Contemporary public enterprises: innovation, accountability, governance

Public enterprises (PE) are important players in the global economic arena. Recent empirical evidence confirms that more than 10% of the giant multinationals are government owned; that European PE successfully compete with their private counterparts in network industries such as electricity, gas and telecommunications; and that worldwide PE are found on both sides of the market for corporate control, i. e. they are not just targets of privatization, but also acquirers of private and public firms. In this context, three research themes emerge and are represented by papers in this special issue of the Journal of Economic Policy Reform: entrepreneurship and managerial motivation in PE; measurement of users' satisfaction and accountability; relations of PE with regulators and governments.