish companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of privatization on the efficiency of five of the biggest Spanish state‐owned companies: Repsol, Iberia, Endesa, Telefonica and REE, which enjoy monopoly status in sectors like energy, telecommunications and air transport.Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Tobit analysis to analyze efficiency changes and to determine the effect of the ownership and board structure on technical efficiency.Findings – The results show that the improvements in efficiency are not related to the privatization. Thus the empirical research suggests that a change of ownership per se is not sufficient to bring about the effects forecast by privatization advocators.Research limitations/implications – More research regarding other issues such as organizational changes, strategic alliances and market regulation is needed, as they are factors that explain efficiency variations.Originality/value – The study contributes to th...

Service quality in utility industries: the European telecommunications sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic and technological factors that determine the quality of European telecommunications services. The paper test whether the privatisation, the efficiency and the labour factor of telecommunications operators are determinants of service quality and whether competition, technology and infrastructure investment in the telecommunications sector influence that quality. Design/methodology/approach – The paper use the panel data methodology to analyse the factors that determine the quality of service of telecommunications. Findings – The results indicate that the more efficient the company is, the more quality it will deliver. However, the paper finds no evidence that the privatisation and the restructuring of the labour force of the main telecommunications operators, or the competition, technology and investments in the sector, lead to greater quality. Practical implications – In order to foster higher quality, effective market competitiveness has to b...

Operating Performance of Privatized Firms in Europe: Organizational and Environmental Factors

This article analyzes the role of organizational changes and contextual factors in explaining the operating performance of European privatized firms. We find that smaller and non-regulated firms and companies privatized by public offer perform better than bigger, regulated, and privatized by private sale companies. Also, privatized Eastern European companies are less profitable than privatized companies from other European countries. Our findings suggest that organizational changes are more difficult to introduce in privatizations by private sale and in bigger and regulated companies. They also suggest that less developed institutional contexts limit performance improvements after privatizations.

Performance and Capital Structure of Privatized Firms in Europe

Abstract The objective of this paper is to analyze whether there are differences in performance between private firms and recently privatized firms in the European Union, as well as to determine whether ownership (state-owned versus private) and regulation affect capital structure. Focusing on economic reasons that justify privatizations, we analyze whether there are differences between recently privatized state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms in their profitability, leverage and efficiency during the period 1999–2002. Also, we analyze the determinants of the capital structure of these firms. Contrary to previous studies, our results show that privatized firms are not less efficient than firms with private ownership.

A meta-analysis of the impact of privatization on firm performance

Purpose Despite the vast literature on privatization, the relationship between change of ownership and performance is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to understand why divergences are found between the empirical results of papers analyzed. Design/methodology/approach The author applies a meta-analysis to a sample of 60 empirical studies that analyze the performance of privatized companies. The author checks whether different results on performance can be explained by the method of privatization and the level of development of the country of privatized companies. Findings The findings indicate that companies privatized by public offerings obtain a better performance than companies privatized using other methods, such as private sale or voucher privatization, and do not support the common-place assumption that privatization in developing countries does not improve financial performance. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature on privatization because it adds new empirical evidence about the privatization programs and it first applies a meta-analysis to a sample about privatization on state-owned companies. The author discusses theoretical and managerial implications and offers suggestions for future research on privatization.

The restructuring of the Spanish banking system: analysis of the efficiency of financial entities

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the performance of Spanish banking entities between 2009 and 2013, a period marked by the reform of the banking system with a large number of mergers and integrations.,First, efficiency is measured applying the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology and, then, the Malmquist index is calculated to assess its evolution.,The results show that most of the entities have improved their performance from the production approach. However, from the intermediation approach, the efficiency of the sample has deteriorated, which raises questions about the sustainability of the traditional banking business when the current credit restriction strategy is long lasting.,The comparative analysis demonstrates that, after the deep reforms carried out in Spain, the banking entities maintain similar efficiency rankings to those they had at the beginning of the period analysed. This shows that the reform has created new groups that operate adequately, avoiding the closing of institutions. Despite the better rationalisation of the available resources, the outlook for Spanish banks remains unclear in the current macroeconomic context, which does not favour the banking business.,The study contributes to the literature on the Spanish banking system because it adds new empirical evidence about its restructuring and it applies a DEA model to a sample before and after mergers. The authors discuss theoretical and managerial implications and offer suggestions for future research on this field.

Corporate governance in Spanish savings banks and its relationship with financial and social performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence about relationships between the corporate governance (CG) mechanisms of the Spanish savings banks, their financial and social performance and their profitability prior to their collapse. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a structural equation model (SEM), taking the return on assets as the dependent variable, and CG, corporate social responsibility and efficiency as explanatory constructs. SEM methodology provides interesting features that allows a better definition of some organisational characteristics. Findings Results indicate that CG characteristics, including the politicisation of governance bodies, did not affect the financial performance. The size of the board of directors had a significant influence on social responsibility. In addition, results suggest that the whole board focused on social issues, whereas non-executive members were less concerned about economic issues. Greater money allocation to social welfare programmes resulted in higher profitability, which can be explained by competitive advantages, reputation and customer satisfaction. Social implications Nowadays, some political parties demand either for the creation of a public banking sector or banks with social goals. This paper provides interesting insights into the debate. Originality/value The influence of personal attributes of board members on performance needs to be analysed in greater depth in the non-profit sector. The SEM methodology allows us to include some board attributes and performance dimensions in a better way than with other methodologies.