OECD Business and Finance Outlook 2019
Strengthening Trust in Business
The OECD Business and Finance Outlook is an annual publication that presents unique data and analysis on the trends, both positive and negative, that are shaping tomorrow’s world of business, finance and investment. Using analysis from a wide range of perspectives, this year’s edition considers the importance of public trust in business and finance, offering a conceptual approach to understanding facets of trust in finance, investment and business with respect to economic value, fairness and integrity of conduct, as well as alignment with societal values. The Outlook provides an assessment of factors that contributed to a deterioration of trust during the Global Financial Crisis; reviews recent developments that could contribute to a renewed erosion of trust; and, offers policy considerations to help strengthen public trust in business and finance.
Trust and the level playing field - The evolving state ownership
Chapter 4 applies a broad definition of “level playing field”, which is taken to indicate different treatment of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the competitive landscape, with respect to corruption and other irregular practices, as well as the conduct of SOEs active in foreign jurisdictions. It demonstrates that SOEs active in certain sectors – notably steel production – tend to be less profitable than private peers, yet less likely to go out of business. Similarly, SOEs appear to have a heightened risk of getting involved in some forms of corruption, but they are less likely than private companies to divest from certain projects or disengage from business partners due to integrity concerns. The chapter finally takes stock of ongoing OECD initiatives that either aim directly at, or could have as an outcome, raising trust in state-owned enterprises and their commercial operations.
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