WPPSS: some basic lessons for public enterprise managers

Article Abstract:

In the summer of 1983, the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) defaulted on $2.5 billion in municipal bonds - the largest default ever to hit the tax-free municipal bond market. Although many factors may have been involved in the WPPSS project collapse and default, the least understood and perhaps most important was inadequate management. A 1981 Washington State Senate Committee investigation of project cost increases and schedule delays concluded that 'mismanagement' was primarily to blame. Why and how poor management helped lead to the WPPSS default suggests important lessons for managers in the private as well as public sectors. Although WPPSS, like other public enterprises, had the freedom and power to carry out business-like government activities, it was never managed in a business-like fashion. A recognition of this potential for failure is important for the development of good public enterprise managers, as well as for adequate state and local government public enterprise oversight mechanisms. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Management, Case studies, Finance, Public utilities, Municipal bonds, Washington Public Power Supply System

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The many faces of multi-firm alliances: lessons for managers

Article Abstract:

One of the most notable business trends in recent years has been the surge in alliance formation. Globalization, escalating R&D expenses, shortening product life cycles, and convergence of technologies are often cited as important factors that contribute to this phenomenon.This article develops a framework for multi-firm alliances. Multi-firm alliances can be classified on the basis of distinct payoff structures, leading to critical differences in their predicted development and final result. This article presents four multi-firm alliance game scenarios to describe the dynamics that underlie the interactions among firms and provides industry examples. It offers a number of lessons to help managers improve their ability to manage multi-firm alliance relationships. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Strategic alliances (Business), Interorganizational relations

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The Chinese family business enterprise

Article Abstract:

The family enterprise is the basic economic unit of the typical overseas Chinese community. Those ethnic-Chinese businesses, in turn, are the pacing element in the fastest growing part of the world - Southeast Asia. The Chinese family enterprise differs in fundamental ways from the usual Western business firm in terms of its organizational structure, nature of decision making, markets served, level of technology, succession, and public profile. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Southeast Asia, Chinese (Asian people), Family-owned business enterprises, Family-owned businesses, Chinese in Asia, Southeastern

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