Strategic management in privatized businesses

With the large increase in privatization activity, the central problem is how a previous public sector business unit can turn itself into a successful self-governing/ private sector business. There is a clear difference between the business skills needed by private sector managers and those required in the public sector, not the least of which is strategic management. Further complications arise from the fact that the business environment facing these organizations is not particularly encouraging, and the privatization process is a highly political one which has little regard for the strategic requirements of the business itself. These problems are examined with reference to the privatization of the UK bus industry, including the response of management so far. The article concludes that privatized managers have yet to come fully to terms with these difficult circumstances.